Napa-to-Sonoma Race Expo

I had the most amazing time volunteering at the Napa-to-Sonoma Half Marathon Race Expo today at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma. I was able to chat with so many runners from all over the country. It was great to hear people's individual stories, their motivation for running, why they chose this race, who they were with, and their nerves, anxieties and excitement for the race tomorrow morning. This is a small race limited to under 3,000 runners and 70% of the field are women, many of which are running their first half marathon tomorrow morning. It was so rewarding to talk to these first timers, calm their nerves, and get them jazzed up for the race. Tomorrow morning I will be looking out for a couple of these runners that I had a great convo with and will be there to congratulate them at the finish line!

I also talked to a woman who traveled here in a group with her girlfriends and planned on running until she suffered an injury while cross training a couple of weeks ago. She, like me, is not running tomorrow and we sympathized and reminded each other that it's just not worth it to go out there and risk an even more debilitating injury that would sideline us once again. She was super sweet, gave me this big hug and shared my frustration about not being able to run tomorrow.

There were so many great people at the expo today I could go on about hundreds of them, but I'll just mention one more. A man and his beautiful wife and two young children (elementary school age) came in to pick up his race number and set his wife and kids up to volunteer tomorrow morning. I thought it was incredible that her and her two kids would be willing to get up super early and volunteer while he was running. He told me that they volunteer at every event he participates in, which is about 4-6 a year. They've volunteered at Ironman competitions and the Chicago Marathon! I was totally amazed and think it's great that him and his wife are involving their children in volunteer activities at such a young age. I can't wait to see them tomorrow morning too!

I haven't actually ran in this race since 2006 and the expo was held at the Carneros Lodge. I do not recall too many of the specific vendors that year as it was smaller but I don't recall anyone selling any shoes or running gear. The race could definitely use a major footwear and apparel sponsor. Many people were wondering why there wasn't a major footwear/apparel company at the expo and were looking to buy new running gear. I of course was sporting Brooks (outside of my Napa-to-Sonoma shirt!) and I had so many people ask me about my RUN HAPPY hat and my ST Racers, I couldn't believe it!

This race series, Wine Country Half Marathon Series, has two more events in the next couple of months (run4oregonwine.com, September 5th, and runhealdsburg.com October 30th) and I look forward to being a part of both races, ideally on the course running but I had such an amazing volunteer experience today it completely made up for not being able to run tomorrow and I would have no problem being at the races but not running.

I'm so super excited for race day tomorrow! This is a completely new race experience and I absolutely love it! I'm usually nervous and anxious and stressing out about whether or not I'll wake up to the alarm and going through those pre-race jitters. I'm exhausted from today and my fractured toe is killing me but I have such an adrenaline rush and am totally jazzed about tomorrow. For anyone who is forced change their race plans due to injury or being unprepared, I would urge them to take part on the other side of the race as a volunteer. It has been such a great experience thus far, meeting and talking to so many runners of all different abilities, ages and backgrounds - it's very inspiring.


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