My marathon weekend, which just so happened to be my birthday weekend was a whirlwind and it started with this…
Yes, that is a picture of my car being towed away. I had just picked up the CIM (California International Marathon) booth gear from Sacramento and was on my way to Roseville to drop off the daughter when all of the sudden my check engine light went off. I was rounding a roundabout, so I was braking. When I tried to press on the gas pedal to accelerate, nothing happened. Yes, nothing.
Not all races are PR races. Some races it’s about getting out there and enjoying the experience. This is what the Bidwell Classic was for me. 2017 has been a slow start, nothing like 2016. And you want to know what? It’s okay.
On to more about the Bidwell Classic…
I love a good challenge! Joining a challenge helps give me that drive and focus I need to workout consistently. I find it difficult to workout without having a goal in mind. I would love to sign up, travel, and participate in different road races every weekend, but this is not financially feasible. (Anyone want to hire me to travel, run, and review road races?) Fortunately, I have found Challengeville.
The first race of 2017 was the Hot Chocolate 15k in San Francisco! This was my first Hot Chocolate run and I had the privilege of pacing this race with Beast Pacing. My 4:50am running partner, Kelly, joined me in San Fran for this weekend of fun! Our first stop after a 2.5 hour drive to the City by the Bay was the expo at the South San Francisco Convention Center.
The first thing I had to do as I began to write my 2016 Year in Review, was to calculate how many races I ran in 2016. I opened up an Excel spreadsheet, looked through my Instagram feed, and began adding each race date, name, and distance. I was shocked when I concluded with this:
| Distance | # of races |
| 5k | 5 |
| 10K | 5 |
| 9 miler | 1 |
| 10 miler | 2 |
| Half Marathons | 8 |
| 14 miler | 1 |
| 20 miler | 1 |
| Marathons | 6 |
| TOTAL | 29 |
