Santa Barbara, how I miss thee, too

Posted by Rachel

A while ago, Matt posted about how awesome Santa Barbara is. I can only echo those sentiments. Travers and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a "work trip" there last weekend. It started out as a little bit of debacle. Our flight from SFO was completely canceled and we ended up having to drive our car which has a check engine light on. It's great having a check engine light code reader to know what's wrong with your car, but it really doesn't help when you don't understand the problem and whether or not it's going to land you on the side of the road in Prisonville, CA in the dark. Fortunately, we made it without any issues (other than traffic). We also ate at Applebees (the only place in Salinas with a salad), which was my first time eating there in... a decade? We attended a symposium on Friday (ok, that was legitimately not vacation), but after that it was VACATION TIME.

 Santa Barbara perfection

I was super excited for my 16 mile run Saturday morning because I could run all of my old favorite routes at once (after all, 16 is long enough). My excitement faded quickly after about 4 miles when the run started feeling like death. Somewhere around mile 10 I was in the middle of a 6 mile stretch without water. I had brought $7 with me in case of an emergency that would require a short cab ride, and I was ready to pay the ENTIRE $7 to ANY random stranger than I saw that had a bottle of water. Sadly, none did. Luckily, I somehow made it despite every single intersection having a green light and denying me an opportunity to rest. After the run we could enjoy the beach and eat.

Top left: I somehow managed one of those cool jumping pictures, despite my disaster run

Bottom right: 10 points to whoever knows what Travers is holding (he knew; I didn't)

The next morning I had ANOTHER terrible run, albeit much shorter and hillier. Luckily, the beach delivered again and it turned out to be an awesome weekend. We have to go back there more often.