September 22nd, 2012: Battleground, Washington
Because running two half marathons in 3 weeks sounded like a good idea, I decided last minute to sign up for the North County Wine Run. It didn't hurt that I would get to visit a good friend at the same time.
Leading up to the race, I had made an effort to get in a few long runs. I hadn't run more than 9 miles since the Fourth of July, but I figured it wouldn't be too hard, right? A 7 miler here and an 8 miler there, and I was ready.....
We went to packet pick-up the day before at Bold Training in Battleground. It was definitely a different scene than the Rock 'n' Roll expo I had attended in June for my last half: A small table with the registration packets and no line. With our bibs and extremely bright neon green race shirts in hand in minutes, I realized this would be a lot smaller race than I was used to.
The Half didn't start until 10am, definitely the latest race I've participated in. More time to wake up, more time to digest breakfast, more time to stretch, and more time to get nervous.
Because the race started (and ended) at one of the local wineries, The Rusty Grape Vineyard, runners and spectators were asked to park at an elementary school about a half mile down the road and take a shuttle to the start. When we arrived, about an hour before the race start, there was a rather long line of runners waiting. And the shuttle bus was pretty tiny. So instead of waiting, we were dropped off.
The race started promptly at 10 a.m. There was also a 10k going on that morning, so it looked like there were a bunch of people running the race, until they had the halfers line up at the start. I don't think I've ever been that close to the start line when the gun went off. Overall, there were 253 runners participating in the half marathon.
Now, I knew we were in for some rolling hills on this course, but I have to say, I am spoiled by my flat beach running paths here in San Diego and I definitely need to get myself into some more hill training.
Mile 1 started with a gradual uphill and then flattened out. The weather was perfect, definitely cooler than what we've been having in San Diego the past few weeks. I hadn't run in a long-sleeved shirt in months, so it was a nice change, though that didn't last long and I had it tied around my waist about 10 minutes in. I seemed to be keeping up with the pack enough to not feel discouraged right at the start.
At about mile 2.5 we started down a rather large hill. It felt great going down, until I began to think about the course map and realized that we would be trekking up this thing on the way back to the finish, right around the time when I usually regret living. I pushed that to the back of mind and decided I would deal with that when it came.
Miles 3-6 were smooth. I've come to the realization that these are usually my best miles. My breathing evens out, my body finally realizes that "we're running here" and I am able to find a comfortable pace. These were probably some of the most mild rolling hills of the race, as well.
At mile 6, we visited our first winery. And by visited, I mean the course took a detour off the road, through a grassy vineyard, a barn, and back out on to the road. There was also a water stop somewhere in between. Now, I understand that it is a "wine run", but the jont through the barn was a little odd. If I were going for a time here, and let's be honest, I'm not that person, this might have been an annoyance.
Starting up the road from the winery is where I started to lose it. Miles 6-8 were more of the same scenery (houses, open fields, trees, etc.), very pretty yet somewhat sparse. I wish there had been more support from the local residents to keep us going. This is also the point in the race where everyone started to spread out. There was serious distance between myself and the runner in front and behind. It made for a reflective run, that's for sure.
Side note: the roads were not shut down for this race, which meant that traffic was flowing freely down the road in both directions. This is probably one of the only things that really bothered me about the race, as sometimes the cars/large farm trucks didn't really have consideration for runners and blasted down the road at higher speeds. Because of this, a lot of the race was ran on the shoulder of the road in single file. It's a good thing we were out in the country.
At about mile 8.5 we happened upon the second winery, again taking a stroll through a barn and back out to the main road. At this point, I was walking through water stops and giving myself a few minutes of walking on the opposite end to convince myself I was ready to start going again. The lack of spectators made it really easy to just keep walking.
A little further up the road, about 9.5 is where it all went downhill.. and by downhill, I mean up hill..a lot. At this point, I decided that I could walk faster than I could pretend to jog, and that's exactly what I did.
I caught up with my friend who was also playing the jog/walk game at about mile 10.5. We decided to walk the uphills and jog the rest. This made it a bit easier having someone beside me who was doing the same thing. We made it all the way to the ridiculous incline (that I ran down so freely at the beginning). This hill was much larger than I remember it being, but we made it to the top slowly but surely.
Once we conquered the hill, we decided to continue with the "slowly but surely" phase of the day and did some power walking through to the last half mile. The end was a reverse of the beginning with a gradual downhill to the finish. At that point, we could see the finish line and ran it in. I have to say it wasn't the most satisfying finish, but at least I finished. My final time was 2:41:25. It was times like this when I wish I had a Garmin to accurately track my miles. I wonder what my race would have looked like had I not lost it towards the end.
Once we collected our medals, we made our way to the free food and wine. Rusty Grape was providing all runners with a glass of wine and a pasta lunch. The other two wineries we visited on the course were also available for tastings with our race entry. After lunch and a bit of relaxing, we made our way back to the car so we could take advantage of the tastings. There was also a bus available to take runners from winery to winery (for a fee) if you didn't want to drive yourself. It was nice to be able to enjoy the wineries throughout the afternoon.
Overall, I would say it was fun race. Well organized, well marked and well supported on the course. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect.
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