Napa Women’s Half 2023 Weekend

Running the Napa Women’s Half is a perfect excuse to spend the weekend up in Napa. At least for me, it was easy to talk my husband into spending two nights up there over a weekend. We booked a room at Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Napa Valley because it was close to the race and had a hot tub. However, their hot tub was disgustingly green with algae so I couldn’t even bring myself to dip my toe in the water.

Check out the full weekend itinerary below the weekend write-up.

The Weekend

These days, Napa wineries are very strict about allowing children on site, even newborns. After doing some research, I found that Charles Krug allowed for children and since we are members of Rombauer, we knew Apollo would be allowed there. Our first stop for the weekend was Charles Krug in St Helena. It was a very comfortable tasting where we sat at a table nibbling on a cheese and charcuterie board while the wine ambassador poured us wines and told us about the history of the winery. We had no idea it was such an old winery related to the Mondavi family. This was followed by a trip to Rombauer which was a short drive away. Rombauer is always a lovely visit with its spectacular view and beautiful grounds. We love their wines. Then on our way home on Monday, we had reservations for a wine tasting at Viansa in Sonoma. It’s a nice winery with a full deli and in late Spring/Summer, they serve pizza from their outdoor oven. Right next door is Jacuzzi where we stopped by for olive oil tasting. Apollo was able to participate in that so we had a lot of fun. We then ended our Napa/Sonoma weekend with a tasting at Cline where we also fed fish and visited the donkeys.

We had delicious meals during our time in Napa. AVOW served me a perfect pre-run dinner that included Bone Marrow, Risotto, and Sea Bass. After burning all those calories running the race, we had reservations at Napkins. Their menu looked good since I knew I would want a bunch of appetizers and a good cocktail. For the post-run dinner, we went to Morimoto. Meals at Morimoto are always superb from the service to the food. Their Beef Waygu Carpacio, Pork Belly, and Cod were super yummy, and replenished my body.

The Napa Women’s Half course was really nice starting and finishing at Oxbow Commons Park, going through downtown and passing several wineries. It was mostly flat with some rolling hills through greenery and a beautiful view of hot air balloons rising in the air as the sun rose in the horizon. You don’t run over the same route so it’s not boring. It was a cold run though. Some ladies ran by me with a thin layer of ice on their sweaty shoulders. I crossed the finish line and grabbed a glass for the awesome wine tasting at the celebratory wine festival. There were many vendors pouring wine. It’s such an awesome way to end a half marathon. The shirt they gave out was white and had a boring design. At least they made up for it with wine! I prefer this race course over the Napa Half Marathon in late Summer, which starts/ends at Skyline Park and involves retracing the route, and didn’t seem as pretty either. 

The Itinerary

Saturday

• 2:00pm – Wine tasting at Charles Krug in St. Helena.
• 4:00pm – Wine tasting at Rombauer.
• 5:30pm – Picked up my bib at the Napa Running Company in Downtown Napa.
• 6:00pm Then we walked over to AVOW for our dinner reservations. AVOW was outstanding. You can read my Yelp review of AVOW.
• Checked into Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Napa Valley.

Sunday

• 7:00am – Half marathon.
• 11:30am – Brunch at Napkins You can read my Yelp review of Napkins.
• 3:30pm – Shopping at the outlets.
• 6:30pm – Morimoto You can read my Yelp review of Morimoto.

Monday

• 11:00am – Brunch at Napa General Store. You can read my Yelp review of Napa General Store.
• 1:00pm – Wine tasting at Viansa in Sonoma.
• 2:30pm – Jacuzzi olive oil tasting.
• 3:15pm – Wine tasting at Cline Cellars.