So when I ran my first marathon in October of 2007, I never believed that I would now be writing this blog and saying that I just ran my 7th marathon. But as life has it, I have now been fortunate to say that I have run the Columbus Marathon twice (2007, 2012), NYC in 2009, Chicago in 2011, Nike Women's Marathon San Fran in 2008, and Air Force in 2012.
So, for lucky number 7, I chose to do another destination marathon, this time the Big Sur International Marathon in Big Sur, California. Now, for those not familiar with marathons, Runners World has named it one of the top marathons to run, mostly because of the beautiful course and well run race. I had two running friends from the Columbus Running Company and C-bus pacers who had wanted to run it and was asked if I wanted to join them. Unfortunately, one ended up being injured and unable to run, but my friend Tasya and I spent the entire winter training for this. Now it might be crazy to say that I have now run 7 marathons but Tasya decided to make this her first one. (This is no small feet given the hilliness of the course, including Hurricane Point, which from mile 10 to 12 was a nearly 600 foot incline.
Lee and I arrived on Friday into San Francisco and drove the two hours to Monterey. One thing that you notice about the area is that is extremely beautiful and sunny. The next day, we went on a wine tour (and yes, I kept the wine tasting in check) and learned that the area gets 310 sunny days a year. Tasya came with her fiancé and the four of us went on a wine tour with Ag Venture Tours. Our tour guide Evan was great and I would highly recommend his company. We learned a lot about wine and went to some great tasting rooms and wineries. We even went to a chocolate shop.
The race starts in Big Sur national park and heads north to end in Carmel. There is literally only one road in/out of the park (highway 1 for those familiar with the area). They have to close it down for the race. We also have to get there from Monterey. This meant that our bus to get to the race left at 4am! Luckily being East Coasters, this just meant that I we had to keep our internal clocks on EST for the first few days. Nonetheless, 4am is an EARLY wake up call for the race. Tasya and I get onto the nice, gigantic tour bus. Now, I admit that I can get kind of car sick easily so I ask to sit towards the front of the bus which was easy enough to do. We head off and believe it or not, our bus driver gets lost trying to leave Monterey. Monterey is a small town with small roads, so this involved about 30 minutes of windy starts and stops. NOT good for someone who get car sick. We FINALLY get started and it's nearly an hour to get to the start. Highway 1 is a series of windy roads up and down some major inclines. All in all, this meant I was about to lose my breakfast before even getting to the start. Needless to say I made Tasya a little nervous since I have been her coach through all of training and we had vowed to stay together for the race.
Luckily we got there early enough that I had sufficient time to recover. The race started at 6:45am. We started in cold and fog; the temp was about 45 degrees. The first 5 miles or so are through the redwoods. Very green and shaded and relatively flat. I actually started to get very warm at that point so I shedded the arm warmers and gloves. This was a course rookie mistake. Sure enough after about mile 5, we were greeted to a blast of about a 20 mph headwind. This continued on and off for pretty much the rest of the course. Combined with the cool temps and later some more fog, meant that I really wished I had my arm warmers.
Now after mile 5, you really start to see the great views. You are right near the coast so you have ocean on one side and mountains on the other. The pictures that you see really cannot do the beauty justice. It's.just.awesome. Needless to say you don't run Big Sur for time. Tasya and I would stop and take picture and people would offer to take your picture as well if they saw you were with someone. They also have life size mile markers and the race would have volunteers at each mile marker to also take pictures if you wanted.
The other thing that happens after mile 5 is the hills. Now living in Ohio will NOT prepare you for the length and angle of these hills. I kept telling Tasya that I would NEVER complain about the hill at Sharon Woods again. These started happening before Hurricane Point. I kept thinking, "Oh Brother WTF will Hurricane Point be like?" As you approach mile 10, you can hear the distance drumming of Koko drummers. It's like they are welcoming you to what you are about to endure. Now, I don't think Tasya and I ever actually said to each other that we would do this, but we both had it in our brains that we would actually run up the entire two miles, which sure enough we did. The view at the top was needless to say nothing but spectacular. Now the saying is that "what goes up, must come down" well the downhill was at a 10 percent grade and nearly a mile long. I actually had a harder time with this because of the trauma that your quads take through the whole thing.
After relishing in finishing Hurricane Point, you quickly hit Bixby's Bridge, which is the halfway point. What they are known for here is the grand piano player at 13.1 miles (the exactly halfway point). You can hear him even before you get to mile 13. The view across the bridge is spectacular, and you can stop to get your picture at the piano.
After mile 13, the views continue but my body was starting to feel the effects. At around mile 16, I believe Tasya hit the wall. Her body was in pain and she definitely having none of my attempts to try and cheer her up. At that point, I decided I needed a strategy if Tasya was to have any hope of finishing in a decent time. I decide to employ a 1:4 walk to run strategy and it ended up working for a while and we even keep an 11 to 12 min pace doing this. After a bit, the hills were starting to be ill timed with the walk breaks. And then Tasya makes a comment about needing to stretch. At this point, I ask "Why did you ask to stretch before?" To which she responded "I didn't know I was allowed!" Now this made me laugh (and after we finished made Tasya laugh) because I for the record, NEVER said that we couldn't take time to stretch during the race. So after that funny interchange, my strategy changed to running (or shuffling) for 8-9 minutes followed by stretch brakes. We continued this for quite a while.
One of my other concerns heading into the race was the cut off times. Because there is only one road in/out of the area, you basically have to reach mile 22 by noon (5 hrs after the start) or else they herd you into buses over to the finish. We hit the 20 mile mark at slightly under 4 hrs. I breathed a sigh of relief as at this point I knew we would get to 22 miles well under the limit and could basically walk our way back if needed. At this point, we also started to see signs of civilization as you start to enter into Carmel. (And yes it is the Carmel where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor). At mile 23 you also find the strawberry lady. Now in 2008 for the Nike Women's Marathon, this was also the point where you got Giardelli's chocolates. In 2008, I wouldn't have even thought about taking the chocolates, but let me tell you those strawberries were a welcome sight! And I do believe that the strawberries taste much better in California. They were definitely more plump and juicy.
In researching and studying the course prior to the race, I had read that miles 21 to 23 were actually the hardest on the course. They weren't kidding. The problem at that point is that you hit several significant hills. and after all of the previous work to get up and down, your body is just done. We saw one particular hill at around 22 that to me looked freakishly long and steep. O turned to Tasya, who was still what I affectionately call the "bite me" phase, and said "I declare that Big Sur has won, there is no way in h*ll we are running up this thing." Tasya let our a "FINALLY!" but also reminded me that we ran up Hurricane Point so Big Sur did not win. From there on in, we walked up the hills. The final hill is at mile 25 and as we approached that one, I did let out several expletives.
Fast-forwarding to the finish. I always get a feeling of giddiness around miles 25 and 26, knowing that I will finish yet another marathon. It was really cool to run the entire way with Tasya who got to experience those emotions for the first time. Strangely enough, I had followed my race strategy to a T and had gelled up and taken food when I needed it. As those who have run a marathon before know though, strange things can happen and right at mile 25, I had the familiar symptoms of hitting the wall myself. I quickly told Tasya to let me walk and took my emergency gel pack I take with me on all long runs. Within a minute or so I felt better and was able to continue without a problem. She and I dashed to the finish line hand in hand. While I felt like I might have been shuffling, Tasya's fiancé Jeff took a video of us and we looked pretty bad ass as we crossed. I also do a semi "dance walk" and hopped across the line. Tasya broke out in tears, and we happily collected our medals.
Final time was just under 5 hrs and 10 minutes. Considering the number of starts and stops and the seriously mega hills, I will totally take it. Of the 7 marathons I have not completed, this one was definitely the most physically challenging but definitely the most beautiful.
If you have taken the time to read all of this post, then you are a) either a runner who is considering this race, or b) someone who loves hearing about my adventures in running. Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the pictures. Seriously, these pics do not do the entire experience justice. At this point, I don't know when my next full marathon will be. I do plan to run a half marathon this fall with more serious running goals in mind. And if you are a marathoner, you MUST add this race to your bucket list. It is well worth the months of winter training and an experience you will never forget.
For all of the race day photos, follow this
link.
