Wicked Wine Run...

Disclaimer:
So - I was given a new camera.  I apparently don't know how to work it right.  Because somehow I deleted all the awesome really cute pictures I took during the race.  The only photos on this blog are from the race people, the 1 I took from my phone, or if there's a shot from Heidi or Taylor.  I'm totally bummed because you all know how much I love pictures so I tried to at least be cute about it which you will see below.

This is the story about the 5K fun run that ended up being quite disastrous but my friends and I managed to slip right under the worst part of it and still have a fun day/eve.

Let’s start from the beginning:

Heidi on FB: “Jami we must do this!” The Wicked Wine Run shared.

I promptly signed up.  Um – 5K – wine.  Done.

Jami on work email: “Taylor you must join me!”  He does.

I share on FB – whose in?!  Heidi: “I better sign up!” she did. 

A few other friends did do but didn’t end up able to make on the day of.

Done.

This was of course way back when it was pretty cheap.  You could sign up for the 5K or the 1K walk and taste or both.  We did both.

Throughout the time we signed up and the day of the race this company sent the most random emails.  There were way more way more than ever necessary and none of them ever really had any useful information.   The only useful one was the packet pick up information – you can pick up a day early.  If you don’t, you don’t get a goodie bag.  Oh. Gee thanks.  You’re in Temecula.  I’m in Orange.  I apparently just got jipped out of a goodie bag.  Oh well.

With none of the emails containing much information I went to the FAQ portion on the website and got all my answers.  $10 parking and there’s a shuttle.  Blergh.  Starts at 3:30.  Race is at 5:45.  1K walk & taste starts at 7:00.  Fine.

I had Taylor and Heidi meet at moms (borrowing a car…sigh my poor truck) at 2pm.  I know it seemed early but you never know Temecula traffic and since there’s a shuttle we might as well be safe.  Thank GAWD we did.

We pile in and head out.  We arrive at the church where the shuttle is supposed to pick us up almost 3:30 exactly (Did I mention Temecula traffic?).  The very large intimidating parking lot attendant (whom I made a mental note to find him when the zombie apocalypse happens to get him in our group) is taking money.  He takes our cash then asks us how many in the car.  We tell him 3 – he writes this down and hands us a little raffle ticket.  We find out later we use this ticket to get on the shuttle which was a big yellow school bus.

We park and get in line for the shuttle.  I’m worried about getting sick as usual but I was super thrilled I didn’t get sick either way.  We wait.  And we wait.  And we wait some more.  I watch the line growing quite long behind me.  I start to wonder if this is going to be an issue later.  Boy was it.

The bus finally arrives (We find out later there is only 2 buses) and it’s about a 10 minute drive to Callaway Winery where the event is to take place.  Now I want to point out here, that no one seemed all that happy.  There was a lot wrong with this event I came to find out later, but the folks that were on the bus with us were like us – we missed the major problems that I’ll get to in a bit, but people were bitching the whole way.  I was quite surprised actually.  I mean, ya ok, the shuttle location was a bit far but get over it?  I was realizing I didn’t feel this was going to be a fun group of runners.

We arrive at the winery and the bus drops us off at the bottom of a ginormous hill.  Now – if any of you have been to Callaway you know what I’m talking about.  It’s a doozy.  As soon as we get off the bus people are pissed.  Bitching about walking up the hill, bitching about being dropped off at the bottom, bitching about the long shuttle ride, etc.  The only ones I felt bad for were the folks who brought chairs and coolers (Which was encouraged) and had to drag those up the hill.  But to all the other people – SHUT UP!  You signed up for a 5K – this is a physical activity – you are going to run or walk for 3.2 miles – suck it up bitches and walk up the hill!  Sheesh.

At the top we arrive and check in to get our bib and T-shirt.  Nice T-shirt too.  It’s the soft material kind and I love the slogan on the back – “5K with a drinking problem”.  We take our pre photo shot:

And then hang.  Heidi has another friend coming as well.  I head over to bag check and was slightly concerned.  It was a bunch of old ladies and they had one rectangle cardboard table behind them.  This is bag check?  Behind them a drop off hill that goes into the vineyard.  All I can think is how are they going to have all these bags back here.  I dropped my bag off and said a little prayer it not fall down into the depths of the vineyard.

Some dude took our photo:

And Heidi made this cute collage:

We then strolled to check out the area.  Beautiful winery.  Gorgeous views.  I took a few shots:

Sadly this is not the gorgeous shots I took.  This is some random winery picture because I'm an idiot.

4 Food trucks.  Just a couple of vendors selling stuff.  The only freebies were Peace Tea.  I got the lemonade/tea one and it was yummy!!!  There was a band just getting started and a few areas to picnic.  Not much but super pretty.

Heidi’s friend was texting her saying the shuttle line was huge and people were pissed off.  Oh lord.  Then came the announcement.  They said they were delaying the race until 6:30 due to traffic.  We walked back over to where we could see the road and it was pretty slow.  All I could think of was how long it took us to get there, only 2 busses and now there was traffic.  There was also just the one parking dude having to take cash, make change, get the count of people in the car and fill out a ticket.  I’m sure that wasn’t helping.  Oh boy.

Since it was still way early we said F it – let’s have a glass of wine!  So Taylor treated me to a Cab that was pretty decent and Heidi’s friend arrived.  They too each had a glass.  We wandered, took pictures (OH BUT MINE ARE NOT HERE ANYMORE), chatted.  We heard another delay announcement but didn’t catch the time.  About 6:30 we hunted for the Start Line (no one seemed to know where it was) and found it just as they were starting to release people in waves.  It was almost 7pm.  Oh boy.

We were off!

The terrain was rough.  Very uneven and A LOT of hills.  Now – I expected the terrain – um it’s a vineyard but not the hills.  I didn’t mind them though, figured an even better work out.  Plus the Super Gladiator I had done last week had a shit ton of hills and a zillion obstacles so this was a cake walk!  But the people!!  Again – it seemed every single person I passed (Ya passed!  I’ll get to that in a minute) was complaining!  I mean about everything!  The dirt, the course, the hills, the fact that the sky was blue, I mean come on people!  Lord.

I took some really great pictures no.  So here's a comic.

As we were going along I was realizing the majority of these people were not any sort of runners.  Now – I have done my share of fun runs.  There are always runners.  It’s usually about half and half.  Half people doing it for fun half people who are actually active or even actual runners.  Not in this case.  It didn’t look that way at 1^st, but as I passed people I was kind of amused.  I lost Heidi and her a friend a while back and Taylor was struggling a bit on the hills.  What’s weird – I wasn’t.  I completely surprised myself by how well I was doing.  I would stop and take a pic here and there:

Oh but guess what - no fucking picture!

The last time I waited for Taylor he encouraged me to go ahead.  I wouldn’t normally do this but I was feeling really good!  I didn’t want to leave him but he said just to go – he’d find me.  I told him I would take his pic coming across the finish line and headed off.  I couldn’t believe it!  I raced up those hills and passed people every time.  I stayed with my power walk pace and the only time I ran a bit was when I was coming down hills and had to do a bit of a trot jog not to fall.  I usually pass people then they pass me and we play that game the whole race but not this time!  I passed people and they didn’t pass me again!  It was incredible!  Of course this is a race that isn’t timed.  I would have actually been curious how I placed and what my time was!  

Here's a shot of Taylor on the run:

Ok, these are a late add, but the race folks emailed out pictures.  I found Taylor running and Heidi running but apparently I didn't make the cut:

But I did find these - um I'm not a ham at all:

I trotted across the finish line and felt amazing!  We were given wine glasses with a little ticket inside.  This was for a glass of wine later.  I took my glass and happily ran over to a spot where I could cheer Taylor and the girls on.  I then noticed more of the clusterfuck.  The 1K walk and taste was lining up to the right.  There were still people arriving from the buses and starting the 5K as we were finishing.  I heard the announcer saying “If you’re doing the 5K just go!  1K taste hold tight!”  People looked so lost and confused and pissed off.  It was also starting to get dark.  The sun had set and dusk was settling in.  I felt so bad for the people just getting there! 

Taylor showed up and I shot him coming across:

He looked something like this.  But of course we'll never know.

Since the 1K walk and taste line was getting longer and more unruly Taylor and I went ahead and got in line and figured we’d just grab Heidi when we found her.  The more we waited the more clusterfucky it got.  Oh boy.

Heidi and her friend ran by, we directed them to the glasses which you couldn’t even find now because it was behind an angry crowd and she joined us in line.  Right then they started the 1K.  5K people were still going!!!  I was wondering how they were going to do when it got dark!

The 1K walk and taste began and he again let us go in waves.  The course was the same as the first part of the 5K which caused many jams and confusion.  As we’re hiking back up one of the hills the later 5K folk are trying to finish.  Some would stop and think they're supposed to join us, some ran up to the tasting tables confused.  It was a mess.  Again – oh boy.

We hit our 1^st taste – a Chardonnay:

This should have been a picture of Heidi but no.  So here's just a random picture of Chardonnay.

It was actually pretty good!  We were still a bit hot from doing the 5K so a chilled white was nice.  Next up and another hill was the Rose’.  I’m not much of a fan but it was ok.

Of course this would have been of Taylor holding a glass but no.

Third was the Cab I had had earlier.  Yummy!!!  This time we used our actual wine glass when the girl offered and I think our pour was better too!

This would have been a cute picture of myself with my wine glass full of wine.  But fuck new cameras.

The lighting was dark but beautiful and the moon was glorious.  We took some more shots:

This was such a beautiful picture.  I remember taking it.  But oh wait.  It's fucking gone.  So here's a drunk cat.

Ooooo the race people got this good shot:

And the race people got this weird white washed shot:

Then we finished back at the start line again amongst the confusion and were given a Muscat – blah!  Way too sweet for me.  But we also got another wine glass.  Oh!  Ok cool.  I guess you get one for the 5K and one for the 1K.  As we double fisted our glasses up the hill people WERE STILL ARRIVING!  

Taylor took this rad shot:

We got my bag (It didn’t roll down the hill) and went to get our 5K glass of wine.  The lines were huge.  We had a moment of consideration since it was already getting later than we had planned and we still had to shuttle but we found a line that didn’t look as bad as the others and got in.  Not long at all after we were happily sitting and sipping our last glass of wine. 

Wouldn't this have been a really great picture of the three of us drinking wine?  Ya.  Would have been.

The band had stopped which surprised me and it was so dark you could barely see anything so we decided to head out.  Down the hill we went and saw a truck arriving with wine glasses and someone yelling to the angry crowds “The glasses are coming!”  Oh boy.

We got to the bottom just in time to hop on the bus and back to the parking lot we were shuttled.

Since we opted not to stay we were starving so In and Out became our choice – funny enough the place was packed with other Wine Runners.  Too funny!

We received an email the next day from the race folks offering us a free race for 2015 and apologizing for the mess.  I saw the outcry today and how bad it really was.  Apparently people waited 2 hours or more at the shuttle lines.  I had noticed that Callaway parking lot was packed so I’m sure people just drove there after waiting too long.  They ran out of wine for the 1K walk and taste and then people waited in super long lines for the 5K finisher wine.  Of course the poor folks who got there late and ran in the almost dark was an issue and the general over all confusion.  People were furious!!  Refunds are being demanded and I really can’t say I blame them.  I’m sure I would be livid if we hadn’t have lucked out like we did.  The other thing that surprised me is apparently the wine run was deleting negative comments off their Facebook page.  Oh boy.

So all in all – we did have fun.  There is a part of me that feels bad for the people that really got screwed because a lot of them did.  Especially the ones that paid a grip.  It got pretty pricy near the end.  But there were also a lot of people that were just assholes in general.  This company should not have made these sorts of errors especially if this is the 4^th year doing it.  I mean come on – 2 shuttles?  No no.  You need more shuttles, more parking lot attendants and more wine.  It’s a wine run duh!  I’m so happy my early bird nature really helped us out this time.  This was a very good example of the early bird getting the worm!  Plus a great example of a good group of people as my co-horts and I still having a fun time amongst the ruckus.

I may or may not do it next year.  I mean if it’s free it may be a fun time.  I would maybe make a weekend out of it or something but we’ll see.  Hopefully this company can get their shit together because it really does have potential to be a cool event!