Fueling the world with Vivác

As you all know, we have these fabulous "Fueled by Vivác" sports shirts that, should you run a race in the shirt and post a photo of you in the shirt with your bib number at the race on FB, we will give you a bottle of wine! Ya, we are just cool like that.

Needless to say, the shirts seem to be more and more popular. In part due to our sponsorships of various races around New Mexico...and of course the wine. Our partnership with Chasing 3 even garnered us an off shoot of our "Fueled by Vivac" with shirts for several of their races being "Fueled by Wine". The up coming Deadman Ultra is sponsored by us as is the Taos Balloon Rally; because even hot air balloons need wine! For Deadman, we feel anyone running 54 miles, off road, in the desert, will need LOTS of wine...and a medic...and more wine.

So, as we blanket the world in "Fueled by Vivác" shirts, spreading the love of running, biking, Tris, skiing...you name it, we have grown more accustom to the conversation of the winery being brought up as we run our races. Usually the conversation is other racers jokingly asking if we have any wine on us at that moment. Being the ever constant marketer, I do consider running with wine in a camel-back so I can give samples and business cards out during the race. Why just run when I could be working too? I like to multi-task.

I digress, what I want to tell you about is the Santa Fe half marathon Jesse just ran on Sunday. He had the usual fun chats about the winery (because we only race in our red, white or black "Fueled by Vivac" shirts), but as he got into the race he found a woman actually running in a "Fueled by Vivác" shirt! Jess approached the Puerto Rico to Santa Fe transplant with "nice shirt!" her reaction was one of zeal and great excitement as she recognized Jess as one of the wine makers and asked to have a photo taken with him. We later learned that Mariela is a wine club member too! How fun is that?

As he continued, passing runners like the bad-ass he is, he found our new Los Alamos friend, Scott, also in a "Fueled by Vivác" shirt, and the team Vivác took full effect. Nothing is more fun than seeing co-racers wearing our winery shirts! Scott will join Jess at the Deadman Ultra in October. I assume in the "Fueled by Vivác" shirt.

Jess finished the race in 1hr 30mins, a PR to say the least and I am pretty sure it was the boost of Team Vivác that gave him the extra kick. Or maybe it was all the wine the night before, you never know, they do call Pinot Noir the fountain of youth wine, maybe it is good for running! Just in case it was the wine, I will pack extra Pinot for Deadman.

Treadmill Training

Treadmills should come with a warning. Not because they are dangerous in the way you are thinking, but because they seriously alter the way you run!

As I stepped onto the treadmill the other day, headphones on and plugged in, channel selected on the near by TV, I found my body settle into the familiar routine of running. The gentle glide under my feet and cushion in my knees, a fan blowing in my face cooling the drops of sweat...ahhh, running.

Disrespectfully the damn thing jerked me into a vicious incline and due to it being a treadmill it decided I would keep my pace as I raced up the "hill" and also due to it being a treadmill, I was tethered uncomfortably close to the operation panel by my headphone cord!

I hate interval settings.

After that ridiculous experience, a long summer of indoor running, and a glass (alright a bottle!) of wine, I realized that I could hit the actual pavement in the cool Fall air. I wouldn't be tethered to anything, but rather feel free to glide on the road, changing my pace any time I wanted. Free to stop for a sip of water rather than the gymnastics jump I execute on a treadmill to escape being jerked off the relentless spinning track. However, the sip of water will now need to be a handheld bottle...that I will have to run with. I wonder if Jess will run with me? I need him to hold my water.

The next day, I hit the road. As I ran, the hard surface wore at my knee joints. My iPod bored me with music that just wasn't quite right. I missed my "shows", the crappy TV I allow myself to watch while on the treadmill; it makes an hour fly by. My water bottle was really heavy too, Jess had not come with me. I also had to sprint from a very aggressive mini dog. I was miserable. That is when I realized it had only been 20mins.

I needed to meditate if i was going to get through this. Deep breaths. Settle in. My body relaxed into the familiar rhythm and like Pavlov's dog, my head gently veered to the left. I didn't realize it for a while, but as my right side narrowly escaped a close encounter with a car, I realized this was not normal. While most road runners stare down the road ahead of them, treadmill runners run with their head off to one side...as trained by the placement of the TV they watch! This does not apply to those of you that go to fancy gyms with the treadmills that have personal TVs. We live in Northern NM where you are lucky to find a gym that has a TV in it at all!

After a Forest Gump type of run, I decided the treadmill sounded appealing again. Like being called home. Running outside had proven to be highly over rated! So I again saddled up, water in my treadmill holster, cell phone in place, headphones plugged in and that glorious crap TV show blaring in my ears. My feet hit the soft whirring track and I was off...comfortable 45 degree turn to the left in my neck.

Suddenly with a loud smack and various groaning, I was pulled from my reverie. Like a fine tuned gymnast, I grabbed the side rails of the treadmill, pushed myself up and sprung my feet to a perfect 10 landing on either side of my spinning track, a slight slack in my headphone tether. I asked the tangled lump of person and headphone cord on the treadmill next to me if they were OK. "ya, ya...just not use to running with my head turned to the side!"
Newbie.

Crushing the Marathon

The Marathon of wine making is Crush. This is the time when we have grapes coming in from vineyards in the southern part of the state, our own private Estate vineyards need to be pruned, netted, harvested and then each varietal needs to be crushed, fermented, maintained, lab tested and aged. In order to make room for the new wines coming in, we need to bottle older wines! We do everything by hand so the bottling, corking and labeling is a lot of work. Mix in our regular duties of running a business and the day to day of distribution, sales, wine clubs and employees, we find ourselves in a scramble...of course we need to do it all with various events, festivals, trade shows and parties thrown in to boot! Now add to that...we have young children.

So you ask, how is the running coming along? What race do you have next? My answer is, I am in it! We literally have a constant freight train of work coming through for 3 months, after that it is more like a scenic touring train...manageable and pleasant. Jesse manages to run during this chaos, but has to do it at 4am! The rest of us try to wring out every last drop of sleep, it is rare and should be cherished.

Today we host our Annual Picking Party for the "Fire Vineyard". This event has gotten better and better each year. This will be the second year that we welcome Chef Ky Quintanilla of Lambert's Taos. Chef Ky is hands down the most incredible, inventive chef we know and his 4 course lunches on our patio are astonishing.

Bright and early, everyone starts picking grapes in the vineyard with the wine makers, which gives you the feeling of truly being a part of the magic you enjoy in the bottle. Think of it as the start of a race where you run as a sea of people, individual yet flowing through the street. Each cluster of grapes picked by your hand will be transformed into art in a bottle.

It is at lunch that you receive the lavish indulgence of that art. Wine generously pours, paired with each decadent course Chef Ky has created. Seated under the apple tress, you are welcomed into our home and our families. It is similar to how 1st time Marathoners find they are part of an inner circle of people that few get to see. We thank each new friend at the end of lunch and send them off with a bottle of last year's vintage of "Fire Vineyard" wine, a reminder of what they have helped make.

So you can see, the Marathon is under way, and while you may ask why we do it, it is no different than the reason why we run. Because we have to.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.vivacwinery.com

Wine over Running

The "Up and Over" race at the Taos Ski Valley in Northern New Mexico, is literally just that...up and over... a notoriously steep mountain. A 10K (6 mile) race, this is not for the faint of heart, literally. Starting at the base of chair one (at 9,207 feet) the race drags you straight up the face of the mountain, over the top and back down to end at the base of chair one again. An awful lot of work to end up right where you started don't you think? It seems like a great example of Buddhist philosophy.

The scenery is gorgeous, the air temp holds a slight chill and the "path" promises danger with every step. This is what you call off road racing. This is what you call an accident waiting to happen. This is what you call a good time for my husband Jesse.

So I know you guys are holding your breath in anticipation, did I derby (see "Being Derbied by Running")? No, no I didn't...because I was sitting in the sun at the base of chair one with a chilled glass of Chardonnay gleaming in my glass. I too started and ended at the base of chair one, but my experience was a hell of a lot more fun!

Jesse ran this race as part of his training for the ever nearing "Deadman Ultra". He joined me, with his  legs like jello, for a glass of wine at the end of his race and we marveled at the beauty of the mountain together.

I also enjoyed the feeling of satisfaction as I watched people wretch at the end of the race and Jesse complain of muscle fatigue, ahh yes, I again made the right decision, wine over running, yes definitely the right choice.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

Being Derbied by Running

The Olympics are over. Have the tears dried?

I was so inspired during the Olympics, seeing the life time goals reached by these incredible athletes, tears streaming, heavy sobs of joy as golds were attained...and the athletes seemed excited too!  By now all of you should realize I am a crier. This joy was juxtaposed to dreams dashed like raw eggs against a wall, tears of agony on their faces. OK, and yes mine too.

One particular athlete I was moved by, was Morgan Uceny. She tripped on the last lap of the 1500M final just as she was poised to take off from the pack, Olympic goals coming into her sights, only to trip and end up on her knees sobbing; absolute heart break.

I had a special connection to Uceny as I have "derbied" several times on long off road runs. Derbied is a term I have given to my particular style of flailing into the dirt. One of my all time favorite people, Lindsey,  plays Roller Derby and having been to some of her bouts, I have seen girls fly in a way that looked like it was more than painful! Derby falling is not just the usual fall onto the hands and knees, but is face crushing spills that wrack the body into strange contortions. This is the style in which I seem to fall on my runs...thus "Derbied".

I have derbied twice, tripped many times, but nothing is quite like the derby fall. Blood, busing and swelling are absolute results. I once fell so hard on my chest that the wind was knocked out of me and all I could think was 'wow, glad I don't have those fake boobies yet!'. The other derbied fall gave me the fun task of running the 6 miles back to the car with bleeding hands, knees and my left hip. I had to have looked like I had been attacked by a bear. Sweat had swept the streaming blood into a swirl down my legs, arms and through my clothes. It seemed only natural to tell my husband, who watched the fall and subsequent hemorrhaging, "Ya, that's right, go derby!" followed by a list of possible derby names that included wine puns or running puns. I think those 6 miles back to the car were very long for him. Amazingly I didn't cry! My supreme wit must have taken up all the juices left in my body.

Morgan Uceny wasn't "derbied" in quite the same way, but lets face it, falling in the final lap at the Olympic finals is a pride crushing, emotionally wracking event that would leave anyone in contortions of pain and bewilderment.

I hope someone had a lot of wine ready and waiting for her.

I recommend our new Riesling for wounded pride, our Refosco for emotional pain and our '09 Syrah for all contortions of pain.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

No Rest for the Weary

It is 3:00AM. I need my rest, but can't seem to get it. Why is it when you need it the most, it seems the farthest from your mind? You trick yourself into thinking your determination can alter the base needs of your body.

Rest from running is no different. I was determined that I would stay in Marathon shape so that I could simply jump into another race without as much work, HA! Not so much work, what a joke! Staying in that kind of shape is work, hell it is a full time job! Not to mention that your family has to be on board for support and their own amount of sacrifice. But beyond that, there is the body's need for rest. But what does the right amount of rest look like for your body?

Every body is different, but as I obsessively read "Runner's World" magazines and find that the recuperation of a full Marathon may take weeks or months, I tried time and again to rush it. Some how I didn't think I should need the amount of rest my body obviously did.

The pay off to taking the time to rest, is the renewed love of running. But you have to actually take that time off. My haphazard running schedule, and obvious denial of needed rest, has included a run with my husband Jesse who is deep in training for a 50 miler which means he is working on speed as much as endurance...and determination. He took me out on what would be a "quick run". In my mind this meant short, in his mind it meant...QUICK. They say, men say exactly what they mean despite women reading into it. This is a great example.

After the red faced, heart pounding want-to-throw-up "quick" run, I stopped running again. I could say it was my work load, or the kiddo being out of school for the summer, but the truth is, I simply needed the rest. I would like to tell you I was cross training, but that wasn't regular enough to really claim either. I was on exercise vacation. I felt guilty about it too.

A recent conversation with my brother-in-law Chris alleviated that guilt. Chris is a natural born runner that has run several Marathons, most with abbreviated training, he is what I call "a true runner". He had previously decided to give up running after a Marathon that he essentially did not train for at all (and managed to score a time at elevation that most people would be VERY proud of) however, he really hurt for the first time afterward. He needed rest. Needless to say, he stopped running for about 6 weeks and found that with a sudden surprise, the call to run was coming back.

Jesse took 13 days off running and missed about 80 hours of training! Ya, no joke. So he is back at it and running circles around me. Literally. We went out for another run together and this time I was on guard to run my pace, not his. So with our 52 pound 6 year old  son crammed in our BOB stroller (thank you Gods of BOB strollers!) he bolted up steep hills and back down past me, around and back up to meet me for a few minutes, then bolt off for another sprint ahead of me and circle around to find me again. It was a good run for both of us. I felt good when we finished and he got an OK work out. It was exactly 6 months to the day from running my first full Marathon.

In all honesty, this is not what I had wanted to have the evolution of my running look like, but the truth is, we can't determine what path our running (or our lives for that matter) will take,  as much as we try to. I am finally wanting to run again and that feels great. I watched the women's Olympic Marathon race and was inspired to run another Marathon. I am actually looking forward to the training! Of course first thing is first, our family has to see Jesse through his race. Who knows how much rest he might need after that, or how much wine...I am guessing a lot of wine.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!

Whine on running

It seems this blog is transforming from "running on wine" to "not running, but a lot of wine".

We find ourselves staring straight into the face of Crush. Crush starts with the vineyards being harvested. Different grapes ripen at different times so this will happen in waves over the next 2 months. Once we have the grapes at the winery, we have to crush them, separate them from the stem (for whites, press the juice off) and start fermentation. Once they are fermenting in separate vats, the reds need 4 daily punch downs in which Jess and Chris use paddles to push the grape skin cap down into the juice for better extraction. The wines need constant monitoring and testing to guild them through fermentation in the slow, gentle manner we like. Then we press the reds. Pressing is a big job when you use 2 side by side traditional basket presses with hand hydraulics. This all happens (from picking to pressing) when the grapes are ready so we suddenly become "on call" during the 2 months of Crush. The grapes need to be dealt with immediately so that might mean working late into the night or at the break of day...or both.

This also means my sister-in-law Lili and I pick up the slack, a lot of slack, both at the winery and around the house. When Crush is over, all of us are exhausted.

So when the hell do you run?!

Distractions have already pulled Jess from training. Having just returned from Los Angeles CA, Jess found that his excitement for surfing outwayed the want to run and so skipped a week of running; a stresser for him as we hit Crush.  I have been on the path of self destruction pretty much since I ran the Napa Valley Marathon this spring and have only haphazardly run. I think it is safe to say I am no longer training for anything. Chris, with 2 kids in toe and Lili's family visiting from Mexico has left him with an acceptance of not running until next year! This isn't looking good for any of us. So with Crush being physically exhausting and extremely time consuming, there is very little time for family much less a 2-5 hour long run during this time. Yet Jess is trying to train for a 50+ mile race, I simply would rather not start at the walk/ run training all over again and Chris? Chris is probably running in his dreams, so that might be enough training for him to wake up one day and run a marathon. Bastard.

What is interesting is that, Liliana is working out at home, my parents ran every day while they were in CA on vacation and several other friends that were "inspired" by this blog are now running races! I have no idea how my complaining has inspired anyone, but cheers to all of you!

What we do seem to be doing instead of running is consuming large amounts of wine! Is it the busy season that kicks us into high stress modes, juggling working on the road, working at night, going on vacation...the new vintages that just taste so damn good? Any way you size it up, the wine is winning over the running...for now.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com