Friday morning, about 30 of us met at the San Diego airport bright and early. Half of us hadn't even fully awoken yet. I couldn't sleep the night before. I was too excited about flying to Napa, plus it was so surreal that the time had actually come to run. In all of my packing procrastination, I was still able to get it all done and get a little shut eye before my dad came to pick me up in the morning.
When I got to the airport around 6:45am, I actually found a few other Team Challengers there waiting in line to get checked in. The lady who checked me in said that the flight had been delayed about an hour due to low ceilings in San Francisco. Yes, you heard me. Low Ceilings. It took me a few to figure out what she really meant. Low clouds. I think it was too early in the morning for her too! I told a few of my friends about the low ceilings in San Fran and we all had a good laugh. It became the joke of the flight... watch for those low ceilings as you get on the plane. It's lame, I know, but it makes me laugh.
The flight was only about an hour and a half and we landed safely in the San Francisco International Airport. Yay. My anxiety grew. I couldn't believe it was actually happening. I'm actually doing this. I must be crazy I kept telling myself. But if I'm crazy, then so are all these other people going with me. Most of us had never run any type of long distance before this, so we should all feel accomplished. I know I do.
The bus ride to our hotel in Santa Rosa was about an hour and a half. We got a very cool bus driver, Vincent, who cracked jokes a lot. He also became our tour guide through downtown San Fran. We never actually got off the bus to explore the city since we had to be at the hotel by a certain time, but Vincent gave us a quick tour of the city and drove us over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so beautiful. I did get lots of pictures, so don't worry. I'll share those with you soon. The drive to Santa Rosa was gorgeous. Lots of vineyards, mountains, and farm animals.
April and I were roommates. I couldn't have asked for a better friend to spend the weekend with. She's awesome. This girl was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis about 8 years ago, and even though she's had some flare ups through this whole thing, she still completed the race and helped get me to that finish line. I love this girl!
The first thing we did after getting settled at the hotel was joined a group of our friends at a winery. The Matanzas Creek Winery. Only a cab ride away. Our cabbie, Luther, was crazy. He seriously thought everything he said was funny. He'd say something and then start laughing. It was like this the entire cab ride there. It was an interesting ride.
The winery was so gorgeous. You have to drive past a Lavender Garden in order to get up to the building where they do the winery tour and tasting. We had a good time. I ended up buying 5 bottles of wine. Not all for me, of course. I'm not that much of a lush. Geez. Between the seven of us that went, we've got some good pictures.
The cab ride back, we didn't have Luther, but we couldn't all ride in the same cab. They split us up, 4 and 3. I rode back with Courtney and Crystal. It was fun. While we were waiting for the 2nd cab to arrive, we sort of explored the area around us, namely the Lavender Garden. It was beautiful. There was just an entire area covered with these beautiful purple flowers. I loved it. The weather was great too. It wasn't super hot like everyone had told me it was going to be. I'd say it pretty much stayed in the low 70s the entire time we were there.
The rest of the day we all pretty much just relaxed at the hotel. Some went swimming, while others took naps in their rooms to make sure they get enough rest for Sunday. We met up with the group for dinner. Well, we all tried to go as a group for dinner, but the places that they chose couldn't really accommodate 23 people, so we sort of all split up in groups. April, Phil, Caitlyn, and I went to join the Texas Team Challenge group across the way at Chevy's. It was an experience. The company was good, the food was descent, but trying to pay the bill was a nightmare. I seriously think it took 45 minutes to get it all straightened out. There was 11 of us in total. I think the Texans couldn't do their math. Originally they came up $40 short and the waitress said she couldn't split the bill individually for everyone since we were a big party. It was a big mess but it all got sorted out. We made it back to the hotel and then we pretty much passed out.
It was so nice not to have to wake up early and go training, though I found out that some people (mainly the Texans) did. April and I just stretched in the morning and got our exercise by wandering around and exploring downtown Santa Rosa. There are random statues of Snoopy, Woodstock, and Charlie Brown scattered around the area. There's even a Peanuts museum - Caitlyn went to it, we didn't. But apparently Charles Shultz lived in this area and when he died, they made a museum dedicated to his work. Or at least that's what I got from what Caitlyn said. It was cool. I got some pictures with Snoopy. There were more of him around than any of the others.
There was a mall on the other side of the freeway. April wanted to go check it out, so we did. It was just a mall like any other. I did find another Charlie Brown statue as we walked in. April and I were talking about how we could come back here to get lunch, but that never happened. It got to late. We just snacked til it was time to go to dinner. But before leaving the mall, we stopped in Hot Topic. Not like we don't have them in San Diego, but I wanted to go in since I couldn't remember the last time I was in one. We found these clip on hair extensions. Blue and Orange. Couldn't pass it up. We each bought a package and shared. What can I say, we've got team spirit! Everyone thought we actually dyed strips of our hair orange and blue. It was funny. When they realized it was just a clip, they got jealous that they didn't have one. Then it dawned on me to probably have bought the rest of them at Hot Topic and April could have sold them to raise more funds for her goal. Oh well.
We had a team meeting at 4pm before we left, where we got all the info we needed for the rest of the weekend and Jess bought stuff for us to decorate our racing singlets. I didn't have to worry about that. Mine was already blinged out. Thanks to my BFF, Jessica Davidson. She's awesome. She actually sewed sequence onto my shirt so the "Team Challenge" words really sparkled. I go so many comments on how awesome it was. Thanks Jessica!!
The pasta party was cool. It was at the Russian Valley Winery which is absolutely gorgeous. When we got there, we had a cheering squad of coaches and staff over the bridge and on the other side there were tables and tables of other Team Challenge participants from all over the US. I think there was over 500 of us. We made up 20% of the entire race on Sunday. Wow! How cool is that? AND as an entire group, Team Challenge raised over 2 million dollars!!! I couldn't believe it. We definitely are ROCK STARS!!
The entire thing Saturday night was very motivational. There were speakers, most of whom are suffering from either Crohn's or Colitis. They recognized the top 10 fundraisers. If I remember correctly, the number one fundraiser was able to raise more than $18,000! And I thought my $5300 was good. That's excellent. Though for those of us that did raise more than $5000, we got a wine gift basket. That put me at 6 bottles of wine to somehow stuff into my tiny suitcase on the way home. Now I'm a lush. Hehe.
After the party, everyone went back to their hotels and called it an early night. April and I couldn't sleep. First we had to make sure we had everything we needed for race day because once we got on those buses, there was no turning back until after completing the 13.1 mile journey. Then, we were just too excited to sleep. We had the TV on hoping it would put us to sleep, but to no avail. Space Cowboys was just too interesting. We had to turn it off and force ourselves to sleep. Eventually it happened, and when we awoke, the sun had yet to rise. 4am. Waay to early to be waking up, but when you have to be in the lobby at 4:45am, you have no choice. If we weren't on the bus at 5am, then we'd get left behind and no race for us.
It was really cool to see everyone decked out in their racing gear and decorated singlets. Some people had lots of Team Challenge spirit. One of the girls from my chapter really got into it. She had orange and blue ribbon streaming from her hair, blue leg-warmers, along with her decorated singlet. Andrea looked awesome. I didn't get a picture of it, but I'm sure one of my friends has one. I got a lot of compliments on my blinged out singlet. Thanks again Jessica!
The bus ride to the starting line was just over an hour. We got to watch the sun rise, which was really cool. Speaking of cool - the weather was COLD. I was freezing out there waiting to start the race. I'm really glad I brought some gloves. I really was hoping to find a pair of those button-down running pants that you can just rip off when needed, but I couldn't find ones without spending a lot of money. I was hoping that there'd be a pair at Ross or Marshall's but I couldn't find one. But I know for next time to get a pair to ditch when I get hot.
We all warmed up together to get the blood pumping before it started. The crazy warm-up Devon had us do, got people's attention. A photographer kept taking pictures of us. It was so funny.
Once the race started, all these different emotions went right through me. Mainly I was super excited, pumped and ready to finally take on this challenge I've been working so hard on. The first mile went by so fast. I actually ran with no problems. After that, I had to do the early bathroom break. I probably shouldn't have drank so much water so early, but I needed to stay hydrated. Oh well. That bathroom stop really did me in. First it messed up my pace and then slowed me down. I had such a good rhythm going on, but sometimes you just gotta go. Oh well.
The scenery was GORGEOUS!! I ran through wineries on either side of me. I passed horses, cows, roosters crowing at the sunrise. There was even a little girl in a pink poncho standing outside her house waving, smiling and saying hello to all the runners and walkers as we went by. My favorite was running past the Alpaca farm. I really wish I had my camera to capture all these things.
Jess Johnson, our endurance manager, was waiting at mile 6 cheering for us as we went past. She had her camera and took pictures of all of us. I'm eager to see how tired I look in that photo. :) She popped up again at mile 10. This time waiting with gummy bears to hand us as we ran by. Those were good. A little sugar to get me through the last 3.1 miles.
By mile 11, my body was ready to shut down. I started to feel an asthma attack coming on and called for April, who was a few feet in front of me, to slow down. I needed to calm myself down. It's a scary thing to have an asthma attack and not be able to breathe - gasping for air. I totally freaked out April. In all four months that we've been training together, I have not had one asthma attack. And for it to happen on race day, just plain sucked. But I got it under control and pushed on. I think I just started to get a little emotional which just set things off. It was stupid, but it happened and I survived.
Mile 12 - so close to the end. We ended up running through a little suburb in a park. There were a couple guys getting ready for baseball or something that asked how much more we had to run. "About a mile," we replied. With which they responded, "Just sprint the last mile." I retorted with a "HELL NO! I just had an asthma attack and don't want another." April and I just laughed and continued on.
Speaking of asthma attack - would you believe that I had ANOTHER one?! Seriously. I don't know what came over me. April and I were only a few feet away from the finish line and I felt another one come on. April heard me wheezing and told me I couldn't let it happen until after I crossed that finish line.
"And it shall be done," my body said. I did it! I crossed the finish line. 3:31 was my time. For my first half marathon, I am very proud of myself. Yes, it would have been nicer to have a better time, but considering the circumstances, I think I did pretty well. That's about a 16 minute mile. I have a new goal now - to beat my time in the next race. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually want to run another one. I had a great time and made a lot of really good friends. Definitely not going to run another big one for a while, but some of us were talking about running a little 5K or 10K in the future and letting everyone else know so that we can do it together. Sounds fun to me. A mini reunion.
I got a big fat medal after completing the race and a 13.1 finisher pin. Very exciting. I have new decorations for my wall now. :) OH and the best part was getting that wine glass to do some wine tasting afterwards. I didn't do a lot, but I did some. I was more craving water and real food than anything else. After finding all my friends and coaches and celebrating our accomplishment, we took the bus back to the hotel. I felt like a little old lady, I could barely walk. My whole body was hurting. There was a victory party that night for all the runners/walkers, and I knew that if I were to go back to the room and take a nap, I'd be out for a few hours. So I opted to just shower and relax until we left for the party. The party was fun. Nothing spectacular. Just food and music and a place for us to relish in our victory! :) hehe
Monday morning, April, Phil, Colin, Caitlyn, and I all walked (some hobbled) across the street to a little cafe we found for breakfast. A nice big fat burrito was the perfect food. I was actually going to get a bagel and cream cheese, but then I found out there was a burrito and I couldn't pass it up. It was nice just hanging out with them all. I'm totally going to miss everyone.
The flight home was eventful. First, when I went to check in, they didn't actually give me a ticket. I had to go to the kiosk at the gate in order to get my actual ticket. That was so lame. The plane was delayed an hour. Then the plane coming in was 20 minutes late. But we all made it home, said our goodbyes and took away some great memories that will last a lifetime.
I'm really glad that I decided to take the chance and do something out of the ordinary for me. It was one of the best decisions of my life. I couldn't have done it without your help though. Your generous donations, your well wishes, your support is what got me through these past 4 months. Thank you so much!
And with that, I shall close this chapter of my life in which I will never forget. Thanks so much for being a part of it.
Love,
Deb
I am very proud of you! You are a good girl!
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