2,490 Feet of butt kicking elevation, baby!

Thats right, I climbed over 2,490 feet in elevation in the most beautiful half marathon I have ever done- Rodeo Beach. The race was held in California and wow I've seen some pretty beaches, but this one takes the cake. Mom and I flew out on Friday morning and landed in Oakland, from there we went to the hotel. ( Hotel was nice enough, but the area was a little iffy). We went out to Alcatraz that day and had so much fun. I love history and seeing as how Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies I was excited to see an actual prison. The prision itself was a lot bigger than I imagined, but I was totally surprised to learn that the warden and staff all lived there on the rock with their families! There was once a school, grocery store etc. It was a real town, but everything has long since closed down. After Alcatraz we went to the Ghirardelli factory mmmm. Definetly worth the walk. It is amazing what that company has done by including one ingredient in everything they sell.

We got back to our hotel pretty early and I got all my running gear ready for the race in the morning. I had my mint chocolate gu ( four of them one for before the race, one for during the race, and a couple extras just in case I lost the first two lol) then my fully charged ipod, my trail running shoes, and the most important item: my brand new par of merino/silk scout wigwams! They are the most comfortable pair of socks I have ever worn or run in.

Race morning everything seemed to be going okay. We got up in plenty of time, but were worried that we wouldn't find the race start. We went down to breakfast-sigh... it really was just a continental breakfast: danishes, coffe and juice, but I wasn't really thinking about fuel though because I was way nervous. ( On a side note I will never again let anyone at the hotel I work at complain about anything in our continental breakfast we have everything!) Well we got our cab and after giving him our directions from the website - and then correcting the poor guy when he missed the turn off we got to the race way freaking early. I stretched and got my number and gulped down a ton of water as I had forgotten a water bottle ( stupid move!)I ate two of my gu's before the race, becuase we didn't realize how remote this place was (no restaurants, stores or even vending machines nearby) and all the food had been taken to the aid stations.

Hightlights of the race:
The start went off and I forgot to set my watch for about the first 200 meters! I tried to listen to music, but and this was the weird part - I couldn't find that rhythm/run beat so I bagged the ipod early. I was really surprised how well the birds, wind and other runners kept me entertained! I also got separated to the back of the pack quickly and ran alone for a about fifteen minutes until I caught up with another couple and she graciously let me stay on her tail as we cut through a ranch ( part of the course- not a short cut) and waved to the rancher. A few hundred meters later we saw the first wonderfully stocked aid station! I drank like three cups of water and ate a handful of red gummy bears and kept plugging along. I kind of caught up to the the group and we were going down a hill, when I tripped on a stick and got dirty and then basically jumped in a mud puddle. :) About two miles later I am completely behind everyone and running along and following the pink 200 meter markers when I missed a turn went left not right and went a quarter of mile out of my way until a woman and her dog said they hadn't seen any runners and said to go back the way I came, so I retraced my steps and found the trail again. I then took a phone call from Daddy (who was still in Salt Lake) and chatted on the trail while running. He asked when I had last seen someone and I said "Oh I saw people about a mile and half ago" he said I must be going the wrong way because he thought I said an hour and a half ago :). I made it to the second rest stop for more water and kept at it, but man it was hard. By about mile ten I saw Mom who had gotten worried about me (aww...) and was walking up to meet me and we ran the next three miles together and I finished! Whoo hoo! One of the best parts of the race was when I was going up a hill ( after this hill I tripped over a stick going down and laid there in the middle of the road for a while until I said "Okay Meagan get up- the full marathoners will be here soon" he he he) and off to my left was the beach and water and off to my right going up I could see the tips of the golden gate bridge. That was awesome! After the race I gobbled up oranges and water and a wonderful lady who also ran the race offered to give me and Mom a ride Sauslito (she was training for the Boston Marathon and ran this race with a broken toe! Yowza!) where we had an awesome lunch and shopped before taking the ferry to Fishermans Warf, then back to the hotel and then yummy pizza dinner.

On Sunday I could walk better than I expected and we went to China town and hung out there before getting on the subway and then on to the Bart system where we ran into neighbors of ours who had just come for the weekend to goof off too. ( Small world!) All in all it was a great weekend, trip and challenge and while I was so much freaking slower than I thought I was gonna be at least I finished and now I have a new bench mark of "level of toughness" with which to compare "hard" workouts to! Awesome race and I can't wait for Canyonlands in a month!
Love and blister free/broken toe free races,
Meagan

P.S. Thanks for the "Christmas" trip Mom and Dad!