Big Sur Half Marathon and Vacation Weekend

Do you remember last year when Scott and I watched the Big Sur Half Marathon and I vowed that I would run it the next year?

Yesterday was that day!

Back in July Scott and I started training using the Runkeeper's Beginning Runner to Half Marathon program. That was A LONG time ago. A lot has happened in that time. Scott got a blood clot and wasn't able to go running with me anymore. I kept running without him but it wasn't as much fun. I spent a lot of the last month thinking about our times running together while I was out by myself. I was bummed that he wasn't going to be able to run with me.

In the past week he's been feeling a lot better and he told me Saturday that he was going to try to walk the half marathon. CRAZY!! He was using a walker to get to the bathroom from the living room about two weeks ago. I didn't really want him to do it but what can I say? I would have been the same way.

So Saturday we went to Monterey, checked into our hotel and then went and picked up Jessica from the college. Then we went to pick up our bib numbers at the Conference Center, and walked around the expo. There wasn't much there that we were interested in so we walked over to the Fisherman's Wharf area and found somewhere to eat for dinner.

We ended up at Isabella's. We sat upstairs and this was our view.

Not too shabby! Oh and this ADORABLE little dog stayed in this lady's coat the whole time they sat below us.

And my cutie patootie sat across from me. 

Scott and I shared a clam chowder sourdough bowl for an appetizer and then I had this.

and then? I ate this whole thing.

Pretty sure that was the best cheesecake I've ever eaten. We said we might have to go back for another one after the race! I really enjoyed our waitress here too, she was cute and worked really hard.

After stuffing ourselves we took Jess back to school and then went back to the hotel and watched some TV. We turned it off around 9 and I slept for about an hour. THEN? I was wide awake for most of the rest of the night. I hate when that happens before a race. Maybe that's why I feel like I do better if I have a drink or two the night before a race? Puts me to sleep better haha.

So we got up at 4:30 because Scott was super worried we wouldn't be able to find a place to park. We went to the parking garage that they had designated for the race and parked on the first row. Score one for the early risers. We sat in the car a bit and then walked down to McDonald's and used the bathroom and ordered some breakfast. AND my step mom and my dad were there! How funny is that? She was racing too (and kicked my butt, she rocks!) We hung out with them for a bit before they went to take some stuff back to their car and then we went back to ours. 

Originally I was going to wear my long sleeve running shirt but it was about 55 degrees and didn't feel too cold out so I decided to just wear my running tank (and shorts).. Some people were so bundled up I was like MAN! They must think I'm crazy! But of course, I wasn't and I knew I would be warm enough as soon as I started running.

Eventually we made our way over to our starting corral. This is the first race I've done that was big enough for corrals. They ad over 9000 people running. Now that's a big race! I had signed up for the 2:15 time slot so were in corral G, not too far from the start. My friend Tiffany was in the same corral so I kept my eyes out for her and eventually found her.

Tiffany was my best friend from 4th-9th grade. Then she moved to her mom's and went to a different high school so we didn't hang out as much. We grew apart and didn't see each other for YEARS!

Thanks to Facebook we finally reconnected a couple years ago. We met for lunch and 6 hours later we walked out of the restaurant haha. So how awesome is it that we ran a half marathon together?

Well we started in the same corral but she kicked my ass ;) She was always super athletic. Me, not so much!  She kept saying it was amazing that I was running when I used to complain about it so much when we were in school.

So eventually we started the race. Scott told me not to worry about him he was just going to walk as far as he could and I should just go do my thing. So that's what I did. 

I got a bit teary-eyed when we ran through the tunnel and the guy was playing bag pipes in there. Last year we sat at the end of it and watched the runners coming out.  Pretty surreal!

And then my Runkeeper added 6 miles. ASSHOLE! So I hit delete and started it over. In hindsight I probably should have just left it so I at least knew what my time was while I was running but I only had it set up to tell me the miles anyways. I think I need a Garmin for Christmas :wink:

The course had a ton of hills. I kept telling myself that what what goes up must come down but it didn't seem to be going down all that much. Now I know why my step mom was doing so much hill training!

I did a bit of walking here and there. I figured no use killing myself trying to run up hill when I can walk about as fast! 

At about mile 10 I saw Scott and he snapped a picture of me running and gave me a high 5. He was on about mile 6.

Not too long after this I actually used the port a potty to pee. I never would have done that before but ahhh I felt so much better after haha.

By the aquarium there was some people that worked there outside with these big Jelly fish umbrellas and it made me think of Jessica. Funny how little things while you are running keep you going! 

This was at about mile 12. I wanted to go kiss the sign that was there. So ready to be done!!

Along this area I was running next to a lady with a bald head. I'm sure she was going through chemo or a recent cancer survivor.  AMAZING to be out running a half marathon when she's going through something like that. 

Nothing wrong with me, no excuses right? 

There was one big hill right before the end and I heard someone say "are you freaking kidding me??" and I laughed because I was thinking the same thing. 

Finally I was done!! I sent Scott a text asking where he was and he sent back a picture of the mile 8 marker. I went through the food line and got some snacks and did some stretching and then went and sat on some steps to relax a bit. 

My final time was 2:26:15

So excited to have this to add to my collection. After sitting for awhile I went to the car and dropped off the rest of the food I didn't want right then, my fuel belt and grabbed my long sleeve shirt. NOW I was cold! I waited for Scott for awhile and then he sent me a text that he had got to mile 10 and was going to take the bus back (they had a bus to pick up people that couldn't finish the race). While he was bummed that he didn't make it the whole way I can't believe he made it 10 miles. He's a ROCKSTAR in my book!!

After he had some time to relax I went and got the car and we went back to the hotel. Look what I had when I took my socks off.

Oh yeahhh nice. 

I took a shower and my friend Tiffany came by to use the shower too (they had stayed with some family the night before) and then I jumped in the car with her and her family and we went back to Fisherman's Wharf for a late lunch.  I didn't do my usual food pictures since I was too busy talking but I had a cup of clam chowder and ate half a cheeseburger and fries. 

We went to this place called the Old Fisherman's Grotto. They have a sign outside that says "no high chairs, no booster seats" and something about children being disruptive little assholes or something like that. Not in those words of course but you don't see things like that very often!  The food was pretty good but the waiter must have been over worked or something. He couldn't remember who ordered what drinks or food and even gave us all the wrong checks. I probably wouldn't go back to that one. 

I took Scott the left overs from my lunch and then later on we went and picked up Jess and went out to pizza. I mostly just ate a salad though. Ahh green stuff! Sometimes that tastes so good! After dinner I ran into the grocery store with her and bought her a few things to get her through until she comes home for Thanksgiving break. 

We went back to the hotel and I think I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow! I asked Scott what time I fell asleep and he said he didn't know but he went out right after me. Of course we were wide awake by 6 this morning. 

We went over to the hotel lobby for some free breakfast and did some chatting with the owner. The whole reason we came back to this hotel is because of her. Well plus the place is clean and pretty close to Jess. The owner is a Korean woman and she is just the cutest thing ever. She always asks how we like everything and tells us about the improvements they are making. She gets so excited about it all. She told me today that she lives above the lobby, so she is there all the time. My only complaints this time was that the shower didn't get hot enough and that the wifi sucked but that's a 1st world problem if I ever heard one so I'm not going to complain too much!

When we left we decided to drive to the Bixby Bridge in Big Sur. 

(via)

I always see this bridge in advertisements and I was like hey let's go see it. So we drove there and then it was like oh hey yeah that's the bridge but it doesn't look as exciting as I thought it was going to be haha. Instead of turning around we kept driving. And driving and driving because there was no place to cut off from the coast and head back to the valley. So we ended up going for a REALLY long ride home. Really long!

We stopped along the way for lunch at this place called Big Bubba's Bad BBQ. The place is pretty cool looking outside. The sat me next to this water thing though that made me have to pee and they had wood chairs that were hard as a rock. Across from us was a couple chairs with padding so I swapped out my chair. Ahh much better. The food was pretty good though and they had good service. Good for a date night with a bunch of friends I think. They even had a bull you could ride (after you filled out a waiver haha). 

My last fatty meal until Thanksgiving. Back on the wagon.

I was so happy when Scott said he'd drive and I feel asleep for awhile. Now we are home and dealing with homework and the stupid states and capitals. I just gave him a pre-test and he got ONE right out of sixteen.  Ahhh We have 4 more days til his test. Woohoo

Back to work tomorrow. And to plan my next vacation....