Avenue of the Giants Marathon Report

I was really excited for the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  I picked this particular race because it looked gorgeous, running through enormous redwood trees, and I had never been north of Sonoma County in California, so I was looking forward to seeing new parts of the state.  I was hopeful for the race, despite some less than ideal circumstances - extensive travel/work stress in the weeks before the race, a lingering cold that made it difficult to breathe, and having to cut our trip short by a day at the last minute so that Kevin could be home to fulfill his jury duty on Monday.

I trained fairly meticulously, I had a goal finish time (4 hours) in mind, and I even packed my running stuff early (believe it or not)... including an extra pair of running shoes, in case the seriously frayed shoelace on my left shoe snapped:

We hit the road around 9am on Saturday.  It was about a 5 hour drive, but it was quite lovely. We stayed at the Days Inn in Eureka.  Luckily the toilets were sanitized!

Eureka was actually cute. We ate dinner at the Lost Coast Brewery, and then wandered around downtown.  The first Saturday of every month is city arts night where the galleries stay open late and there are a lot of street musicians.  Plus it was prom night, which is always fun to watch - high schoolers all dressed up and pretending to be adults.

There were fun murals on a lot of buildings downtown, like this ginormous octopus

On marathon morning I woke up early and had my breakfast:

Peanut butter jelly time!

Then we drove over to the starting line.  We got there so early that there wasn't even a line for the porta-potties!

Who me?  I don't hang out by the porta-potties in case I have to pee. oh wait.. I DO.

It was only 48 degrees, so I was a little cold hanging around the starting line without my jacket, but I was so glad to avoid the 80+ degree heat of Saturday.

Pre-rasce

I was able to distract myself with a great photo op with the Avenue of the Giants sign.

Which marathon is it?  Oh yeah, right...

I felt really good as the race started.  I passed a lot of people in the beginning and my mile splits were well below the 9:06 pace I needed to run a 4 hour marathon.  There was a woman who seemed to be about the same pace as me for the first 4 or 5 miles but she dropped out of sight behind me, and I didn't think much more of it, until around mile 9 when I heard two people talking about engagement stories and elopements behind me.  I listened to their conversation as they caught up to me, and as they pulled even I discovered it was the woman I had been running beside earlier.  Her name was Pam, and she was from Denver, and her newfound running buddy was Dan, from Oakland.  I fell in pace with them and our conversations really helped the next several miles go by more quickly.

At the halfway point, which was also the start, Kevin was waiting with the camera and a nice wave.  He had been talking to a lady nearby him about my marathoning history, so she hollered well wishes at me, and mentioned that "my man" had told her I was running my 6th marathon.  It was sweet, and encouraging and "my man" was only off by one!

Half way.. still feeling good. Pam (in pink) and Dan (in grey) were only a few steps ahead of me

Around mile 15 or so all those sub-9 minute miles began to take their toll.  I fell off the pace that Pam and Dan had set and ran by myself, at continually slower paces until the end.  Luckily those sub- 9 minute miles counterbalanced the 10 and 11+ minute miles I ran from mile 21 onward.

Nearing the finish line.  This was right before I told Kevin to never let me talk myself into running another marathon

In the end, I ran 4:10.  Slightly slower than I had hoped, but still a 30 minute PR.  I was sore and feeling a bit defeatist at first, but it wasn't long before I was talking about how I would adjust my training as well as my race strategy for the next one.

On the way off the Avenue and back to Highway 101 I made Kevin take a picture of me in front of a big redwood.  They really were spectacular:

And the trees were THIS BIG!

We drove back home directly from the race, stopping in the small town of Willits, CA for some lunch at a local place called Buster's Burgers and Brew.  They had a pretty tasty veggie wrap and some fabulous onion rings.  A guy sitting down the bar from us ordered the "Belly Buster", an eating challenge dish that included a burger with 4 or 5 patties and about three times as many onion rings as came in our basket:

Celebratory onion rings!

If he ate it all, he would get his photo on the wall.  Alas we wanted to get home at a reasonable hour, so we didn't stay to observe the outcome of said challenge, but my money is on violent gastro-intestinal distress of some sort.

Despite the delightful lunch, I spent much of the car ride home pondering my ideal post-race celebration dinner, and I came up with this:

Dinner at home: Pasta with cauliflower and breadcrumbs. Aka white carbs on white carbs on white carbs!

And since my dear sister responded to my post-marathon news with: "Great!  Now you can start blogging about food again!", here's the recipe:

Penne with Cauliflower and Breadcrumbs
Inspired by a pizza at Pizzetta 211 in SF and a Peter Berley recipe

For the pasta:
3/4 lb Penne pasta
1.5 Tbsp olive oil
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
salt and pepper
1 medium yellow onion, sliced fairly thinly
2 cloves garlic, chopped
~8 green olives, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 cup veggie broth
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped parsley

For the breadcrumbs:
1-2 cups of stale bread (I used leftover sourdough)
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic,  chopped
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine the chopped cauliflower with a Tbsp of olive oil and salt and pepper. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes or until well browned.

Meanwhile combine the golden raisins and the broth in a small bowl and put aside to re-hydrate.

Then, combine breadcrumb ingredients in a medium bowl. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until well browned. (can overlap with cauliflower cooking time)

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the penne according to the package directions, about 8 mins.

While the pasta water is boiling, heat the remaining 1/2 Tbsp oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute about 10 minutes, until caramelized.  Add the garlic and stir for about a minute.  Then add the sliced olives and raisins/soaking liquid and boil down until the liquid has thickened a bit. Stir in red pepper flakes.  Add pasta and 1/3 cup of pasta water to the pan.  Add lemon juice and parsley and stir to coat.

In a large serving bowl, combine pasta mixture and roasted cauliflower, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and serve.