This last weekend, my family and I drove to Redcrest, CA (The Redwood Forest) to run a marathon/half marathon. My sister decided 4 months ago that she was going to run another marathon and of course, the whole family had to go watch, so we all decided to run the half marathon while we were down there! FUN right!? After training for the last 4 months, a long run every weekend, injuries of the hips, knees, shins and ankles, along with sore muscles constantly, we were ready to take on the challenge.
Saturday morning, we were up at 5am to start the 7 hour journey into California. Little did we know that we picked the longest, most curvey, rainy way possible, and that it would take us 10 hours instead of the planned 7. Needless to say, the drive up there was commical, with a little yelling here and there, but was beautiful! We made it to the starting line to pick up our race packets with an hour left to spare and it was back in the car to then find the hotel and some food.
We pulled up to the hotel, which was a Motel 8...yeah we travel classy! The most amazing part about this motel was that right next door was the Eel Brewery! YAY food and tasty cold beverages! Their beer was amazing and my dad was a happy camper again...thank goodness! After dinner it was back to the room for sleepy time because it was already 8pm and we had to be up at 5am again to get ready for the race...or so my dad told us...he made noise all morning...yet he didn't do any race prep til about 6:30...when we had to leave...so of course Christine went into marathon stress mode!
Finially we were on the road again to the race...all of the nerves were up because I don't think any of us really felt ready for this race ahead. 10 minutes down the road, my dad felt the rumble of the stomach and knew he was gonna need a bathroom break sooner rather then later...and asked my mom where the TP was. Of course it was back at the room...oh man did this cause a ruckus! "DON'T TOUCH MY TP! THAT IS FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY!" my dad yelled! TP is a big deal i guess....little did I know!
Finally made it to the race and Christine took off for her 26.2 mile race at 8am. The parents and I sat around after and waited til 9am when our race began (13.1 miles). Running through the forest, you would think that it would be beautiful and life changing to be in there...which it was beautiful...but running that far, sometimes you forget to stop and look around, because all you are thinking about is finishing that darn race!
Finally the finish line was in front of me...i finished under what I had hoped for but was pleased...the parents did their goal time which was awesome and Christine came a little short of her goal time as well...but given her injuries heading into the race, she did really well!
We spent the remainder of the time in California relaxing, eating and doing a little site seeing on the drive home, which we got right, and made it back in a little less then 8 hours because of ALL the bathroom break stops we had to make!
All in all....a very accomplishing weekend and good time spent with the family that I love so dear!
