Yesterday, as you may have gathered, was race day.  Both Jen and I woke up early and very excited (no sarcasm, honestly) to run the race.  Our friend, Tina, who lives in San Fran, came to meet us at our hotel at 8.00am to drive in the torrential downpour to Bothe Napa Valley State Park in Calistoga for the race.  My grumpiness truly was superior yesterday morning.  It was raining, quite cold and I was tired.  My friends found it very amusing.

The race itself was tiny.  Only 300 had signed up for it and approximately 175 turned up on race day. The other 125 were very sensible!  10K, half and full marathon!  The full marathoners are crazy!  The race is a loop and the first four miles are all uphill, and not just a sneaky little up hill; a steep, sliding backwards, full of rocks, mud full hill…  steep hill… and the downhill, boy oh boy, you might just as well have sat on your bottom and slid down it!

Anyway, surprisingly, I started to look forward to the race as there was really no other choice.  After about the first mile it became virtually impossible to run, so we hiked, and then we walked, and then we slipped, and then climbed over fallen down trees, and then we waded through ankle deep water having to hold hands to get across.  It did actually become a lot of fun and my spirits did lift as my friends, who could have ran way ahead of me, stayed by my side and we ran together.  The views were magnificent and the woodlands we ran through were breathtaking, even in the rain.  It ended up being an hysterically, fun adventure!

Our end goal was massages back at our hotel!  They were absolutely, beyond any shadow of a doubt worth waiting for.   My 75 minute massage with George was worthy of $1000!  Of course, I didn’t give him that much, but he deserved it.  I have to say, he did elbow massage my bottom a little bit too hard and now I am in severe pain!

After our massages we decided to drive over to Sonoma to have a walk around the Square and enjoy an early dinner at one of my favorite little restaurants.  “The Girl and the Fig has been on my “to go” list since one of my first trips to the West Coast many many years ago, and I couldn’t wait to share this little favorite with Jen.  I love this place.  I love the atmosphere, the friendly staff, the fabulous Rhone wine list and of course the food.  My restaurant review is to follow.

Back at the hotel at a shameful 8.15pm and tucked up in bed with an “on demand” movie in our hotel room and our amazingly expensive bottle of wine!  What a perfect day!

Episode 4 to follow.

 Tracey