Shoes & Gear!
Running, chatter, good food and wine in Napa! Behind the scenes of Kara Goucher's run retreat.
"Even though there were SO many different levels of runners there, everyone ran together, people were weaiting for each other, and I thought that was so cool," Kara said. Her first ever women’s running retreat, in Napa, attracted women ages 19 to 63, from beginning half-marathoners to sub three-hour marathoners.
Full-Body Strength Routine
A group of 50 women attended Kara Goucher's very first weekend running retreat for women. The retreat included workouts, wine, running, and the chance for women to learn about themselves and Goucher. Tish Hamilton, executive editor at Runner's World, attended the event and gives us a sneak peek of what it was like.
"Everybody has doubts and struggles, but we can all get through this together," Kara said, about life, not this workout, but it applies anyway! Her husband, Adam (standing and pointing at Kara on floor) led us through a full-body strength workout that requires no free weights or machines. Which makes it sound easy. It wasn’t! Look for it in the January/February issue of Runner’s World.
BRFs (Best Running Friends)
Kara called on her friends for presentations (from left): Tracey Katona (Pilates), her best friend from high school Anna Paffel (goal setting), and clean-living vegan blogger Lottie Bildirici, who taught us how to make espresso balls.
We ate well!
CA Notice at Collection.
Kara drinks wine!
"I can be a little shy, so walking out to the cocktail hour the very first night I was VERY anxious," Kara said. "I was like, Omigod, here it is, I don’t know these people, please let them like me!" Like her? We loved her! And the wine too.
Which shoes are Kara's?
Can you guess which shoes are Kara's? (Hint: Not the red ones)
Sally Bergesen talks
Sally Bergesen (standing), who spoke on Saturday night, founded the women’s athletic-gear company Oiselle (wah-zelle), which sponsors Kara and also Lauren Fleshman. Bergesen, who founded the company in 2007, holds a 2:59 marathon PR (wow!), and is the mom of two teenage-ish kids.
OMG, delicious!
I pretended I was only going to have a tiny taste of this dark chocolate mini cake. Ha! Please may I have another?
After 17 miles @ 6:20 pace!
Kara looks so happy after her Sunday morning 17-miler, despite staying up late and getting little sleep the night before. “One thing I learned from this weekend,” she said, “is I’ll never do one again while I’m training for a marathon.”
That was fun!
"I've learned that I can help women feel stronger about themselves and feel more empowered by letting them see my vulnerabilities," said Kara (front row in cap). "It's a little scary but so far it's been awesome!" With her husband (knee brace), the writer (me, in blue stripes kneeling behind the front row ) and all the retreat participants. So when can we do this again?
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