This blog post is a little overdue but better late than never! During the last weekend in October, my sister, Kendall, and I ran the Napa Valley Half Marathon! It was an incredible weekend and that's why I want to share it with you. Read on to learn about our epic 3 day adventure together in Reno, Lake Tahoe, Santa Rosa, and the Napa Valley region.
It all started with Kendall arriving into Reno on the evening of Thursday, October 24th. Dan and I were giddy with excitement as we waited for her to come down the escalator!
We drove straight from the airport to dinner with some good friends at one of our favorite restaurants, BJ's! We were excited to introduce Kendall to three of our closest friends in Reno- Ray, Kylie, and Kia.
After dinner, we made it back to our apartment. Nala was so happy to see her Aunt Kendall!
The following day was Friday, October 25th. It was Nevada Day which is a state holiday in Nevada which meant Dan and I had the day off! This was Kendall's first trip out to Reno to visit us so we headed up to Lake Tahoe to spend most of the day there. We explored Sand Harbor State Park, South Lake Tahoe, and went on a small hike. Around 4pm, we started our four hour drive to Santa Rosa, California! There was lots of Taylor Swift, Hamilton, and Ed Sheeran played along the drive!
We woke up around 5:30 am in our hotel room in Santa Rosa! It was race day and Kendall and I started with a healthy breakfast of yogurt bowls with bananas! We stretched and got ready for the big day.
The race was held in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park which was about a 25 minute drive from our hotel. Kendall and I quickly learned that the race was not what we thought it was. We were prepared to complete a road style marathon; however, it turns out that this race was a trail run through the park. We should have read the details more closely but we were ready to tackle it. This picture was from the start of the race.
Much of the race looked like this- rough terrain with many rocks, steep cliffs, and narrow trails. It was HARD! In fact, it was one of the hardest things I've done in my whole life and I could not have done it without Kendall.
Kendall absolutely killed this race! I was so inspired by her and she motivated me the entire time through.
During the very first mile of the race, I took a tumble and ended up needing to be seen by the medic after the first loop. I was fine but had some bleeding and some very bruised knees for the following weeks after the race. We lost time here and realized it would be extremely difficult for us to complete the full marathon (26.2 miles) in under the time limit. Therefore, we made an executive decision to switch to the half marathon.
It was hard but we finished the half marathon together and were very happy to be done.
Post race! Dan was covering our race for his journalism class so we are so thankful that he captured so many amazing moments!
We had to call our mom afterwards and update her on the end of the race!
Post race, we picked up some In n' Out for lunch! It was Kendall's first time having In n' Out and she loved it! Wes was in Oregon this same weekend and also tried In n' Out! He sent us a cute picture a couple days prior so we had Kendall recreate it too!
Part of the reason for planning the race in Napa Valley was to explore Napa and get a wine tasting in! We quickly showered at the hotel and took an Uber to Paradise Ridge Winery. We had a lovely tasting and enjoyed a gorgeous view!
Paradise Ridge had a beautiful estate with a lot of art pieces so we took some time to walk around and explore.
After the wine tasting, we took an Uber into downtown Santa Rosa and went out to a few different bars! It was such a fun night the three of us had together!
The following morning, we drove four hours back to Reno. Along the way, we stopped at Donner Memorial State Park. We explored the monument and went inside to their museum. Kendall knew some history about the Donner Party so it was super cool for all of us to learn more! She even climbed onto a big walk in Donner Lake! The water was freezing!
After we went back to check on Nala, we drove over to the University of Nevada-Reno to show her the campus. We also walked around downtown Reno before dropping her off at the airport around 5pm. It was the best weekend! I'm so grateful that Kendall made it out west to visit us and for all the adventures that were made. I can't wait until our next race together!
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