Fitch Mountain Footrace - TLD Field Trip

It's been hard to find Sunday races where we can get all of Team Library Dork together, so when Chris suggested that we all trek over to Healdsburg for a race and some brewery visits, we jumped at the chance. Chris and I headed out Saturday afternoon, Amber and Dave followed that evening. A stop at the Vacaville outlets didn't yield a new running hat for me, despite looking at Nike, Adidas, and UnderArmour. The New Balance store, though, had some pretty good deals on shoes, and I ended up with a pair of 903s. We also ran into a couple other runners from Reno that Chris knew, who were on their way to the Dipsea, and weirdly staying in the same hotel as we were in San Rafael. We joined them for dinner at a San Rafael pizzeria. Amber and Dave showed up (after stopping at Gretchen's party in Truckee, lucky...) and we tried to get some rest, looking to an early morning.

We had a little drive to the race, so got out of there early Sunday morning -



and got to Healdsburg in time to check in and get a little warm-up in. (And some dog-petting time for Chris.)



The 3K and 10K runs started at the same time - the start was a little confusing, but got sorted out in about a block. We ran through a residential neighborhood of Healdsburg -



then up a pretty significant hill (I walked a couple short stretches) and around Fitch Mountain, then back to town. I swear I took a few pictures along here, but there was nothing on my camera, so I'm not sure what happened there. Have to make do with a map:



Despite the heat and a strange lack of water on the course, I was able to put a good finish on, and beat my 50:00 goal with 47:50. I somehow missed Dave coming through, despite sitting by the finish with my camera waiting for him, but did catch Amber -



We cooled off, waited for the awards (Chris won the 3K), and did some monkeying around -





Until it was lunchtime. The Bear Republic Brewery was right there in Healdsburg, and we sampled their offerings.





It was back to the hotel for a swim, shower, naps, then off to Santa Rosa that evening for sour beers and jalapeno pizza at Russian River Brewing:



(Thanks for driving, Amber...)

Monday morning we headed out to look for some trails near our hotel in San Rafael - ended up at China Camp State Park. Once we got some climbing out of the way, there were some great trails there. We did about 4 miles, good enough to keep loose in the car later.







(And thanks for the pictures there, Chris -)

After a quick swim, we checked out of our hotel and made the short trip to Marin Brewing for lunch. Not as many beers to try there, but some interesting fruity ones.





A very successful weekend of running and beer tasting. Thanks everyone!