13.1 Miles...Who's Counting?

Uhhh, I am. And I'm positive that Lindsay was too! I spent the week leading up to the La Jolla Half in Las Vegas for a work event that I assumed was going to be SUPER tame (in-bed-at-10pm-tame)...how wrong I was. I don't think my head hit the pillow before 4:30am any night (yes, ME! "Narcoleptic Brooke" that falls asleep at the front row of comedy shows!)! Between drinking and dancing, I had such a fantastic time...with hell to pay on Sunday for the big race!

Here is a recap of our 13.1 mile half marathon that we completed (yes, COMPLETED) on Sunday!

4:58am: I realize I left my iPhone arm band at home in SF. Borderline tears start to form.
5:00am: Lindsay, Jon and Tammy (Jon's mom) pick me up at Mom's and we head down to the shuttle bus area. I get over the arm band and now realize that I have larger issues to face...such as 13.1 miles.

16-Second Video...it's DARK, Y'all!
5:30am-7:40am: Lindsay and I sit (freeze) our hinies off while waiting for the race to begin. The shuttle buses took us to the Del Mar Fairgrounds (13.1 miles away...are you seeing the pattern here?) and then we had to wait...and wait...and wait...for the race to begin.

23-Second Video
7:40am: And we're off! 6,000 runners hit the pavement.


Start line (obviously!)


Lindsay and me just before the race start (legs shaking uncontrollably with nerves not visible in photo)

7:40am-forever... Miles 1-8 were truly fantastic. I felt really strong and could breathe and speak easily at the same time (no small feat in my historical running experience). Lindsay and I ran together, then apart, then together, then apart. Here is a picture as we headed up the LARGE hill at mile 5 up Torrey Pines State Park. It was a gigantic hill that is exactly 1 mile long! I thought it would never end.

Torrey Pines...aka Public Enemy #1

Miles 9-10: Cursing my co-workers for the aforementioned week in Vegas. These 2 miles dragged on, and on, and on, and on. I was pretty sure I could walk faster than I was running during these two miles. I turned to my Wild 94.9 Mixes for inspiration and, as always, they (along with Missy Elliot and friends) pulled me through!
Finally, we made it to Mile 10. I paused here to grab a photo in front of the beautiful landscape and the view of La Jolla in the (not quite as far) distance. At this point, I'm realizing I might not have to hitchhike to the finish line after all...I can DO this!


Pausing to enjoy the view!

At the beginning of mile 10, we finally started to get a crowd of cheering fans...the encouraged us that, "it's just a 5K from here!", while I'm thinking in my head that a 5K is still a hell of a long way to go. Alas, we trudged on and Lindsay and I ran together for miles 10 and 11. At Mile 12, Lindsay's husband Jon pops up and is full of life and energy! I softly suggested that he may consider not talking very much to Lindsay at this particular moment as she wasn't exactly in her most chatty mood...she was definitely concentrating on just putting one foot in front of the other (we both were!). I ran on my own for the last mile as Lindsay and Jon finished up together.

Coming down the final hill into the cheering crowd and finally seeing that glorious finish line was like no other experience for me. It was breathtaking and I even got a little choked up, I must admit, as I realized that this physical exertion was finally over.

We saw my Mom, our friend Clayton, Jon's mom and Dave all waiting for us at the finish line and celebrated with beers on mom's porch after the race while enjoying the sun (hey, I live in SF now...blistering heat is a delicacy where I come from).

We had a fantastic weekend in San Diego and I am so proud of my MOM for walking 5 entire miles in the "La Jolla Stride" which was another component of the greater La Jolla activities. Mom, Jon, Tammy and Dave all took on the 5-mile stride like champs.

Congratulations to everyone for COMPLETION!


The Ladies at 2-for-1 Happy Hour on Sunday post-race

Happy (Belated) Birithday, Coach Geri!

One of my beloved marathon coaches (update to follow on half-marathon this weekend) had a BIRTHDAY last week! The team put together a quick video to wish her well... Happy Birthday, Geri!

Today is the Day!

The La Jolla 1/2 Marathon is finally HERE!!! It's 4:28am right now and I accidentally got up a little early and need to do something with my nervous energy, so blogging it is. Lindsay and Jon and Jon's mom, Tammy, will be here in 30 mins so Lindsay and I can go to the shuttle bus together and be driven 13.1 miles away. Fortunately, the race ends on the La Jolla Green, a beautiful park only 5 blocks from my Mom's abode.

I just downloaded a bunch of Wild 94.9 mixes in case Lindsay and I do separate and I need to depend on hip-hop to get me through the mileage. If you haven't heard of the Wild 94.9 mixes and you love hip-hop (and if you don't love hip-hop, you are probably not reading this blog as we are likely not even friends...ha ha, kidding), these FREE mixes are a must download. Here is the Wild 94.9 radio station link and all you do is:
1) Click on a DJ (I'd recommend starting with Victor Menagaux, Leslie Perez and Jose Melendez)
2) Right click on the "Listen" button
3) Click "Save Target As" and it will download the MP3 which you can then import into iTunes, etc. They are awesome!

T-Minus 3 hours until race time....and this blog took 4 minutes....what am I going to do for the next 26 minutes until Lindsay and Jon get here???

"Did I catch a NINER in there?"

Yes, I'm borrowing from Tommy Boy because I hit 9.4 miles today on my run!!! That is (by far) the furthest I have ever gone. Just 3.7 more miles to go to knock out the La Jolla Half Marathon next Sunday!

Here is the route I took....


In my online Runner's World Training Journal (which I LOVE), I call it the "Double Girls Loop-plus-a-little-somethin'-somethin'" route. Our "normal" girls route is 2-3 times a week at 6:15am (always - these girls are PUNCTUAL) when Valerie, Jen, Beth and I meet to hit a 4-mile loop (flat, thank you very much) which I know I have written about before but continues to just amaze me with the views of the SF Bay, beach, GG Bridge and Alcatraz. It's truly breathtaking. So today, for my "biggie", I ran the first loop with Beth, then ran the second loop with the end of a James Patterson audio book ("The Quickie"). Time flew by, but my legs were jello by the last 2 miles.

Lindsay, can't wait to run with you this weekend for a short one in San Diego, then our LONG 1/2 MARATHON next Sunday!!!

Most Amazing Husband on Earth...

For my birthday (yes, we are STILL celebrating...can you believe it?), Dave created an amazing weekend itinerary, starting with a "Save the Date" that I received on my birthday morning. The night of my birthday, he presented me with a fantastic "welcome kit" including the weekend itinerary, reviews of the hotel and surrounding areas and so much more.



We drove 3 1/2 hours to Mendocino, CA and stayed at a lovely hotel called the Brewery Gulch Inn.

Here is the view we saw while driving up to Mendocino (this is taken at about 7am):


The Brewery Gulch Inn only has 10 guest rooms...total! And, as luck would have it, we were the only guests on property when we arrived! There was another couple coming in that night (Friday night), but they weren't expected to arrive until late, so it was just us! Every need was taken care of throughout the weekend. Here are a few pictures of the hotel - just amazing.


Outside of Brewery Gulch - made of redwood that was completely salvaged by the owner himself from the local river


The fireplace set the ambience of total and complete relaxation at the inn


As you can see, I had no trouble adjusting...


The bedroom...perfect craftsmanship

Brewery Gulch Inn fosters the "you're at home" feel by having fresh coffee and tea out all day, fresh pastries that the chef made himself, and a nightly cocktail hour where all hotel guests (all 20 of us max) can get together in the lobby ("lobby" being the living room area in the photos above) from 5:30pm-6:30pm to taste wines and beers from the Mendocino area while enjoying hors d'oeuvres delicacies that the chef prepares for the group.


Remnants of a Perfect Kuchen with Fresh Blueberries...yes, we did damage.


Fresh fruit...yum

On Friday, since it was just the two of us, the hotel generously offered us a $50 credit to our bill so we could enjoy dinner in town rather than having a cocktail hour with the two of us staring at each other. We gladly accepted and headed to McCallam House, a Victorian hotel and restaurant that had one of the best burgers I've tasted in my life!


Enjoying a Martini at MacCallum

On Saturday, we woke up to a quiet hotel and wandered into the living room for breakfast (which is included). We decided to take our time and chill with a cup of coffee (and yes - new, fresh kuchen) for an hour or so before eating.


Dave getting first round of coffee


Daily Coffee Set-up


Brewery Gulch Inn Mugs that make you feel at home (unless you're at our home - which would only involve take-out cups from Peet's or SBUX)

There were two tables set (one for us and one for the other couple - Nick and Dan - that we met on our way back from dinner the previous night), and the chef came out to take our orders personally. I had to try their french toast bread pudding and Dave went with his stand-by of two eggs over-easy with home fries and bacon. Ohhhh, the bacon. This was life changing bacon and I do not use those terms lightly! We're talking locally "produced" bacon that is cut thick and - here's the kicker - seasoned with maple syrup and chili flakes!!!! Yes, amazing.


Devouring breakfast


Dave's eggs...

After breakfast, we went outside to relax (yes, more) and here is the view...awesome.

View from back porch

Normally at a hotel, we are there for just the 8-10 hours of sleeping. At Brewery Gulch Inn though, we could hardly peel ourselves away! When we finally did, we left for only short amounts of time. We headed to a wine tasting at Pacific Star Winery...they don't have the best wines, but the view while you are tasting said wines can't be beat.


Coastline of Mendocino


View by Pacific Star Winery

We then headed back to the hotel (you thought I was exaggerating, right?) and had wonderful 1 hour massages in the comforts of our own rooms. We debated whether we were missing anything by not visiting more of Mendocino and Fort Bragg (the two major towns), but decided against it and opted for reading and relaxing instead.

Saturday night, we joined the other guests (there were now probably 14 people staying at the hotel) for cocktail hour where we all scarfed down the delicious food while drinking heavily-poured (bottomless) glasses of wine. We enjoyed getting to know Nick and Dan (also from SF) and had a great time with complete strangers. Dave and I then headed out to dinner (most guests can get by with eating the heavy, heavy hors d'oeuvres for dinner, but let's be serious...I am not a small-plates-kind-of-girl). We had a wonderful meal at Mendo Bistro in Fort Bragg and then went to a bar that happened to have a band from San Diego that we liked (K-23 Orchestra). The only problem was that we got to the bar around 10pm and there was an opening band (which was actually quite good) and the main act didn't even come on until about 11:15pm....which meant that I was promptly fighting my sleepy, droopy eyelids by 11:27pm. Sadly, we headed home.


Amazing redwood tree ring

On Sunday, we lingered until about 12pm when we decided to hit up two more wineries on our way back to SF. We first went to Husch, then Navarro. We have tried Husch (their Pinot Noir) in the past, but weren't particularly overwhelmed by the tasting experience. We definitely liked the wines at Navarro (which we had never heard of prior to visiting Mendocino) and brought some home with us to enjoy.


Husch Winery Tasting

As I'm sure many couples say/experience after a weekend away, "why don't we do this more often??" - we have pledged to live that. We realized that we hadn't been away alone together since we were married (almost 4 years ago) and have now committed to going away at a bare minimum of two times a year together...just us. There is so much to see in California to start, I imagine this could keep us busy for a very long time!

Thank you, Dave, for an amazing weekend with a husband I couldn't possibly dream of being any more perfect.


Tasting on our way home.


Home sweet home...back in SF.

For more pictures (yes, there are more...this is us afterall), you can see them here.

Best 07mins, 46s Investment of Your Life.

Our friend Clayton sent this to Dave, who in turn of course sent to me.

Nothing short of hilarious!



We are in Mendocino this weekend on my birthday gift getaway! More details to follow as the weekend progresses (which kicks off in approximately 1 hr, 18 mins...not that I'm counting).

Go Sox!

The A's home opener was last night against none other than the Boston Red Sox!!! We went with a group of 15 fellow Boston College friends and ex-Bostonians to check out the game. It was a blast! Nothing says baseball like hot dogs, nachos and beer...oh, and we're in California, so nothing says baseball to Californians like hot dogs, nachos, beer, Churros and Starbucks coffee via back-pack dispenser. Ahhh, something for everyone.

We didn't take many pictures (we currently own 4 cameras and 3 of them are out of commission from recently dropping them...or I should say spiking them...on the cement). Darn those 2am bar crawls home!!! So we have had to be ever-so-grateful for our iPhone cameras in the meantime. I actually wanted to get a picture of all of the iPhones lined up taking pictures at the game last night. I don't know if it's because Apple is an SF Bay company or just because people are super-techy and gadgety here, but iPhones are absolutely everywhere.

I can't say enough about how mine has changed my life (yes, a PHONE, people!). I preach to anyone who will listen how much I love using the Google Maps (especially with the "current location" tool that finds where the h$%l I am when I'm lost as I often am), of course Gmail and web surfing, the texting "conversations" (just like Gmail) and more. Dave and I might have to consider couples therapy one of these days as it seems we are constantly having a threesome (emotionally, anyway) with Apple products.

Here are a few pics from the game (taken with aforementioned beloved iPhone!):


Papelbon...I couldn't get close enough to my boyfriend, Manny.


Great seats behind the warm-up dugout thing