Bay To Breakers, Baby!

Me and two girlfriends went on a road trip last weekend. We drove 8 hours to the Bay Area to run Bay to Breakers on my 48th birthday! It was the best time. A Girls Road Trip! A birthday I'll never forget.

We left after school got out on a Thursday...our car all decked out with "Bay To Breakers, Baby!" written in white shoe polish on the back.

We drove, we laughed, we talked. We stopped at In 'n Out Burger! (Yumm! We don't have those in Oregon!) We filled up our tank in the pouring rain and we laughed as a car full of young boys honked and hollered at us (surely because of our FUN rear window, not because of our extreme HOTNESS!)

We pulled into our friends' house at almost midnight, tired and rummy expecting to go straight to bed. Instead, we stayed up till almost 3am chatting, laughing, making new memories and planning our wine tasting tour the next day.

We awoke the next day. It was a glorious, sunny day in the East Bay. We went for our last training run...3 miles thru the neighborhood streets of Danville. We came back, showered and took off on our next adventure! Wine tasting thru Napa Valley.

We had an incredible day. Wine tasting. Private tours. VIP service at our friends' restaurants. A drive along Napa's beautiful Silverado Trail. We ate until we couldn't take one more bite. We drank until our hearts content. We even mustered up the energy to hit a local bar and dance a little bit...before we retired for the evening.

Then, it was up and at 'em early the next day! We drove into the city and hopped a ferry from Larkspur to SF for a day of shopping, walking, eating, drinking and exploring! It was so fun! Each of us had a few things on our list of what we wanted to do or see or eat! We crossed most of them off our list, including a hike up to Coit Tower. Wow! What a view!

A cab ride to Chinatown...beers on the sidewalk in North Beach...and fresh crab on the bay!





It was truly the kind of day you dream about in the city.

Then, we headed back into Larkspur on the ferry.

We had decided that day (over several cold beers!) that we were not serious about running the Bay To Breakers. We were more concerned about having fun and exploring our newfound terrain, than we were about getting a PR! So, we asked our host to take us to a dive bar! Turns out, there are no dive bars in Larkspur but, we had a great time at the local watering hole, The Silver Peso! We had planned to have one beer and then, call it a night. Well...one beer turned to two and two turned to a round of kamikazes!! And, by that time, well, it was my birthday ... so, we continued to celebrate well into the wee hours of the night (er, morning!) We headed back to where we were staying...and crawled into bed around 2am. The alarm clock rudely jolted us out of bed a couple hours later and we were scrambling around in the dark to fix a cup of coffee, down a bagel and hop on the 530 ferry to SF for our race!

Good thing we had 45 minutes on the ferry to go back to sleep!

When we got off the ferry, we walked up Market Street to the Start Line. Feeling a bit queasy, I must say. Not quite sure how the next 7.4 miles would go. But, we sure looked cute in our homemade tutus!

And, then within moments, we were OFF! It was such a feeling of exhilaration to be running this race that we had talked about for so long, that we felt as if we were being propelled through the streets. Running was actually easier than walking. We passed several naked buns (my friend even slapped one while passing by!), the sun was beating down already and the road loomed ahead like a birthday gift waiting to be unwrapped! The lure of the ocean beach calling our names...We passed live bands, more nakedness, fun costumes, gorgeous waterfalls and folks who should not be wearing tutus! It was so much fun - the first time I have ever run with my camera in my hand - not wanting to miss a thing!

We ran. We walked. We stopped for water. We chatted with folks and we took a ton of pictures! I had a sign on my back that said "It's My Bday!" so, I had several people serenading me along the way and many, many more saying "Happy Birthday". It was so much fun. I was sweating so much...my shirt was soaking wet. I was certain that if I wrung it out, it would produce a very large and strong cocktail!!

Finally, we began to smell the ocean air, feel the salt air on our lips....and we saw the infamous windmills off to the right. We rounded a bend and came face to face with the glorious San Francisco Coastline....or Breakers as it is referred to. The three of us crossed the Finish Line, hand in hand. I think it was somewhere around an hour 43 minutes for the 7 mile run. We quickly grabbed water and found our way to the beach where we plopped ourselves down in the warm sand and took a nice, long nap!

 

 

It was the perfect end to a perfect race! And, one of my best birthdays yet!

"That's the thing about running - your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is." -Kara Goucher

 

the run that would not be

We sort of knew from the get-go that this half marathon would be different. We were busier than usual. Long weekend training runs got replaced with a condensed version, racing against daylight to get 'er done. We talked about how it would be so different to stay in a hotel the night before the race, not in the comfort of our own beds. We never ran the route ahead of time. Half of my toenails were black & blue from a labor day hike up South Sister. The only good thing going for us was that we'd be racing at sea level as opposed to 3.600 feet. We hoped that would make up for everything else!

The day before the race, we said good-bye to our families. My oldest son had just come home from college so, it was hard to say goodbye but atleast, it was me who was leaving this time, not him. Rachel's hubby and 3 boys were all packed in their car, heading to see family in Hood River. We both sighed as we pulled away, saying how excited we were to have a night away. From family. From responsibility. A girls day out of shopping, dining and staying in the big city, before our big race. We were excited! We were nervous. We were off!

We killed a few hours shopping at the outlets near Portland. We picked up our race packets. We checked into our hotel. We found a great little italian place to have dinner that was walking distance from our hotel so, we headed off in search of big bowls of pasta, bread and red wine! The perfect pre-race meal!!

We had a wonderful dinner. The place was so quaint, complete with red and white checked tablecloths and, a wait staff that looked like they had stepped right out of a mob movie! It was so nice to just sit and eat and drink and enjoy each other's company without any time frame or children at the table! We shared stories, talked about the upcoming race and just savored the wine and the feeling of freedom.

Then, the phone rang. It was Rachel's husband calling to say he was headed to a hospital in Portland with their oldest boy who had been experiencing scary symptoms such as weakness in his right side and trouble talking. This had happened once before, so they knew it was nothing to mess around with.

We both felt like the world was moving in slow motion as we paid our bill and walked back to the hotel. Surreal for sure. We went back to our room. She quickly grabbed her things, that she had just, hours before, set down in the room, and we headed to the hospital in the dark of night. Both of us sat in silence, not sure what to say. She prayed. I drove as fast as I could.

Soon, her husband came flying into the emergency room driveway and I said good-bye to my friend and headed back to the hotel - alone. It was such a sad, lonely feeling to walk back into our room. I couldn't help but think that this was not how I had pictured our night going. As I began to feel a little sorry for myself, I thought how sad and scared they must be sitting in the ER awaiting test results and doctor's orders.

I got into bed, but couldn't sleep. I lay awake, staring at the clock. Midnight passed. I don't know what time I finally fell asleep but, I could not make myself get out of bed the next morning. It was called the "Girlfriends Half" and my girlfriend was not with me. She was in a cold hospital room, awaiting test results and the fate of her oldest child. And to be honest, I didn't want to run 13.1 miles without her. I lay in the dark and just prayed. And cried. And prayed some more. And finally fell back asleep. When I awoke a while later, I heard the runners passing beneath my hotel window. I quietly pulled the curtains shut and said a prayer. A prayer for those running. For those not running. For those who were in a whole other race altogether.

It confirmed my belief that no matter how much we plan or train or think that we are in control ... we are not. Sometimes, God has other plans for us. But, He always puts us exactly where we need to be. And, this weekend was a perfect example of that - God's grace and divinity shining through in a difficult situation.

I have run for fun. I have run for time. I have run for beer. And, I've run for pie. But, this was a different kind of race. One that you just have to close your eyes and trust that God that will get you to the finish line and show you why you had to take the road you hadn't planned on taking. Everything turned out okay in the end, as I knew it would. My friend's little boy is a healthy, happy, perfectly normal 5th grader...Praise God! Life really is all about how you handle Plan B or as I like to call it - Plan G.O.D.!