Big Sur Marathon

Last Sunday Sonya and I ran the Big Sur Marathon. The race was on a hilly course on Hwy 1 along the Pacific Coast of California. It was also a cold day, somewhere around 40 at the start. The morning started with a 3:15 wake up to board a bus at 4:15. Unfortunately, I was still operating on Hawaii Standard Time, rather than Pacific Daylight time, so I fell asleep at about 12:15, getting 3 hours of sleep. Here we are in the hotel lobby waiting for the bus...I'm sporting my brand new Wal Mart sweats bought specifically to toss during the first few miles of the race.



Here's the graphic representation of the race. As you can see, a hilly course...over 2700' of climbing according to Garmin. I highlighted a few points of significance for the race.



A) The start. This race was well put together. At 4:15, they bused over 3500 runners to the start...the early wakeup sucked, but they made the best of it by serving coffee (not Folgers, but some real good stuff), bagels and fruit at the start. They had a ton of port-a-potties, but like any race, not enough. The potty line was long. Lots of small talk going around, runners sizing each other up. A couple of runners told us they had just run the Boston marathon...we saw tons of folks sporting their Boston Marathon gear, and I overheard many other conversations that included Boston. Gotta love the early morning trash talk. The first few miles went well, was running a strong pace...dropped my sweats a couple miles into it, as I was starting to heat up.

B) This is where I wish I still had my sweats. The course comes out of the woods at this point and a strong wind was blowing down the hill to the right. I look for large people to hide behind and draft...still moving at a good pace, on track for a 3:40 marathon.

C) The top of the toughest hill in the race, Hurricane point...2 miles at ~5% or greater grade. I ran up it pretty strong, but a little slower.

D) The point where I realize that I should've taken it easy on Hurricane point. Quads are burning. Re-evaluate goals.

E) I live a pretty regular life. In bed at the same time every night. Up early every morning. Some other things are pretty regular. I didn't adjust to Pacific Daylight Time quick enough. I find a portapotty. That jump in the green line is me stopping for the break.

F) Some lady is in the middle of the road with a bowl of strawberries. I was suffering really bad, so I stop and stuff my face with 2 handfuls.

Finish at 3:57:34, or 3:56:10 according to the Garmin which edits out potty breaks.



The hill kicked my butt. Getting in the car after the race was no fun.

If you understand, please explain...

We stopped at the Henry Miller Library on Saturday. The place didn't make sense. I expected to see something mildly cultural, somewhat informative. Instead I see:

1) A store selling a small selection of books including a couple from Henry Miller
2) An iMac computer sitting in the backyard, serving as the internet cafe
3) A Persian Ping Pong tournament...you haven't watched ping pong until you've seen 2 long-haired hippies yelling at each other in Farsi between serves
4) A wire Jesus nailed to a computer monitor cross

Getting in touch with our inner hippies

We spent the past couple of days in Big Sur, California at the Glen Oaks Motel, which isn't a motel in the traditional sense as it's described as an "Eastern-influenced post modern adobe motel"....so, we took the time to enjoy the room's amenities and get in touch with our inner hippies.



Carter kept busy with his art projects on the Buddha Board.



They practiced some new poses they found in the complementary issue of Yoga magazine using the room's yoga mat.




The boys couldn't resist climbing into this hippy's nest at the nearby "spirit garden"



I read about sustainable homes while sipping my Humboldt Hemp Ale in front of the indoor/outdoor fireplace.



No TV in the room, so we had to play Scrabble.

Boat Ride #2

Last year we tried to go on a boat ride.

This year we had better weather.



We got a bigger boat.



I let Henry drive.



We brought some good food.



Instead of turning purple, Jack just fell asleep.

Riding and Racing

Was a busy weekend of riding and racing.

Sunday morning, got up with the boys and rode around base. Took 'em off road for awhile, then stopped for breakfast where they managed to soak their jerseys in pancake syrup and I got a flat tire...had to push the bike 2+ miles while they rode home. Ended up with about 3 hours of riding/eating/pushing.



2 races on Sunday...first was the Tantalus Time Trial. I had only ridden this hill a couple times since last year's time trial. I didn't have high expectations. My time this year was 1 minute faster than last year...was happy about it at the time. However, everyone seemed to be faster, so I was good for 42nd place...out of 80-something riders. Another solid middle-of-the-pack finish.



After the race, Sonya and I took the boys on another ride...decided to try riding off base, so we went from the house to the NEX. Carter and Jack did fine. I go another flat.

In the afternoon, raced in the 4th Momentum Criterium. The weather was sketchy...very windy at the start, started raining during the race. A few guys got away in a break that I missed...was busy trying to do something with my sunglasses. Realized that I needed to catch up with the rather large breakaway group....tried to find someone to work with...it appeared to be every man for himself. After 2 laps, finally caught back on at about the time the group slowed down. A few other riders catch on later...a few dropped out of the race. I was hurting, but managed to hang for the rest of the race, and not fall down on the sometimes slippery course. Noticed Sonya and the boys were braving the elements and cheering me on, so I went off the front for a short while near the end of the race in order to get a good hero shot. Realized that I couldn't make it stick, then fell back in the group to prepare for another solid middle-of-the-pack finish.


Warming up with the boys

My short-lived attempt at a break.



The race series was a lot of fun. In my first 4 crits, I managed to firmly establish myself as a middle-of-the-pack racer and learned a lot about racing. I look forward to the next opportunity to ride around in circles.

geared up

action figures getting some action

Woke up this morning and saw this action figure scene...yellow (girl) Power Ranger giving the motorboat to blue Power Ranger in Spiderman's car. Not sure what kind of Power Ranger play was going down last night.