CA Life, New Races

How do people travel, train, work and keep up their blogs? Some even manage to do all that and raise children.  I can't seem to get it all in. Which reads - I am not making it a priority.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks.  I've previously mentioned I have two really busy times each year at work, June and December.  Both make for some long(er) work days for a few weeks and then culminate with a four day meeting/conference somewhere awesome in CA.  For some reason that has always been followed by more travel somewhere else awesome in CA.  Last year that was Santa Barbara - Napa.  This year was Half Moon Bay for work and Dana Point for fun.  My job and Marriott points make for some amazing travel.

Northern CA

Southern CA

Needless to say, last week did not suck.  California you have my heart.  I've really nailed the work hard, play hard, run hard thing these past weeks.  Wait what was that third one?  Not so much.  I've gotten in some long/slow miles and some short/fast runs but hardly any race pace/tempo miles and I am nowhere near where I should be in terms of overall mileage.  It's not so much the fear of Zooma Half in a week, though I'd really like to sub 2 there.  It's more that I want to kick off my New York training with a good strong base and that's only 4 weeks away.  I need to get my ass in gear and start running more.

One of the few runs I actually managed in HMB

Nothing inspires me more than adding more races to my calendar so that's what I did.  

Napa To Sonoma Half Marathon 7/20
This race has been on my bucket list for a long time but it always sells out within hours.  I saw on their FB page that they allow for registration transfers.  I posted that I was looking for a bib, $150 later I was in!  I want to do all the races and drink all the wine so it's only fitting.  It's a small race with some pretty awesome runners making up the field.  It is a week before Eugene but back to back halves within 7 days is not the craziest thing I've ever done.

Giant Race Half Marathon 9/7
I love races, sports and San Francisco so this one is a no-brainer.  I ran the 10K(+ 2 miles because I missed the turnaround) when I first moved here 2 years ago and loved it.  This time I am stepping it up to the half since I'll be in the middle of NY training.

49ers Half Marathon 12/14
See reasons above.  This one I am still debating since they seem to be having some "new race issues" already but I am hoping they get those sorted out because a really want a gold football helmet medal.

After registering for these I immediately went out for a 9 mile run.  See it really does work!