My weekend didn’t start off as a racecation. Initially my husband planned the weekend for a Blues Festival in Ojai. For those of you who are not from SoCa, Ojai is a quaint little mountain city north of Los Angeles in Ventura County.

He bought the tickets and booked a hotel in January and then a couple months ago I got an email saying the Mountains2Beach marathon (starts in Ojai and ends in Ventura at the beach) was moved to the weekend that we were going to be up there. I looked up where the expo, shuttles, and finish line were and low and behold they were walking distance from our hotel. Obviously I had to run it. And I’m  glad I did.

The Weekend At A Glance

Friday

I packed the car and headed to pick up the hubby at his job site. He’s working in Beverly Hills which is on the way, so it made more sense. I only mention this because I never go to Beverly Hills because it’s way to crowded, there’s A LOT of traffic and the streets are tiny, and did I mention it’s crowded. But it was fun to see all the fancy stores and houses. We also took an unexpected detour down Sunset Blvd which turned out to be cool. A lot of big trees hiding big houses.

We made it to our hotel right at check in and I was very pleased that we had a room facing the ocean rather than the parking lot. My husband doesn’t like to make special requests so I was a little worried. The hotel was very nice, recently remodeled and very clean. Yay!

We took a walk to the pier then came back for complimentary cocktail hour, then off to dinner. 

Saturday

I won’t bore you with all the details but breakfast was good and I don’t think I mentioned the weather but it was mostly cloudy with a breeze, cool but not cold, and better yet, not hot. Perfect.

We (and by we I mean the hubby) decided to drive the .7 miles to the expo (his knee is still painful). The race instructions said they were strictly enforcing a $10 parking fee but we parked just outside the gate, walked right in and got my number and (finisher’s) shirt. I also got a silicone cup for water at the fuel stops because I thought it was a cup-less race. Turns out I was the only one with this cup. Seriously, I didn’t see anyone else with a cup. I kept it stuffed in my pocket and didn’t use it. Oh well.

The expo was pretty small but I had to laugh when my husband pointed out a rack of Vuori joggers and said he thought I might like them because they were super soft. Well, duh, those are the pants I wear almost every night. Yeah, but don’t look at that price tag. Lol

Then we headed up to Ojai to get a parking spot and walk through the shops before the music festival. We got lucky and found a spot across the street from the venue. (Perfect) When I told a friend about my plans to run a half the day after attending a music festival she said “Do you usually drink at a concert?” And then “How are you going to feel running the next day.” To which I replied, “This will be a first, so I guess we’ll see.” But I generally don’t drink much at concerts, I don’t like to leave my seat because I don’t want to miss anything and also I don’t like paying outrageous prices for a glass of wine.

Having said that, I did have a few drinks. We had salami and cheese and a drink in the car (tailgating if you will) before going in, then a glass of wine inside and my husband smuggled a drink in for me later. The music was great and we had comfy seats right up front. We left by 8:30, people were pretty drunk at that point and I needed be up early so peace out to the drunk lady hanging all over everyone. I was in bed by 9:30. Perfect.

Sunday

My shuttle time was 5:15 (I picked the last shuttle) and it was a 2 minute walk from my hotel. I got there early and walked right on a shuttle, then preceded to wait an hour for the race to start. Ugh. It was chilly but bearable. I was a little worried about GI issues but all was good. I actually felt good throughout the whole race. I guess I can drink at a concert the day before a race. 

I ran close to the same runners for most of the race, typical I think. There was this one woman who looked strong with a steady pace, (I’m pretty sure she was younger than me, they usually are these days) I figured I’d try to stick with her (or a little ahead, hehe). I walked through 2 or 3 water stops but ran for the most part until mile 10.5 where there was a hill. I was going to power up it but I noticed the lady I was “competing with” walking so I thought if she can walk I can too. Haha. Then in the last mile she came up from behind me trying to pass but this is a race and no way was I going to let her pass me. I was ready for her to kick it in at the end but apparently she wasn’t aware that we were competing so I took off without her. I’m curious to see if she is in my finisher photo. 

My goal was to stay between the 2:10 and the 2:20 pacers. I lost track of the pacers but my finish time was 2:14:44. Perfect! Not bad for half-@ssed training. I credit the lady I chose to compete with. 

There was a lot going on at the finish but I grabbed some water and snacks (a box with a piece of banana, orange, watermelon & bagel, red vines, peanut M&M’s and a chocolate cookie) and started walking back to the hotel. My husband wanted to come pick me up but it was just a little over a half a mile and I felt fine.

The hotel was still serving complimentary breakfast (perfect),  I grabbed a croissant egg sandwich before heading to my room and it was delicious. 

We ended our weekend with a visit to Carpenteria  (another coastal city) for lunch. We had some amazing pizza, (perfect) drove the coast a bit then headed home. 

Overall the race was pretty well organized except (and this is big one) the marathon course was measured wrong so it may have messed up the Boston qualifiers. I’m not clear on what happened but I’m glad it didn’t effect me. 

It was a great weekend with everything falling into place perfectly. A very nice hotel with an ocean view, and all thin race related in close proximity. The music, food and weather were fantastic. And I had a pretty decent race. You can’t ask for more than thatHave you ever had a race week turn out perfect? Don’t you just love it when everything falls into place?

Thanks for reading!

           Denise

You might also like Virtual Boston Recap or  OC Half Recap .

I’m linking with Kim and Zenaida for Tuesday’s Topics.

I’m also linking with co-hosts Coach Debbie Runs, Confessions of a Mother Runner, Mile by Mile, Runs with Pugs, and Laura Norris Running 

for Runners’ Roundup