1/2 Marathon Paso Robles Trip

On April 9th Belden, Seton and I ran a 1/2 Marathon in wine country. Running a full 13+ miles was clearly an excuse to spend the rest of the week vacationing, so the three of us told our bosses we'd be "outie" for the week and we packed our bags. This would be my first real vacation since I graduated college. Previous days off had been dedicated to weekend trips home to NC for weddings. While the weddings were of course memorable, they often felt like whirlwinds leaving me less relaxed then when I'd left LA LA land. It was time for a real vacation filled with relaxation, dining, and stressless travel.... boy was I mistaken - ha ha


Our first attempt at relaxation was the run. Yeah right! The race was wonderful. Centered in beautiful wine country, we ran through the vineyards and rolling farmlands. The sunrise over the hills was peaceful and the weather was perfectly cool and crisp for a morning run. . We'd stayed the night before at a motel near by. Rasila (the boy's sister) and Rodney (her husband) met us in Paso Robles to support us at the race.

Rasila and Rodney, being the avid wine lovers that they are had hit the wineries before the three of us even got are acts in gear Saturday morning. They called around 2pm when we were on the road. "Where exactly are you?" Rasila asked. The three of us laughed at each other as we explained how we'd passed our exit. It was no surprise that we'd missed our exit for the following reasons:

1) Seton was driving, but his mind was on an equation he was working on - trying to fit the line to the curve for one of his tests.

2) I was navigating, but clearly paying more attention to the IPOD songs that I just had to play for Belden

3) Belden was in the back seat. It wasn't his responsibility to watch the road and honestly can you blame a guy for missing a HUGE sign reading "Paso Robles this way" when some crappy country song is being blasted in his ear?


We finally got our directions strait and headed to meet the drunken Rodney and Rasila. This "lost trio" would be an ongoing theme during our trip. As prepared as we were with our Trip Notebook complete with itinerary and road maps, we managed to make a few wrong turns here and there throughout our vacation. Live and learn (and then re-live it as you turn around and backtrack).


The morning of the race was exciting. We arrived at the site with plenty of time to spare.
We took pictures and went to the bathroom a million and one times. Here's Seton making the long walk to the Portajohns.

Well you'd think that a group that had an hour and a half to spare would have no time making the start of the race. You'd be thinking wrong. This Chatting Threesome managed to completely miss the start. We had to run all the way back to the start line to begin the race. (Here's a picture of THE REST of the runners starting)



(And here's a picture of us to the right - the three small figures in the distance - 5 minutes behind the pack. By the way, we didn't dress alike on purpose. Promise!)


We ended up being a whole 5 minutes behind the group, but luckily it didn't take too long to catch up. Belden came in first place in his age group and Seton placed second. I came in 6th place in my age group and was thrilled that I'd shaved five minutes off my time.

"I wonder what place I would have come in if we started on time," Seton said.
"Um, you would have come in second. I'm the one who beat you ," Belden responded. Maybe Seton's brain was just dehydrated .


After the race we figured we'd take advantage of our bodies' tolerance levels. AKA - we drink one shot of wine and we're drunker than an alter boy after communion. So we headed to the local wineries. Everything was amazing. We learned about wines and the area's vineyards, we drank and we toured the area. We even went to an Olive Oil tasting. I thought of Ahmad and how he'd adore such a setting - pita bread in hand. Seton and I couldn't resist the olive oil soaps that smelled sooo amazing! Unfortunately we misread the sign. We thought they were $1 each, but were actually $7. Belden couldn't understand why we were loading our baskets. When we found out the real price, we reduced our numbers down to two each - plus some olive oil lip gloss.



This is a picture of Rasila (left) and me (right) It looks like Seton is hiding behind me. Sorry we're not paying attention to the camera. The view was just TOOO incredible! You could see vineyards for miles and miles on the rolling hills. By the way - aren't my pants totally hot!?!


The ride home that evening was a bit, well, drunken. Wait, wait, I'm not saying the driver was drunken. I believe it was Belden and he was sober, but I was not so well. Like my dear mother, one drink and I'm hung over. I had a headache from the 12-20 shots of wine I'd had, but it was well worth it. A trip to the Mexican restaurant in Morro Bay where we stayed that night made it all better. Of course Seton and I were now adjusting to the "Belden Diet" that is, we're learning quickly that we're not to eat Sugar or fats. We passed up the chips that night and spooned salsa into our mouths. YUM.