How bad can this be - walk a Half Marathon, get a nifty medal at the finish line, and then they hand you a wine glass to enjoy tasting products from 15 of the local vintners. :-) We even made a nice family weekend out of it, visited some wineries, ate some good food while having a lot of fun.
Flew into San Francisco, sister Ruth flew up from LA, and we drove up to Sonoma Friday evening. Dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack on Sonoma Plaza, then off to the Sonoma Chalet B&B and our digs in Laura's Cottage. Very pleasant to sleep with the windows open and a feather duvet, awaken to sunny day for breakfast on the deck looking out as the deer and quail wander about on the field next to us, and the woodpecker on the telephone pole chases away the squirrels and all the other birds who come near his perch.
Saturday spent doing usual wine country tourist things, including a visit to Clos Pegase for their lovely art work. Two bus loads of tourists there for a Japanese festival so lots of people milling around. Took the ladies to Domaine Mumm to relax and sample some champagnes on the patio. You know how much they hated that duty. Then to Sonoma Plaza Saturday evening for the "Red and White Ball", a local charity fundraiser, featuring all sorts of good food and (can you guess) wine. Another treat was seeing our friends Paula and "Mac" McNichols, there for a balloon ride, visit to Sonoma and for Paula to do the 10K while Mac cheered us on. An open wine bar may not be the best training for a half marathon, but it sure did taste good.
4:30 Sunday came very early - had to get to pickup point for buses to start line, going UP a hill at the Cuvaison Carneros winery. It was a bit chilly but really pretty morning, with the
rising sun burning the fog off the vines before the start. No on-course photos, my camera battery quit after this dawn photo from our starting point. It really was a pretty course, mostly through the vineyards on country roads with rolling hills. Nothing too strenuous in terms of hills, just gentle rollers. Last part into Sonoma, with folks out having their morning coffee cheering us into the finish at "Depot Park", as you might suspect on an old rail line which is now a trail for walkers, runners and cyclists.
I finished the course in 3:08:47 - new Personal Record for the 13.1 mile Half Marathon distance.
Naomi did the 10K (6.2 miles) in a fast new Personal Record of 1:23:55 after switching to the shorter event to avoid sun poisoning issues caused by a medication. We both were presented with the same medal, one of the nice things about small events like this (only 2400 entries, 400 of them for the 10K). All were given a wine glass as well, which came in handy for the 15 or more wineries which had set up tents to give out samples to the racers.
Sunday afternoon, following showers and some "relax on the porch time", we took off to tour - a winery of course! Took Ruth to one of our favorites, Ferrari Carano outside of Healdsburg. Lovely chateau, two tasting rooms (hot tip - join the wine club, your tastings are complimentary and you get a discount on your purchases).
What a great way to recover from an endurance event. As "designated driver" had to sample gently in order to be able to drive back to Sonoma (about 40 miles) then dinner at Maya, a Mexican place on the Sonoma Plaza with excellent food, before early bedtime.
Up for breakfast with the deer and quail on Monday morning, then back to SFO and flights home. Heck of a nice way to spend a long weekend, get some exercise and prepare for the office. By the end of this week I'll be back on my training schedule for the Nike Marathon in October.
Speaking of the Nike Marathon - if you have not yet contributed to my TNT fund-raising account (all go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) you can contribute right now on my secure web site at www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/tntncaTCFarnam07. My goal for this year is $5000, and I still need your help getting there
Flew into San Francisco, sister Ruth flew up from LA, and we drove up to Sonoma Friday evening. Dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack on Sonoma Plaza, then off to the Sonoma Chalet B&B and our digs in Laura's Cottage. Very pleasant to sleep with the windows open and a feather duvet, awaken to sunny day for breakfast on the deck looking out as the deer and quail wander about on the field next to us, and the woodpecker on the telephone pole chases away the squirrels and all the other birds who come near his perch.
Saturday spent doing usual wine country tourist things, including a visit to Clos Pegase for their lovely art work. Two bus loads of tourists there for a Japanese festival so lots of people milling around. Took the ladies to Domaine Mumm to relax and sample some champagnes on the patio. You know how much they hated that duty. Then to Sonoma Plaza Saturday evening for the "Red and White Ball", a local charity fundraiser, featuring all sorts of good food and (can you guess) wine. Another treat was seeing our friends Paula and "Mac" McNichols, there for a balloon ride, visit to Sonoma and for Paula to do the 10K while Mac cheered us on. An open wine bar may not be the best training for a half marathon, but it sure did taste good.
4:30 Sunday came very early - had to get to pickup point for buses to start line, going UP a hill at the Cuvaison Carneros winery. It was a bit chilly but really pretty morning, with the
rising sun burning the fog off the vines before the start. No on-course photos, my camera battery quit after this dawn photo from our starting point. It really was a pretty course, mostly through the vineyards on country roads with rolling hills. Nothing too strenuous in terms of hills, just gentle rollers. Last part into Sonoma, with folks out having their morning coffee cheering us into the finish at "Depot Park", as you might suspect on an old rail line which is now a trail for walkers, runners and cyclists.I finished the course in 3:08:47 - new Personal Record for the 13.1 mile Half Marathon distance.
Naomi did the 10K (6.2 miles) in a fast new Personal Record of 1:23:55 after switching to the shorter event to avoid sun poisoning issues caused by a medication. We both were presented with the same medal, one of the nice things about small events like this (only 2400 entries, 400 of them for the 10K). All were given a wine glass as well, which came in handy for the 15 or more wineries which had set up tents to give out samples to the racers.Sunday afternoon, following showers and some "relax on the porch time", we took off to tour - a winery of course! Took Ruth to one of our favorites, Ferrari Carano outside of Healdsburg. Lovely chateau, two tasting rooms (hot tip - join the wine club, your tastings are complimentary and you get a discount on your purchases).
What a great way to recover from an endurance event. As "designated driver" had to sample gently in order to be able to drive back to Sonoma (about 40 miles) then dinner at Maya, a Mexican place on the Sonoma Plaza with excellent food, before early bedtime.
Up for breakfast with the deer and quail on Monday morning, then back to SFO and flights home. Heck of a nice way to spend a long weekend, get some exercise and prepare for the office. By the end of this week I'll be back on my training schedule for the Nike Marathon in October.
Speaking of the Nike Marathon - if you have not yet contributed to my TNT fund-raising account (all go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) you can contribute right now on my secure web site at www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/tntncaTCFarnam07. My goal for this year is $5000, and I still need your help getting there
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3 comments:
What a lovely medal you have there, sir. :) Congrats and thanks for all the wine!
My pleasure - and more to the point, my pleasure to spend the weekend with my sister!
Tom
Steve, thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to read the blog.
The Napa-to-Sonoma event was relatively flat (at least compared to the Nike in San Francisco) but did have some rolling hills, and was a very pretty course, mostly on side roads through the vineyards. It was really lovely early (before the start) as the sun was rising and the fog was still burning off the vineyards. The tough part is resisting the temptation to drink the local wines the night before.
I'd also like to finish the Nike in 6:30 - but maybe using "aim high" as a strategy have set my goal for this year as 6:15. That is quite a bit faster than my best time at Nike (2006 my time was 6:34:40, with 2005 at 6:50:25 - back muscle spasms last 6 miles, but finished!) and actually a bit faster than twice my best 1/2 marathon time. Soooo - lots of training between now and then.
Your "nom de net" suggests you may live in the SF Bay area? One of my favorite parts of the country. Enjoy it.
Tom
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