Run for fun... or for wine? Both please!

This is the normal response when I ask most of my friends: "hey, wanna do a race with me??" but for the second year in a row, I convinced 3 people (one married me so not as much choice) to run the Livermore Race with me. Myself and my friend Chad did the half marathon, while my husband, and Kelly (Chad's wife) ran the 5k Race. I promised a lovely dinner before as well as drinks after, I think that is how we hooked them all! Here is the quick breakdown of our Livermore Weekend.

Day before

Joe and I did a workout in the morning, I took a morning Bar Method class.

I took extra advantage of our long stretches, and shhhh, don't tell but perhaps I didn't hold poses quite as long or go quite as deep to save my legs a bit! My lunch was boring, chicken, sweet potato and lots of water through the day. Once we got to livermore, packet pick up and additional snacks (I had some amazing calamari) We checked into our hotel, unpacked and got ready for dinner.

Dinner at Terra Mia in Livermore. Very cozy, remember I promised a lovely evening, that's how I roped my friends!

I had delicious Salmon with potatoes/ veggies, and lots of french bread (such a weakness) I try to go easy with the fiber in the 24-48 hours before the race.

Race Day

I can't eat breakfast, but I had my sport beans packed. Today I went with Berry.

These are my MUST HAVE item for long runs and races. Due to my sensitive stomach, I just can't take too much, and this is just the right amount of calories and carbs when I start to feel fatigued.

Clothing
I wore my #lululemon pants (for races I always wear one of two pair- today I went with my blue bottoms- seen here with a #underarmor blue top (I normally wear one of these, I have many colors) Always, sporting my #asics these have been my long run training shoes, Gel-Kayano 22 Model

Since it was a COLD morning and I wished I had a long sleeve shirt, but I think the weather made me run that much faster!

As exhausted as I look, they did catch a nice background (haha, this is by far the best one of the lot)

The Course

Slightly different from last year, but ultimately through the vineyards, and quite a few hills in livermore.

We ran through the park, over the river and through the woods (literally). Due to the very cold day, while we crossed the bridges (there were three in total) it was basically an ice rink. I was a bit bewildered as it seemed I had shoes and everyone was much calmer as I was the only one on the ice skating rink AKA bridge.

Results

Now here is the biggest change from last year... I got a nice #PR oh yeah!

Not only is this my new #PR #PB Half Marathon time, but compared to last years... another great success! Maybe it was the name change? :D

This is also my first Top 10 finish, ok I know it's really only in my age group, but whatever! I'll take it so it makes me a little bit more excited to train. I was getting down on myself and feeling like my training runs were not going well. Clearly something was going right. I am stoked to hit this new #personalbest and happy because I felt great doing it. Now about ~ 2 months out, I have a new spring in my step. Let's do this!

Oh and did I mention yet again the amazing #wine event? 6 Wineries, 4 breweries all tented up for us to get some sips! After the race, it was well deserved. After ~ 1 hour it started to get a little too crowded so we made our way to lunch & beer.

Year Two in the books, total success once again! Here is our great photo post race, with celebratory drinks in hand- maybe just me, but I promise they joined me. Happy Monday, and happy Running! #rungirlsf

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