See Jane Run Half Marathon

Here it is by the numbers:
Distance? 13.1 miles
Time? 3 hours 53 minutes
Packets of Gu? 2
Shot Bloks? 6 
Water: not enough
Blisters? NONE! Thank you Road Runner!

It was an awesome weekend all in all. Bill and I headed up to Oakland on Saturday because the Marriot had a deal on hotel rooms and a shuttle to the race. So we took the deal, although it ended up not being such a deal. We hung out in Rockridge for the day. Hit up our favorite spots: Zachary's Pizza, Bittersweet. Also hit up the race "expo". So did not deserve the term expo. 3 booths does not an expo make. After all that we went to our hotel. It was a nice room, or so we thought. Cue the threatening music.
We hung out while Callie was hopefully burning off some energy and getting used to the room. Wrongo. We set up her peapod tent and started the bedtime ritual. But it was not to be. She screamed bloody murder the second the lights went out. And of course she used this as the first opporunity to work in MAMA MAMA MAMA into her screams. I was toast. So we brought her into the bed and she slept a little but we did not us because she spent her "sleep" grabbing (I'm sure she would say massaging) my throat and kicking Bill in the face. At one point I grabbed a top sheet and tried to sleep on the couch. That lasted about 5 minutes if that, because she started screaming immediately. A restful night to be sure. All in all I would venture to say that we got about 4 hours of sleep. When the clock said 5, I decided to say fuck it, lets just get up. I took a bath to try to relax my muscles since I was already tired and I hadn't even started the race yet. Got dressed and packed up. Bill was in the shower when I saw it.

A red bug crawling on the top sheet of the bed. Shit. Bedbug.  I trapped it under a waterglass to make sure. We checked some pictures and info online to be sure. We frantically started checking everything! This was soooo what we needed. I couldn't find anymore in the bed and there were no blood spots or bites on us that we could find. We suspect that the culprit was the couch. It was a red couch so it was tough to see if there were bedbugs there but I did find a dead one sitting on the top of the couch.
Bill went downstairs to tell the employee and to ask for big plastic bags to seal all of our stuff in. When he told the guy working there all he volunteered was to switch our room. When Bill came back up I was livid! When I was traveling abroad and we found bedbugs, they immediately comped our rooms and got to work helping us. So I was pissed. That's when I decided to take a picture of our little friend for proof when I sent them a nasty email and a negative review on tripadvisor. We finished packing up and headed downstairs. A different employee was there this time and she obviously was more in charge:) She immediately comped our room and gave us the line that they had never had this happen before. Ya, ok, big giant hotel chain, we totally believe that one. Buh Bye.

I was ecstatic at getting in the car and putting a few miles between us and the hotel. We parked and hit up a cafe because I wasn't about to walk up to the race and find that they were out of food. Callie and I had some yogurt and some banana bread and I had a soy latte. We met up with our peeps and relayed our adventures. Then we started stretching and getting ready! I will be honest, I was really looking forward to being away from the screaming babe for a while! Freedom! :)
We had been looking at weather reports for the day for a while. The day before they had been predicting hail! Sure wasn't looking forward to that. It would be highly motivating however. Luckily the weather totally worked out. There was a nice cool marine layer and some sunshine as well. The course was a nice view, but not a nice smell! We were walking by salt marshes and bird sanctuaries. But it was mostly flat which was a plus. We did really well for the first few miles.

At some of the stops they had gu for us. I had never tried it before, but I know its really popular with runners and bikers so I gave it a shot. The first I tried was blackberry. And in a word: YUCK! It was a bit like eating some of those jam or jelly packages they have at diners after its been heated in the microwave for a while. Gross. At a later stop I tried the chocolate one and it was much better. I also had some Cliff Shot Bloks with me which I prefer. What's not to like about margarita flavored energy chews?
I did struggle with my camel bak. I bought a smaller one this time around because I ended up getting burns under my arms from the last one that was too wide. So this time I  bought one designed for running and for women. Only problem? It only holds 50 ounces of water, which is not enough, I learned. So add a new camelbak to my list for my next race. I am also thinking about packing some "real" food in my pack. I could have definitely used part of a bagel or a banana or something.
We stopped a couple of times to stretch and get shoes straightened out and the like. It was right around mile 10 when it got really tough. We were definitely tired. I tried to minimize the amount of gu and shot bloks I was taking since I was out of water and they can dehydrate you. My hip was started to throb as were my knees. It was at that point that all we do is fantasize about our after race meal, plopping down in the grass at the finish line and getting our glass of champagne. At about mile 11 we weren't talking much anymore. All of our energy had to be focused on putting one foot in front of the other.  At about 12.5 we could see the tents! Paradise in sight!

Are we there yet?

Just before the finish line we saw our families. We were so happy to see them! Callie was waving and Bill was beaming. They all were encouraging us in their own way.

Almost There!

And then we crossed it! Felt so good!! We got our finishing medal and collapsed on the grass. We had made it just under our goal. Our goal was to finish in 4 hours and we beat it by 7 minutes!

Finish Line!

We made it!

We went to get our champagne glass only to discover they stopped pouring at noon. What time was it? 12:05.  So pissed. Jane's whole selling point is the chocolate and champagne at the finish line. Melted chocolate and an empty glass. So we took off, slowly, to go get some food.  Joints were definitely starting to tighten up, especially the back of my knees and my hips. My post race meal didn't really do enough for me. By the time we got home I was still feeling pretty weak and needed more protein. So we went to Tlaquepaque and that really hit the spot. The beans and cheese and carbs were what I needed. And a few sips of Bill's chavela definitely sealed the deal. So now I know what my post race dream meal is: al pasto super taco. Delicious!
I feel really good about what we accomplished. We have 3 more half marathons on the docket. But I am very glad that the next one isn't until the end of August!
I expected that my body would be pretty wreaked after doing 13 miles but I bounced back surprisingly well. Much better than after the Avon Walk a few years ago. I was a mess for weeks! It was really just the next day that I was wiped out. So I think I am training much better this time around! Maybe Callie is my good luck charm:)