CIM part 2 - Sacramento was pretty great, also.

Saturday, Becka and I wandered around Sacramento's weird mall, cute downtown area, the smallest Lulu ever, and dark alleys with strange art....

WHAT.

Mile 26, you're so pretty!

The expo was the EASIEST thing ever. We were in, picked up our packets, picked up our goodie bags (with our SUPER AWESOME head scarf things that I'm pretty sure saved my life on Sunday), and out in record time. The adorable t-shirt table volunteers even wrote something on my bag that I'm assuming means "Hey, awesome person, good luck to you in the typhoon, maybe build an ark!".

But, really, if you know how to translate this, let me know....

We headed for lunch at Firestone Pub. When we saw "Giant Bavarian Pretzel" on the menu, we had to try it.. giant salty carbs?? Perfect!

While we were eating (avocado egg rolls - DELICIOUS), it started monsooning a little bit. It had probably only rained for about 20 minutes, and we walked out to this....



Huh.

We headed over to Pizza Rock a few hours later for some more carbs....


Verdict: Pizza, delicious. Service, meh. But getting to see ReneighRuns? The best ever.
We also saw B's friends Luke and Courtney from Colorado, fellow SFM Ambassador CourtPancakes, the elusive (non-unicorn!) Alyssa, and tons of other twitter-ers/bloggers.

B and I headed back to the hotel (after a non-successful search high and low for donut holes - REALLY, Sacramento, what do you have against delicous breakfasts?!) pretty early, got our stuff together, and I think went to sleep around 10.

Then we ran in a typhoon.

After the typhoon, we found a Starbucks, headed back to the hotel, grabbed lunch, then off to the airport.

Our hotel - which I haven't really mentioned, but should - was GREAT. I waited until kind of the last minute, and everything near the host hotel/finish area was either booked solid or cost billions of dollars. On a wing and a prayer, I hotwired a hotel, and we ended up about 2 miles away from the finish area, AT ONE OF THE CIM HOTELS. It was pure luck. They offered free shuttle rides to/from the airport, and to/from downtown, and the CIM buses picked up at the hotel. It was A STEAL, at $60. I would totally stay there again. The hotel is kind of older and a little run down (but they are currently renovating!), and probably not in the best of areas, but not a huge deal for me, and with the shuttle, it was irrelevant becuase we weren't wandering through the neighborhood in the dark :D. They also had a free hot breakfast in the mornings, which started after we left for the race. They did put out pastries and fruit for the runners, though, which was nice. Hawthorn Suites - A++.

My fueling (I hate saying that, it sounds kind of obnoxious) was pretty weird on race day. I ate a cheese danish on the bus. I did NOT have coffee, which is new - I always have coffee. I carried a water bottle of Nuun, which I chucked around mile 8? I could NOT drink while we were running, and it honestly was just hard for me to look up enough to take a drink out of it - had it been a normal sports bottle, maybe I could have, but not the regular bottle of water. I was kind of concerned I'd become dehydrated, which I did recognize as stupid and ironic, considering I was running in the most water ever. But I just wasn't drinking a lot. I think I took 3 GU's on the course, and took PowerAde or whatever the sports drink was a few times. But that was it. I didn't feel like I needed more, so I just didn't take in more. Considering we were out there for six hours, I'm kind of surprised I didn't die.

I will say, that we spent a ridiculous amount of time scoping out breakfast options (specifically, the very elusive DONUTS) while we were on the course. Had the right Starbucks/donuts options come along some time in the first 2 hours, it's totally possible we might have stopped running right there.

What we wore: I was concerned about the weather. In SoCal, I don't have tons of opportunity to test running in (1) cold or (2) downpours. I ended up wearing capris, knee socks, a tank, fingerless gloves, and a windbreaker. I also had a garbage bag on for around 10 miles, before the wind rendered it ineffective. And the headband wrapped up on my head like a skull cap. I brought an actual hat, but I'm glad I didn't wear it - I saw a couple people lose control of their headwear, so I think it would have some disaster potential in the wind. Around mile 23, I sure wished I'd brought my sunglasses, but come on. Who knew. Anyway, I was pretty comfortable, and didn't feel too cold/hot.

Since CIM, I feel REALLY good. I ran 5 easy miles last night with my neighbor, and nothing feels off or bad, just a little tired and tight.

Maybe long, slow marathons are my thing.