Carneros Vineyard Run - Run10k


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Napa, California
United States
Napa Valley SFAVA Association
Sunny
Total Time = 42m 2s
Overall Rank = 14/312
Age Group = M30-39
Age Group Rank = 6/40
Pre-race routine:

This race has a little bit of additional significance for me because this was the first race I ran last year when I first started training for triathlons last year. I looked back at my training logs back then and I was 148.6lbs and I’m now at 132. So, I figured I’d be faster if only because I’m lighter (the rule of thumb being 2 to 3 seconds per minute per mile for every pound difference) and hopefully also because I was stronger.

This was another “C” race for fun with no real taper beforehand and no expected time off afterward. DW was out of town, but my buddy BK was going to join me on this race. Since DW was out of town, I had stocked up on groceries earlier in the week for my week home alone and I had a package of chicken thighs left, so that’s what we were having for dinner along with some brown rice. I picked him up at the BART station at about 8:20 while the chicken was cooking and when we got back home, we ate a quick dinner. We stayed up and chatted awhile and I went to bed at about 10:30 or so. I had trouble falling asleep, but woke up a little restless at 4:30 and just lay in bed until about 5:15 and went ahead and got up.

I had a bowl of Optimum Zen cereal, a banana, a mug of coffee (Peets again, but drip this time since I broke my French press…again…argh), and a blueberry crisp cliff bar. At about 6:15am we were out the door. I drove quickly and we were parking at about 7:15am.
Event warmup:

It was still a bit chilly outside since the sun wasn’t yet warming the area. We took an easy jog up the hill (which seemed a lot smaller than I remembered it from last year) and checked out the scene. We went to the rest room and then decided to do a little bit more warm up. We started down the course all the way back to the main road. We started walking back for awhile until we hit the uphill stretch. We slowly ran up this and did a few strides. My legs weren’t feeling very spring and fresh today, but oh well. I went to the rest room again (a much longer wait in line) and by the time I finished it was just a couple minutes before the race would start. My head was a little bit in a fog (restless sleep and allergies), but I knew that all of that would be a non-issue once I got going.

Run
  • 42m 52s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 06m 54s  min/mile
Comments:

All the 5K and runners start together. There were a lot of fast looking people in the front of the pack. I lined up about 3 people back on the right hand side. Before I knew it, there was a guy yelling “On your mark, get set…go!” We took off in a big congealed mass, but quickly sorted out. We started downhill and my legs weren’t feeling it. I passed some and was passed by some, but my legs just didn’t feel good. To be fair, it takes me a couple miles before I’m really warmed up, but that’s why BK and I jogged and did strides. I found some nice pace booty dressed all in black, but as we started up the first little uphill stretch to the main road, I start to fall behind already.

No we’re on the main road. There’s an aid station already, but for a run this short, I’ll skip all the aid stations. The road starts uphill again. The 2K marker appears and then shortly thereafter, the 5K turnaround. That’s why my pace booty was going so fast…she’s doing the 5K. Quite a few others turn around here and I see much fewer ahead on the 10K course.

I pass an older guy (i.e. 50s) on an uphill and hear him breathing heavily (why do I not seem unwilling to push myself as hard as so many others?), but am passed by much older (i.e. 60s) men who are wearing Tamalpais runners t-shirts(Mt. Tamalpais is the main mountain in Marin with a trail running club). I saw these guys last year and they are impressively fast.

There’s a younger guy with a Galaxy Granola t-shirt and an ipod. I’m very slowly reeling him in. I can hear the older guy I passed before breathing behind me and I can see his shadow and then he passes us both. Shortly thereafter, I pass the Galaxy Granola kid on a hill at about 4K.

The lead runners are already on their turnaround and I cheer them on. I start counting how many area ahead of me. Now it’s a downhill to the 10K turnaround and by this point, I’ve counted that I’m the 15th runner and I have two others, a woman and a younger guy, not far behind me. My goal is to not get passed, but we’ll have to see whose legs are fresher and stronger.

On the return run, we’re starting back uphill, but now I feel warmed up and alive. My stride smoothes out and my breathing is fairly heavy, but rhythmic. Older guy is maybe 100 ft ahead of me. I close some of the distance on the uphills, but lose it on the downhills. I can see the throngs of people on still on the out section of the course and I’m thinking, hey, I’m doing pretty well if I’m 15th. A few people on the out section of the course cheer the woman running behind me so I know she’s not far back. I see BK and we exchange cheers for one another.

I’m feeling good. I feel like I’m gliding up the hills and push on the downhill stretches. I’m slowly reeling in the guy in front of me and I no longer hear the two behind me. He’s definitely slowing on the uphills, so I’m hoping I can catch him on the uphill stretch back up to the finish. We have to maneuver around many of the 5K walkers. We pass the last/first aid station again and one of the volunteers cheers me on with a “looking good!” Now we turn off of the main road for a downhill stretch. Older guy pulls ahead again. This pace has taken a bit of a toll on my, but it’s taken a bigger toll on the guy in front of me. Soon we hit the uphill and I’m catching up quickly.

Soon enough, I’m pacing right behind him as we hit the first of the steeper uphill stretches. I pace him just long enough to check my aerobic condition; I’ve still got a bit more so I pull out to the right side of him and take the inside on the turn and pull ahead of him. He tucks in behind me and tries to keep pace, but I can hear his heavy breathing falling back. I’m comfortable running hills at the end of my run since I do two of them right at the end of my maintenance runs around my neighborhood.

Some of the 5K finishers walking back down the road are cheering us on. I hit the flat section near the top and it’s as close to a sprint as I can muster. I cross the finish line. I can’t read the clock well because of the glare from the sun, but I think it says 42:59. I stop my Garmin shortly thereafter and it says 42:58.

Time: 42:52 (official results)
Rank: 14/312 OA, 6/40 M30-39

Per my Garmin, my splits were as follows:
Mile 1 – 6:39 (the downhill section at the start and uphill onto the main road)
mile 2 – 7:21
mile 3 – 7:34
mile 4 – 7:01 (after the turnaround and I start to feel alive)
mile 5 – 6:43 (didn’t know I had this in me)
mile 6 – 6:59 (on the uphill section nonetheless!)
mile 6.2 – 6:43 pace

I was ecstatic with these results. This was more than a 7 minute PR for me on this course. Actually, this is the only 10K course I’ve ever run aside from the run section of the Treasure Island Oly last year, where I did a 46:09 10K in that race.

According to the official results, my average pace was 6:54. Wow! I never dreamed that I’d ever be able to average better than 7 min/mile. It was so awesome in the first year of training last year and even more so now in the second year of training when gains and PRs come so quickly. I know this won’t go on forever, but I’m certainly enjoying it now.

BK had only focused on training for this even a few weeks ago and he finished in 49:53. He was ecstatic about that as well since he was hoping for an 8:30 pace and he did an 8:02 pace.

Post race
Warm down:

Cool down
I walked around a bit and then grabbed a bottle of water and started walking back down the hill to help bring BK to the finish. I walked down about half way down the hill and saw BK coming up. I ran beside him and a bit in front of him (he later told me that if I had been running beside him instead, he would have slowed down). We grabbed some more water and walked around a little bit to cool off. We split a Powerbar Natural. We then went to retrieve our shirts and our free glass of wine (Chardonnay). The woman handing out the wine asked me if I was 21. Wow! I haven’t been asked that in a long time. I said, I’m long past 21 and she said it must be the youthful glow from having run the race. We hung around for a little bit, stretched some more, and then walked back to the car. Stretched some more. Split a Zone Perfect bar.


Post Race
Here is the best post-race, uh, nourishment I’ve ever had. We had an 11:00AM appointment at Pride Mountain Vineyard, my favorite winery (if you want a great wine tasting experience, go here and see Jason. Tell him I sent you (use my real name and not my pseudonym!) and he’ll take care of you). We were running early, so when we reached St. Helena, I stopped off at Merryvale so we could do a tasting. We did the red wine tasting, but not the Profile (their signature red wine) tasting. First two syrahs were blah. Merlot was blah. The Oakville Grade was decent ($75/bottle). We were the only customers tasting at that time and we were chatting it up with the guy and had told him about our race when he asked what we were up to today. He opened up a bottle of 1999 Profile (and 1999 being one an excellent vintage out of an decade of excellent vintages in Napa) and gave us a splash as a reward for our run today. That was a very nice wine, but at $125/bottle we weren’t going to buy. Wine on an empty stomach and slightly dehydrated, leads for quick buzz.

It’s 10:50am so I drive us up Spring Mountain Rd. to get to Pride. We go into the tasting room, their new one. Jason greets me and we chat it up a bit. They’re only officially pouring the chardonnay (nice Chablis style, rather than the heavily oaked dense California style) and the cabernet. They are also pouring the soon to be bottled Merlot release. We also get a taste of the 2002 vintage since they have a few cases of that left. Jason takes on the tour along with a few others and we get to do some barrel tasting of some Cab Franc and some Vinter’s Select Merlot. Once we’re back in the tasting room, I pick up my wine orders (I had 4 queued up here!), buy a couple more bottles, and BK buys a half a case of wine too. With all that yummy wine in us, we’re feeling very happy and any pains from the run seem long distant.

We drive back down the mountain back into Napa. We stop at Taylor’s Refresher, a sort of gourmet fast food joint, for lunch. I totally luck out and score a primo parking spot straightaway even though it’s crowded. We get in line get in line to place our order. I order the Seared Ahi Tuna sandwich (comes with spicy Asian slaw, but put the ginger wasabi mayo on the side please), BK orders a burger, and we split an order of sweet potato fries. We sit out at the picnic tables in the sun. It’s a beautiful day.

After lunch, we head over to Robert Sinskey vineyard, where this woman he knows wants him to pick up a bottle of cab franc. We take the Oakville Cross over to the Silverado Trail and head south to get there. We pull in to Robert Sinskey just behind a mini-tour bus, so I figure it’s going to be a little bit of a scene here (I’ve never been to this winery before though). We’re so spoiled on the wines from Pride, we weren’t even going to taste, but since he bought two bottles, we receive a free tasting. We tried the white blend they had (so so), the pinot (ack), and the merlot (ack). The Reserve wine was actually pretty decent at I think reasonably priced ($40 for regular sized bottle, but they only had halfs and magnums). They also gave us some tasty hors d’oeuvres (hey I spelled that correctly. Spell check didn’t flag it!).

We’re tired and wined out so it feel like a long drive back. But it was a great day – a race, a PR, some great wine, some good food, some sun, and some time with my buddy BK.



Profile Album


Last updated: 2007-03-17 12:00 AM
Running
00:42:52 | 06.21 miles | 06m 54s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/40
Overall: 0/312
Performance:
Course: The Carneros Vineyard Run is a 5K or 10K race starting at Artesa Winery in the Carneros district. This race is fund raiser for the Napa Valley Schools Fine Arts and Vocational Arts programs. The course is an out and back race that starts from the hilltop winery, goes downhill back to the main road, goes out on rolling hills to either a 5K or 10K turnaround point. Return route is the exact reverse with an uphill stretch back up the winery.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
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Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]