California Day 2: (1 Day to Race Day!)

Davis Farmers' Market

Today was also quite a day!

This morning, we drove to the Davis farmers' market with Duane, Julie, and Alex. We bought some great fresh fruit for the weekend, some raw apple cider, pumpkin bolani, and chickpea naan wraps with pakoras for lunch.

This market is HUGE. So many local farmers and other vendors, so many people attending, and so many bicycles! I kind of feel like I belong here. Davis, you're turning into my second home ;)

Then, pakoras still hot, we took a walk over to the UC Davis campus to check out Duane's office. The school is beautiful! Unlike on the east coast, everything is meant to be outdoors, including the hallways and staircases. We checked out the sociology department, ran into one of Duane's friends that we met the night before, and then walked to the beautiful campus quad where 10-year-old Alex reenacted the moment when campus police pepper-sprayed the students involved in a peaceful occupy protest.

Alex at the UC Davis campus quad.

Me, Alex, Duane, and Nick at UC Davis

We snapped a couple of pictures in front of the UC Davis sign before heading back to pack up for our drive to Santa Rosa to meet up with our team for the pasta dinner.

The drive from Davis to Santa Rosa was beautiful as well! Perhaps even more so than yesterday's drive because it wasn't all on the main highway.

We drove around a wildlife sanctuary, and had our first glimpse at wine country. The drive took much longer than expected because of traffic, but it cooled off a bit and we were able to enjoy the ride with the windows down.

San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Scenery on our way to Santa Rosa

Beautiful!

You can't see views like this in Boston!

We arrived here at the hotel around 4:45pm, and have to meet up with the team at 5:15 to drive over to the Team Challenge Pasta Party. I heading out now, but forgot one thing about this morning. I had an opportunity to go out for a brief, warm up run this morning around Davis. It's such a runner-friendly city! And bicycle friendly too :) There are paths parallel to each road for runners and bikers. The views are incredible, and it's so clean. Alex wanted to join me for a bit, so after my run he met me at the house, joined me for 1/4 of a loop around the park, then decided it was time to head home. It was a short run, but made me fall in love with Davis. It was also my first run outside of Massachusetts! See a couple pictures from the run below.

Heading to our team pasta party, but will share more after the race!

Running strong,
ashley

The view from the end of Duane's street - overlooking a farm

A circuit station set up along the run/bike path that follows
the streets in Davis - what a cute idea to keep the public healthy!

Prairie dog hole! Found along my run route.

California: Day 1 (2 days to Race Day)

Team photo after landing in San Francisco! Nick and I in the bottom right corner, Dede in the
bottom left (she sat next to us on the plane), and my mentor Leslie just to my left.

 WHAT. A. DAY.

Ginger mimosas!

I am completely exhausted. After a 6-hour flight we hung in San Francisco for a few hours to grab lunch and check out some of the local sights. We had lunch at the vegan restaurant Herbivore in Mission District, which is perhaps my new favorite place in the world. I got the "chicken" shawarma wrap, which was amazing!(Editor's note: after returning to MA I found out that VegNews Magazine, which we also saw in our travels, rated it one of the top 10 vegan dishes in Mission District!)

Vegan "chicken" shawarma from Herbivore - yum!

Then we shopped around for a bit before heading back to the rental car (getting the rental was a whole ordeal in and of itself, please don't get me started on that...).

VegNews Magazine HQ

Yes, their tails wag from solar power.

The drive to Davis was long but picturesque. We are both really bummed that we didn't get a chance to see the Golden Gate Bridge today, but I'm hoping to work it into our schedule another day this weekend before we head home. Instead, my GPS took us east over the Bay Bridge and up the I80. The further and further we got from San Francisco (which was chilly, by the way), the hotter it got. However, to our pleasant surprise, it remained dry  and comfortable.

Sacramento Valley

When we arrived at Duane's house in Davis, the birthday party was already under way. We had the opportunity to meet some of Duane's friends and colleagues from UC Davis, and unwind a bit after the long day of traveling. However, with the 3-hour time difference we both practically passed out at 10:30pm Pacific Time, which was like 1:30am on east coast time.

But I have to say that it was amazing to be able to see Duane, Julie, and Alex again! I haven't seen them for almost 2 years since they moved to the west coast. They're doing well, and we have some great activities planned for bonding time this weekend - I can't wait!

Getting some rest,
ashley

Rocky Mountains

Some photos from my first fly-over of the Rocky Mountains!

California Bound!

With my leg feeling much better this week, we set off for California at 5am today. With all the excitement, I'm not sure I slept more than 20 minutes last night, but I'm hoping that the 6 hour plane ride will help me catch up on some z's.

I had a great sendoff at work yesterday that got me even more pumped for the weekend. When I came into the office (late, I should add, because of traffic) everyone was wearing these awesome "Team Ashley" signs in support of me and my run.

What a surprise! Everyone wore them around all day, even with volunteers in the house and business meetings happening :) I seriously work with the best team ever! Everyone is really supportive and encouraging of me. Oh, and I also received this present (the best pre-race present ever!) from Angela:

 

Heading to the airport now, but I hope to post some photos from the plane. I've never flown so far from home before, so the sights will all be new.

Here's to new heights, new distances, new friends, and new adventures!

Run strong,

ashley

Long Run + New England Humidity = A True Challenge

Today was possibly the hottest, most humid day of the year so far. And, of course, the day of our 12-mile long run. It was also a holiday weekend, which meant we were all pretty much on our own to get in the mileage any way we could.

I have gotten really used to completing our long runs with the team and not really running the longer distances on my own, so all of these things were really daunting for me. But I tried not to let it stop me.

I am so lucky to have the team that I have! I found 3 other runners (Leslie, Rocco, and Carolann) that were not going out of town for the holiday, so I coordinated for us all to meet up at DW Fields Park for an earlier long run (thanks to Carolann's suggestion, a 7am run instead of 8am would help us beat some of the heat). My parents also generously agreed to set up a water stop for us at the beginning of the 3.8-mile loop so we could stop for water 3 times during the course.

Me, Carolann, Rocco, and Leslie before our 12-mile long run in the heat!

We've run some shorter runs on that loop, so we were all already familiar with it. It was just a matter of cranking out the mileage.

So, this morning I packed the water, Gatorade, and ice, and headed out to Brockton with the picnic cooler where I met up with my parents and the rest of the runners. I was actually super energetic and in high spirits, which got me off on the right foot.

Leslie and I ran the first loop or two together, and then I pulled ahead on the last lap. I'm pretty good at maintaining my pace for longer mileage, which I think will give me a great advantage on race day ;)

Having my parents there to man the water stop was AWESOME. We definitely wouldn't have made it through all 3 laps without them. I owe them so much for my success this season, and this was just the icing on the cake! There were just sitting out in the sun/shade, reading books and waiting for us to come around to pour refreshments. And they were offering a ton of encouragement :)

It was ridiculously humid, and I was finding it hard to breathe at points. But it was encouraging knowing that the weather in Napa on race day will be really dry and probably a bit cooler. It's like we always say at Team Challenge New England, we train in all conditions so that we're ready for anything!

Sweaty and exhausted, Leslie and I finished our 11.4 miles, and Rocco and Carolann finished 10. We were also joined briefly by Marisa and Amanda who did a loop before throwing in the towel - it was seriously so hot out! It really is the thought of that beautiful run in Napa that kept me going today. That and the encouragement from my mentor, Leslie, who has so much faith in me and would never let me give up. I am so ready for you, Napa!

Sweaty and exhausted, but we finished!

The one downside to today was the pavement. Like I said, we've run this loop before, but only with shorter distances. About halfway through today's run I started getting ankle pain on my right foot. I thought it was just from lack of stretching, so I stopped a few times to to some ankle rolls and calf stretches. Nothing really helped, but I made it to the end in one piece.

It's been a couple hours since I've been home and I did some reading. It turns out that the pain I have in my Achilles tendon is from running too long on uneven ground. Much of the loop at DW Fields Park is uneven or slanted pavement, so the repeated pounding without evening it out on the other side really took a toll on my leg. We're not built to run at an angle, that's for sure! And we were even debating running the last lap in reverse so that we would have a change of scenery, but decided against it at the last minute. What was I thinking?

So 2 weeks out from the big day and I have to take a few days off to rest my ankle, roll it, and stretch it. I'm hoping for a quick recovery so I can get in my last few days of hard mileage before the taper week. I'm really hoping not just to finish my first half marathon, but to set a really good PR. If I could finish in less than 2:30 I would be really happy.

All I have to do now is take care of myself and hopefully the rest will follow.

15 Days and counting!
ashley