Disclaimer: I received an entry to the 2020 Napa Valley Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
When I saw that BibRave was partnering with the Napa Valley Marathon weekend, I sent a text to Rachel, my sister-in-law, to see if she would be up for hosting my husband Dennis and I the first weekend in March. Her and her boyfriend, Greg, agreed and I got to work planning a trip from New York to California, for a long weekend visit that would include a scenic run through Napa Valley.
Greg is from Napa, and Rachel relocated there a few years ago, so this race was the perfect event to plan a visit around - I have found that it is much easier to visit friends and family when you have a specific date in mind, rather than the vague statements of “We should get together sometime!” that seem to plague adult life, and lead to little more than falling out of touch.
Lucky for me, I was able to snag round trip, non-stop flights for my husband and I from NY to CA for around $200, thanks to Google Flights and their price tracker feature. But of course the well laid plans of mice and men hardly ever work out perfectly, and I wound up having to head to Tijuana on a work trip for the week leading up to the race, and instead of Flying to San Francisco with Dennis we met there late Friday night.
On Saturday morning Den, Rachel, Greg and I packed up the car, and drove from San Francisco to Napa, where we would stay for the rest of the weekend. Greg and his sister Kristen were running the half as well, so she met up with us to head to the expo.
The Napa Valley Mariott played host to the expo, and the parking lot was crowded when we arrived. We headed into the hotel, and I was excited to see that there were hints of the race all over the place - not only was there a decal with the race logo on the front door, but there were photo backdrops and signs as we made our way to bib pickup.
The Napa Valley marathon was kind enough to give the members of the BibRave Pro team VIP entries, so when I entered the room for bib pickup, there was a dedicated table for Elites and VIPs. The room was full of tables with ranges of bib numbers, so no one had to wait to get thier bib. When I signed my race waiver I was given a sparkly VIP wrist band and lanyard, a goodie bag with a Nuun waterbottle and a bottle of red wine from Clif Family Vineyard, and of course, my race number!
From there we headed into the area of the expo that had vendors and the swag pickup. It was a large room, and as soon as we walked in there were several tables full of volunteers, first handing out shirts, and then handing out backpacks. I had seen the shirt before bib pickup - a long sleeve green tech shirt, but didn’t know how nice the backpack was going to be! It feels like an insulated material, and has a front zipper pocket, along with a few interior pockets. Runners were to use this bag for gear check on race morning, so each one had a luggage tag on it, which a volunteer wrote my bib number on before handing it over to me.
We walked around the expo floor, checking out the vendors. Clif family vineyards was there doing wine tastings, and inviting runners to their post-race party. In the middle of the floor was the official race merchandise, where I picked up a BoCo gear buff that was printed with the race logo, and a tank top. Nuun was also there, offering their usual expo special of three tubes plus a water bottle for $15, and I was excited to add a “California” branded Nuun water bottle to my collection. As we were headed towards the exit I spotted a stall full of Goodrs, and splurged on the limited edition Taco printed sunglasses.
After we finished going through the vendors, we headed into the hotel courtyard, where naked wines was hosting a wine tasting. The five of us hung out for a while, chatting about the race and Napa as we enjoyed a few tastings of wine.
By the time we left the race we were all hungry so we headed to Stone Brewery, where we enjoyed a late lunch. When we were done eating Kristen took us to check out the local running store, where she participates in weekly runs, and by some small miracle we all walked out without buying a new pair of shoes.
The time change was catching up with me by that point in the night, so Greg, Rachel, Dennis and I headed to the house on Greg’s family vineyard, where we would be staying for the weekend as his family was nice enough to host us. I pulled together my gear for race morning, and then, since there was no wifi at the house - we popped in a DVD. The selection was limited, so we wound up watching Shrek 2 and had fun commenting throughout, since none of us had seen the movie in at least a decade.
Eventually Greg cooked some pasta for dinner, and we got in one final carb loaded meal before the race. I headed to bed early, excited for the race morning ahead.
Being three hours behind the eastern time zone had its advantages on race morning, like when the 5:15 alarm clock went off. I had laid out all of my race day gear the night before, so I just had to get dressed and grab my gear check bag, and Greg and I were on our way. We headed to his parent’s house, and his Dad drove Greg, Kristen and I to the race start from there.
When we arrived to the start area, I parted way with Greg and Kristen, so that I could check out the “VIP start area.” It was a little chilly that morning, and the VIP area was indoors, which was a big selling point for me. The area was within the Copper Creek tasting room which was right at the start, and included a bathroom, which even had febreeze! After using the restroom and checking my bag, I headed outside and towards the start line, as we had about 15 minutes before the race would begin. On the way to the start I saw the standard bag check, and it was a unique one - there were school busses lined up with numbers on the windows, and runners were handing their bags in through the windows.
I was able to find Greg and Kristen near the start line, waiting for the clock to strike 7. Just before the start horn blew, Carson found us as well! I wanted to push myself during this race, and was nervous as the countdown to the start began. I didn’t want to race and aim for a PR, but I wanted to push myself to some degree.
The race began, and we edged towards the start line. Carson and I started off together, and we saw Greg speed by, a blur in the distance. The race wasted no time, and we headed right into the rolling hills that were promised throughout the course.
Carson and I stayed together for about the first half mile, but then we parted ways, as she was planning for a more relaxed pace. I settled into what felt like a comfortable pace, and was surprised when my watch buzzed at the end of the first mile, and showed me a sub-nine pace. Whoops. I felt good through, and kept moving forward.
Both sides of the course were lined with vineyards, rolling hills, and green as far as the eye could see. In the distance, I could even see a few hot air balloons rising into the sky.
When the second mile once again rang in at a sub-9 pace, I decided that I needed to consciously slow down. This was my first time pushing at a race post-injury, and really didn’t want to wind up injured again because I did too much, too fast. I set my watch to show my heart rate zone instead of my pace, and vowed to stay in zone 4 at most.
I got to the first water stop, and they were offering Nuun and water. I took a gel with some water, running throughout. There weren’t too many spectators out on the course, since the race ran down a single road, I was told that it made it hard for spectators.
I kept checking in with myself as the race went on, and did manage to slow down the pace. I loved the scenery, and while the rolling hills were a challenge at times, they made for a dynamic course. There were three official aid stations during the race, and the later ones had oranges and gels in addition to water and nuun. One of the vineyards had set up their own little aid station, and even had bottles of wine chilling!
The weather was nice, but by the half way point I was feeling the mileage stack up, and started trying to take in more water at the aid stations. I focused on my surroundings when the mile I was in got rough, willing myself closer to the finish line. I took three Huma Gels throughout the race, and each time it was so refreshing.
My good knee started to feel tight as I progressed into later miles in the race, but the knee that had been injured in August continued to hold up as I ran. I was nervous about the injured knee even though it felt good, and didn’t want to push too hard and wind up hurt again.
Dennis and Rachel were out cheering with Greg’s parents around mile 12, and as I came up the hill just before the mile was over I spotted them waving, and then turned what was the first corner of the course. Dennis confused me as I ran by sans glasses, as he for some reason pointed at a can of coke? I won’t pretend to understand my husband’s cheer language.
The last mile was through a more suburban area, but there were still green pastures within view. As I got closer to the finish I could see more and more spectators, and by the time I could see the finish line chute it was lined with cheering spectators - I even heard Greg cheering me in! I gave it one last push, and crossed the finish line in just over two hours and two minutes.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, a volunteer came up to me and walked with me for a moment, a nice touch that this race had for each finisher. I collected a water bottle and my finisher medal, and then walked into the finisher area. There was once again a VIP area, so I decided to check it out while we waited for Dennis and Rachel to make their way to the post-race area.
Checking out the VIP area at the finish line may have been the best decision I made that day, as they had massage tables set up for the runners, and I was able to get a really great post-race massage, that made me immediately feel better and less tight. I collected by gear check bag, and then went to find the rest of my travel party.
The post race area had plenty of refreshments, and Dennis and Greg found me and lead me to the soup line. My hands were cold, and holding some hot soup felt so good!
After exploring the post-race celebration for a little while, and collecting some food samples, we hobbled our way back to the car, so we could switch from run mode to wine tasting mode.
We spent the rest of the day sipping our way through Napa, with a little help from the race’s virtual goodie bag - certain vineyards had partnered with the race, and were offering buy one get one free tastings. To take advantage of this we headed to Miner’s, and enjoyed some delicious wine and good company.
All in all it was an awesome weekend, and we got to explore Napa in a unique way - by exploring 13.1 miles of it by foot. Make sure to keep an eye out for a race recap video, which will be coming to the blog soon!