Big Sur 2009 (aka: don’t cry, you were always an ugly crier)
April 28, 2009
This past weekend Eric, Chris, and I made our way to Monterey and Big Sur, California. And why? Because once again I talked Eric into doing the Big Sur marathon with me. But before I go into the details of the weekend let’s backup a bit….
So, just like the last time I signed up for a marathon (Big Sur 2007) the real purpose of the marathon isn’t really the marathon itself but instead the months of training. True to my Viking roots, I’m one of those people who gains about 15 pounds if I stop working out for more than a week or two. This means that I really have to be diligent about my exercise. And nothing spells diligent training like a marathon! And, let’s face it – I love food. And the body is a lot more forgiving for that Tartine morning roll and occasional donut (and big slice of cake with lots of frosting and strawberries with about a pound of homemade whipped cream, and …) when you ran 14 miles earlier that day.
And beyond all that, there’s a category at the Big Sur marathon called “Bonneydale” [sometimes it’s also called the “Athena” category]. It’s the category you can enter if you are over 145-150 lbs (depending on the race) and a woman. For men it’s called “Clydesdale” and is typically over 195 lbs. Anyway, I realized that if I ran at about a 9:30 pace for the marathon I’d have a real chance at placing in the top three for that. This would be a huge achievement because:
1) I’ve never placed in a sport. Ever. And to place for a marathon would be an epic win!
2) I thought to myself, “if you can place at a marathon than no matter what your body is like at that point, no matter how much you weigh, you’re really healthy. And that is enough.” Which is to say that I saw a win as validation that my body was good where it was – no matter what weight I was at when I crossed the finish line.
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but none of that happened. Instead, Eric and I ran it ~20 minutes slower than 2007 and I was in extreme pain.
The Injuries
- I started keeping my exercise journal again on January 5th and on my very first entry I wrote “yesterday did 58 minutes/ 6 miles so today was rest as to avoid inflaming my right hip and knee” And basically that issue (my right hip) plagued me through all of my marathon training. The pain basically feels joint-related all up inside my middle to outer hip into the very top outer part of the booty. It starts kind of achy with this “I want to extend my leg out and pop my hip joint” feeling and then it gets sharper and sharper as I run. Soon enough I also feel sharp pain in my knee. So much sharp pain in fact that I started to wonder (during the marathon) if it was going to get so bad that my leg would just be unable to bend at all – like sharp pain rigor mortis! No lies!
On the Friday before the marathon (so the 24th) I had my first physical therapy appointment. Basically I needed the guy to tell me how I was going to get through the marathon with all the shin pain I had been experiencing. When Chris and I ran in Mexico, for example, the first lap or two I’d be hobbling and then it would slowly get better right up until we stopped – at which point the shin pain would cause me to limp around for the next twenty minutes. This injury was the one I was most worried about. I hadn’t experienced the hip issue for a while (it tended to come and go) but the shin could be a killer. I figured it was classic shin splints so I asked the guy to just tape up my leg, show me a stretch or two, and let me know the exact amount of Ibuprofen one could take before reaching toxic levels. Unfortunately, instead of that I was told that I had stress fractures up and down my left shin. He proceeded to tape my leg (and teach me how to do it for the marathon) but it was a really hard blow.
Friday Night
After getting the bad news on Friday afternoon I was pretty low. I still went out to sushi with Chris and Neil but by the end of it I felt fairly withdrawn. I was having an internal self-pity party of sorts. I thought about all the training runs I’d done – so many more long runs than the last time we did a marathon… I thought about all those cold winter mornings when I’d get my ass out of bed at 6:30am to go on runs three times during the week (plus long-run Saturday!) even when it sucked. And then I thought about how there was a very very real chance I wouldn’t be able to complete the race. How I could end up with a full-blown fracture through my shin, which would then totally fuck up my chances at completing the AIDS ride.
Eric made it the Bay Area by around 8:30 – 9pm and he picked me up in Palo Alto and we headed right up to SF. He wanted to study for the rest of the night but it ended up being me sobbing and sobbing with him trying to say it’d be ok no matter how it turned out. I was so stressed out and so very very scared.
Saturday
Well the gods must have taken pity on me because I woke up Saturday morning in a much better mood. Chris, Eric, and I got up fairly early and headed down to Tartine for a delicious breakfast and then started on our way to Monterey! The Big Sur race expo happens at the Monterey conference center so we bee-lined for that first. Eric and I picked up all our packet stuff and then we all meandered through the booths.
After all that, we ate lunch at a lovely little seafood place Chris knew about.
Then, Chris and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium while loser Eric studied at the nearby Starbucks. The Aquarium just got a new special exhibit on seahorses and I’ve got to tell you – it’s seriously cool. Something about seahorses is so magical. Like I’ve said before, they’re like the chariots of Thumbelina-sized mermaids!
And, as you see here, apparently regular sized mermaids too! (who friggin knew?!?!)
After all that (oh and a glass of wine for Chris) we headed to a pasta place for our pre-race dinner. I wasn’t really that hungry (I’d already eaten so much that day!) but tried to get myself to down at least a little of my pasta! And, straight after dinner we headed back to our totally reasonable hotel motel and I went straight to bed.
Sunday
pre-race
The three of us all set independent alarms for 3AM. Those ended up being unnecessary because I was already awake. Laying there. Eyes open. In darkness.
Chris was super awesome and helpful and filled up my water bottle with half gatorade half water, put a few extra aleve in my little running bag, and drove Eric and I to the buses (for Big Sur you have to take buses to the starting area because they close down HWY 1)
The next few hours (and there were quite a few!) consisted of Eric and me trying to huddle in whatever way provided the most warmth. Turns out there really wasn’t a position that could keep us both warm. So that wasn’t so great. If you are reading this and will one day run Big Sur, bring a few blankets and a pillow!
race
About ten minutes before the start we all lined up at the starting area. It’s just amazing how many people sign up to do Big Sur. I mean it’s just a sea of people! How can there be that many crazy people?!
And yet when the epic champion music starts to play (of the eye of the tiger / start me up epic variety) you forget that it’s crazy. I just looked at Eric and we both just started screaming with excitement.
The race then started and we started all right. Sadly I put sports shield (which is like a friggin god send against chafing) around my stomach (sometimes you can get cut from your shorts on top) and that caused my slippery shorts to ride up my butt like crazy (too slippery to hold so they just decided to defy gravity and go up up up!) So the first two miles were me constantly pulling my shorts down (to no avail). Apparently showing the world my butt has become a favorite past time of mine anyways [see Puerto Vallarta entries].
But I do wonder if trying to pull my shorts down caused me to run with poor form, which then caused the hip to freak out.
Either way, by mile 7 or 8 things weren’t looking so good. My hip injury came on with full force and by mile 10 I couldn’t deny it any longer. I had to stop to stretch it (basically I stretch like I’m really trying to pop my hip out and that seems to help for a mile or so). Mentally doing that was rough because we were right with the 4:30 finish pace group at that point. And stopping meant we’d really lose them. And lose them right before Hurricane Point – the hardest climb in the race (about 520 ft over 2 miles). But I had to stop. The pain was so sharp I couldn’t properly put my right leg out in front of me – I was sort of doing a rounded stride (so instead of the leg going in a straight line it was pushed out to the side and up in a half-moon hoop instead). I just couldn’t take it any longer- after about two miles of it, it was just getting way too severe.
As you can imagine, having to take a stretch due to severe pain at mile 10 (especially when I should have stopped at mile 7 or 
is a mentally daunting thing. You still have 16 miles to go and, since I knew the course, the next 16 were the really had ones. Big Sur has some non-trivial climbing all the way to the end and pain that early means nothing good.
Eric was really understanding (later I found out that since mile five he was experiencing pains, but he didn’t want to “keep me back”) but for me it was rough. The pain was a familiar one – after many 12, 14, and even 16 mile runs with it I knew it was one that would not just disappear if I kept running.
Either way we made our way up Hurricane Point, where I had to stop many many times to stretch it out 
again. By the top my quads were shot. I think it was just a combination of my hip and shin just causing less than perfect form (so you’re using the wrong muscles to make your way up) and not enough hill training. Even though in 2007 our top run was only 12 miles, almost all our long runs were hardcore trail runs up in the LA/Malibu hills. And those runs made Hurricane Point seem not so bad at all. This year, Hurricane point seemed pretty horrible.
After that it was slow going on the descents and the hip pain continued. I got fairly emotional at a few moments because I was just so frustrated with myself. If only I would have trained better (better hill climbing and better as in injury-free) I could be achieving my dream 9:30 pace. But instead I knew I wasn’t even going to get what I got in 2007 (about 4:57).
I think it was around mile 20 that Eric and I finally realized we needed to seriously walk. We were both in so much pain and my hip felt way way better walking than running. And so we walked. And, to be honest, it was probably the most enjoyable part of the race. I laughed for the first time. And, once I realized I would still be able to finish, I felt ok.
At almost mile 24 Chris found us! He walked out to run the last mile with us (and take lots of pictures) but since we were slower than we hoped, he just decided to keep coming out to find us. Of course, that was after:
the 4:30 pace group ran past him
he video taped them, thinking we’d be there [video here],
we weren’t there,
he wasn’t sure we weren’t there so decided to run after the pace group just to be sure [video here],
then was sure and decided to keep walking (hoping we really hadn’t passed him!)
And then found us!
And with all that said, it was great to see him! Great and sort of funny and sad. Funny because the juxtaposition of his energy to our absolute exhaustion really showed me how dead Eric and I were. Sad because it meant that my marathon end wasn’t going to be what I hoped for (us running strong as we made our goal 4:30 time).
Either way, we all walked together until mile 25, at which point we decided to harness all our energy and run the final 1.2 miles in [video of agony here]. Near the end Chris ran ahead to get pictures of us, Eric grabbed my hand and we ran the last stretch and through the finish line together. A team and partnership. From start to finish. In 2007 and 2009.
And, just like in 2007, I got a bit choked up at the end. I was a bit too weak to hold back the tears. I was so relieved while also disappointed while also happy. Relieved it was over, that we made it. Disappointed it wasn’t what I wanted – that I failed in a way. And happy – happy for such a great best friend and boyfriend.
After that we dragged our bodies (with the help of Chris!) to lunch. And then, Eric and I both fell asleep as Chris drove us back to San Jose.
And that my friends, was my emotionally turbulent marathon weekend 2009.
You can see all the pictures (with additional inside commentary) here
And all videos can be found here
Napa! (and by Napa I really mean Yountville!)
March 3, 2009
This past Saturday Chris’ friend Ming invited Chris and a bunch of other Stanford Immunology geeks up for the Make Our Garden Grow Napa Youth Symphony fundraiser. Ming is the conductor for the youth symphony and his girlfriend is a year above Chris in Stanford’s Immunology PhD program. So now that all those connections have been explained, on to the good stuff!
Chris and I decided it’d be fun to make a mini-vacation of it, so I took Thursday and Friday off from work and we headed up early for lots of drinking, ungodly amounts of eating, biking, and a generally merry fun time! I had actually never been up to this so called “wine country” before, so I was super excited!
I’ll go over some of the highlights
Wine
My favorite wine stop was, without question, Silenus. Silenus is a custom crush facility, which basically means a bunch of smaller producers can actually crush their grapes and make their wine there. This is all super great for me, the wine drinker, because I got to try lots of different makers’ stuff all at once. And, with the assistance of Erica, the awesome wine hostess we had, we got to hear lots of first-hand accounts about the winemakers. Oh, and they had great wine, too! I ended up getting the MOST delicious wine by Scott Harvey called “Angel Ice”. Oh good gods it was good. So good in fact that after I finished my taste I kept smelling my glass. Embarrassing really. But the nose on that thing! And it was like liquid heaven on the palate! Oh, and if you decide to buy some I recommend serving it super DUPER cold. It’s just totally meant to be that way.
Dearest Scott Harvey, if you ever read this, feel free to send me more of your deliciousness anytime!! Your Jana Rieslings are delectable!
[side comment: yes, I purposely found a way to say both “nose” and “palate” – how will I become a true wino like Chris if I don’t practice my vocab?!"]
In other wine news, I’ve discovered that I’m a fan of Muscat, or at least the Palmaz Vineyard Muscat Canelli Florencia [reviewed by an actual wine blogger person here]. Palmaz ended up being our big tour experience (they have caves… though they aren’t the dark murky spelunking caves with dwarves working away in them like I imagined… sadly) and the muscat was my favorite tasting there. Chris really enjoyed their cabs… I just haven’t gotten to the point of red-enlightenment yet.
Food
Oh dear gods we ate so much food. So. much. food. The gluttony! The glory!
Highlights
Bouchon: Chris took me out for one fancy schmancy dinner and I got to pick the restaurant. I’ve heard so much about this Thomas Keller guy and since French Laundry seemed *just a little* out of our price range, I settled on Bouchon instead. You can see all the food pictures by checking out my web album but let me tell you right now: soooo good. I started with a goat cheese salad followed by steak frites (we were told that the fries are cooked with duck fat and were “must haves”) and finished with an almond pot de creme for dessert (which we split…because we were about to throwup from eating so much that day).
Chris started with a sweet creamy garlic soup (that I wish he would have shared more of!) and had the lamb t-bone (which was seriously yummy and lean). I also ate more than my fair share of the 
warm Bouchon bakery bread and sumptuous butter that was served at the start. Oh! And Chris spoiled me by bringing one of his best bottles of merlot! It was a Blackbird and was actually on the wine list for almost $200! (but don’t worry, while bringing a wine that’s on the list is a faux pas, Bouchon (tragically) post neither their menu nor wine list… so there was no way to know!)
It’s true that we probably would have liked the meal even more if we weren’t seriously over-full but whatever! It was fantastic anyway!
Oysters: The next night Chris and I felt like we needed to detox so we decided to venture back to the Oxbow market for a light clean oyster dinner! Now I haven’t really had oysters before (just literally one at Google back when one cafe used to do that in the evenings) so I was a little nervous. But, thankfully, it turns out I find them quite tasty. We got a sampler of a bunch of different kinds, which was fun. We also had the best clam chowder. It was chock-full of clams and the base was simultaneously creamy and broth-like. Just what I wanted!
Bouchon Bakery: As many of you know, I don’t have a sweet tooth… I have sweet teeth. And so I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I 
found it my duty to try out as many sweet treats at Bouchon bakery as possible. I’d say their best treats were their chocolate chip cookies and macaroons. The TKO (“Thomas Keller Oreo”) didn’t really do it for me. It’s like music – if the original is better than the remake, why are you remaking it?! The macaroons, though, must really be tried by everyone. Oh and their sandwiches are quite yummy, too. But their chai was really bland and generally garners a “meh” rating. Overall I still think Tartine is better (except in the chocolate chip cookie category, Tartine’s are too crispy and thin)
Other
Biking! Chris and I went on two bike rides. The first, on Friday, was supposed to be the full Ink Grade loop (~50 miles) but we were feeling sluggish (this was the morning after the I-feel-overly-full-and-super-ill night) and had to turn around early (~30 miles) to ensure we arrived at Palmaz on time for our tour. I’ve got to say, the roads for that route aren’t paved very well – and there are parts where the cars are driving a bit too fast for biker-comfort.
On Saturday, however, the gods smiled upon us! We biked from Yountville to Calistoga and back (~45 miles) on the Silverado trail and it was fantastic! We ended up eating lunch in Calistoga (I love eating lunch mid-ride) and really sped it up on our way back. 
Chris said there was a straight away section where I was maintaining 23 mph! Go aerobars! Unsurprisingly, Chris caught me on the hill. Dammit! Anyway, I definitely recommend biking up there – Silverado trail is a great road for it. The rollers get noticeably bigger as you near Calistoga but it’s very tame.
The Fundraiser-Concert: I got to get all fancy (which is always fun) and Chris looked dashing in his new Van Gogh-esque tie for this. The opera singing was ok but I wish the kids would have played more. The final song was quite lovely but the Opera singers totally overpowered the orchestra, which is so sad!
So overall we had a super great time! Yountville was adorable and I had my first Napa/Yountville wine tasting experience!
MacKerricher State Park!
December 27, 2008
Full title: MacKerricher State Park… now, with rain!
As I type this I’m sitting in the back of a car, covered in blankets (me… not the car), and clothed in warm fuzzy fleece pants and a giant fleece zip-up. Outside I’m surrounded by a whole lot of trees, a whole lot of mud, and a whole lot of rain.
So where are we? Fort Bragg, California! That’s right, Eric and I decided a while back that a mini-trip up the coast before Christmas was just what we needed. Eric just finished his fall quarter at UCLA (and got a 4.0!) and it was high-time I used some of my 100-odd vacation hours.
Saturday morning we headed out from San Francisco and took HWY 1 up the coast all the way up to Fort Bragg. Here’s a list of what we planned on doing:
- A long run (this is my doing. I’m training for a marathon which means every weekend I’m doing a progressively longer long run. This weekend I was scheduled to do a run somewhere between 110 – 120 minutes [or 1hr50min to 2hrs]. Eric was, you can imagine, was not too excited about this one.)
- Cycling (We brought our road bikes and hoped to spend a day biking either North up to the Lost Coast area and beyond or back South through Mendocino. We had to get cycling shoe wind cover bootie thingies because it’s too friggin cold right now to be riding without them. For those non-riders out there, the wind goes through the shoes and makes your feet go numb… which really gets in the way of the whole being-able-to-pedal thing.)
- Hiking (There are some beautiful redwood forests around here – even, I’ve discovered, a virgin redwood grove [“virgin” because the grove has never been logged which, I’m told, is a feat in itself in these parts since North coast redwoods were heavily logged to support the building of San Francisco…twice [once during the Gold Rush and again after the big fire (which I think was during the big earthquake… both of which I’m too comfortable right now to turn around and fact check)]])
it’s clear I like parentheses
- Exploring (The lost coast area is so called because during the building of all the highways and what not up and down California, the builders decided that that area was too rugged to lay down roads. So, instead of HWY 1 hugging the coastline, they decided to hook it up with the more inland 101. This means there’s a big chunk of the coast that isn’t easily accessible. So, it’s lost! In order to get out there you basically have to 4WD it over tight, unpaved, currently super muddy, roads. Which is all another way of saying this is an area Eric has decided he absolutely must see in his new luxury vehicle (aka a Subaru Outback).
- Eat (I’m all about nature stuff – trail running, exploring, hugging redwoods, you name it, I’m there – but what I really love about going to new places is the chance to try brand new restaurants! And what is better than running for two hours and then going somewhere for a delicious breakfast filled with the sweet tastes and aromas of maple syrup (real only!), hot chocolate (not that water instant pack crap), salty things (like sausage!), and the like?
Answer: Nothing. There is simply nothing better.
So it’s Monday night and I’ll let you know what we’ve done so far:
- On the drive up we stopped in Mendocino for a bit of walking and eating. The town is super cute but holy gods! I’ve never smelled so much pot in my life. Actually there’s a funny story here. We were walking down the main street (called, conveniently, “Main st.”) and passed by a beat up truck and a bunch of 1/2 punk 1/2 hippy people. Right as we walked by I smelt the pot. And, without thinking, I blurted out “Gosh, it smells like pot everywhere we go in this town!” At which point they turned to me and one guy, who, Eric tells me, was at that time holding said pot, and said, “Not everywhere!”
You know me, always making friends!
Anyways, other than smelling a lot of pot (used by young and old alike), we got truffles from the local chocolate shop (didn’t really do it for me but Eric seemed to enjoy eating both of ours!), checked out some truly gorgeous views of the sunset over the rocky beach, looked in lots of super neat artsy expensive shops, fantasized about owning things from said super neat artsy expensive stores (note: this part may have been done more by me than Eric), ate dinner at a really good pub with surprisingly delicious food, and got a book filled with information about outdoorsy things to do in the area.
After that we drove the rest of the way up to MacKerricher State Park, which is where we’re car camping.
Alright that’s enough for this post! I’ll explain the rest of our trip in my next entry.
All the pictures can be found here