Yesterday was the ZOOMArun Napa Valley . It is the first race I have had the pleasure of being an ambassador for. Once again, thank you ZOOMA for choosing me! It was a great experience. I got some great running/fitness/nutrition products and met some really great people.
Alright, so like I said, yesterday was the Inaugural ZOOMArun Napa Valley. When I heard about this race I knew I had to do it! I was born & grew up in Napa – well, until 2nd grade…then moved to the horribly boring Valley Springs…but no one wants to hear about that ;) . This is the 2nd race I have run in my home town. It was an out and back course, which are not always my favorite but the course was through the vineyards and very pretty. There were also hot air balloons floating around…which again, reminded me of my childhood. That was nice!
Here is the course from my Garmin Connect:
ZOOMArun Napa Valley Half Marathon by haleymg at Garmin Connect – Details.
I personally wished the course was in the Rutherford area, along the St. Helena Highway. It was still very nice…and luckily there was shade when I needed it most!
Before the start of the race us ambassadors got together for a photo-op :) This is a great bunch of women! We had women who run races and place 1st (damn! that will be me some day!) to women who run more for fun and the experience rather than time. It was a great combination of runners and ZOOMA did a great job chosing who to represent them…if I do say so myself.
This race had a 10k and half marathon option. Obviously I had to choose the half! It was a smaller race than I am used to, but this is the first year. They also sold out, so hopefully they will open it up to more runners next year. For being an inaugural race it was very well-organized! They had buses to shuttle runners to the race, then back to the hotel.
What I loved most about this race was running with (or by) people who I met during the course of being an ambassador. The first person I saw running by was fellow ambassador Erin . Who came in 11th overall and 2nd in her age group. She is awesome! I ran by my local Sacramento runners, they cheered me on and I cheered them on. It was so cool. I didn’t know it would mean so much to me to have people I trained with cheering me on and yelling words of encouragement. Thanks to you all – you know who you are :)
Headed to the finish!
My goal was 1:45, but I finished in 1:51:13. I started out too slow.
Overall this was a fun race. Running with girlfriends (guy friends too) a nice weekend in Napa, some yummy wine after if that is your thing – which usually would be my thing but I haven’t been in the drinking mood. It is a good course for a half marathon first timer. And I would definitely recommend applying to be a ZOOMA ambassador! The obvious perks are the products you get, but what I really loved was meeting other runners. Helping them, encouraging them and sharing our love of running.
