So after stuffing our faces with a fabulous homemade Thanksgiving dinner for two, we headed to Santa Barbara and the Los Padres National Forest so I could again participate in the Red Rock “Half” marathon. I had done this race two years prior and I loved it. Part of the reason we came back to CA for this assignment was so I could do some more Luis Escobar running events. Unfortunately, Red Rock was the only one I was able to do since the volunteer opportunities for La Cuesta in January filled up very quickly and the Santa Barbara Nine Trails had to be cancelled due to the devastating wildfires that destroyed a chunk of the trails.
We woke up early-ish on Friday and got all of our stuff together. I kept watching the traffic and at first it said it would take 2.5 hours to get from Huntington Beach to Santa Barbara. But as the time wore on the amount of time creeped up to about 4 hours. There was not much we could do so we just grabbed our blankets, pillows and snacks and headed out the door. A coworker was kind enough to lend me a tent even though she hardly knows me; I thought that was very generous of her. The drive was fairly straightforward and we have done it a few times before; but this time it was just bizarre, crazy traffic for no reason in strange places. That is the LA area for you I guess. We made it to the park with enough time to set up our tent and catch the beer mile before it got dark. The tent was very easy to put up and we didn’t even get too irritated with each other since we were starting to get hungry. Since we do not own sleeping bags we just brought all the blankets we have, our two pillows and a yoga mat to try to make sleeping on the ground more comfortable. After making our bed, we grabbed a celebratory beer and headed over to get my bib and watch the beer mile.
With bib in hand we headed back to the tent and decided we were too hungry to wait any longer for dinner. Jesse made awesome turkey sandwiches with Thanksgiving leftovers that really hit the spot. We sat at a picnic table and ate while watching the sun set behind the mountains. It was beautiful. More and more people started rolling in and we were happy we got there when we did. After chatting with Luis and a few other runners for a bit we headed to our tent to get warm and listen to a podcast. Jesse and I must have been tired since we fell asleep long before the podcast was over. I slept OK although I wish I had taken the yoga mat to lay on instead of letting Jesse have it.
The wake up call was very early, long before the sun came up. Lots of cars were pulling in and people were milling around trying to stay warm and drinking coffee. Jesse was going to spectate this event since the “half” marathon was the shortest distance and it was closer to 15 miles than 13.1. I joined the rest of the runners for the pre-race meeting and the usual Born to Run oath and off we went. The sun was barely starting to come up as we wove our way into the mountains. I fell in with a few other ladies and we had a great time chatting and cheering on the runners as they flew past us on the they way to the finish line.
This event is challenging, you start on a paved road which leads you to a fire road. There is a lot of climbing but you know you get to go down those hills since it is an out and back. After the three miles up the fire road, you get to start on the single track. It is a rocky technical trail but the mountain views are too hard to ignore. The mid way point aid station is at the bottom of a hella rocky hill which you have to go back up after getting your snacks. I was by myself for the second half of the run and it was a bit lonely. My knee and heel started really hurting and I didn’t even get to enjoy the fabulous downhills on the way back. I crossed the finish line and got my amulet. Jesse was standing by smiling with a cold beer in hand. I sat for awhile and hung out with some of the other runners and their friends. This event was a great time, very hard but always rewarding when you make it to the finish.
I cleaned up a bit and Jesse and I packed up our stuff, took down the tent and headed out of the forest. We decided to take a trip into Solvang since it had been so long since we have been there. The Solvang Brewing Company was our first stop since I was starving. It is right on the main street in Solvang and the people watching is always fun. Our lunch was fabulous and I had originally wanted to walk around but after all those miles and sitting for a bit I was ready to head back home to Huntington. Unfortunately the traffic going home was even worse than when we headed to Santa Barbara. I felt pretty crummy and was very sore from the run. We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the ocean as we drove along the Pacific Coast Highway but the traffic was a pain.
We finally made it home and I was able to take a nice warm shower and pretty much head to bed. Jesse is such a great support when I do these crazy events that I love even though they beat me up. I hope to participate in this event many more times in the future. It has such a great vibe and is always a fun, challenging run.
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