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.