Big Sur Marathon

The Big Sur Marathon has been one I’ve wanted to run ever since I first saw a picture of it. It all seemed epic – a race along the beautifully rugged Pacific Coast. I got one glimpse of the gorgeous coastline and read the name “Big Sur” and it seemed like the ultimate marathon.

On Sunday I got to fulfill the dream of running Big Sur! It all started about 8 months ago when I entered the last chance lottery. I didn’t think I’d get in, but I heard that each year you enter gives you a better chance (still not sure if that’s true?) so I thought I’d better start entering to get picked in the next few years. Then I got the e-mail and had to decide whether or not to go through with registering. Was I ready for another marathon? Would I have time to train with my busy and unpredictable schedule? I wasn’t sure but I decided to go for it!

I didn’t know all the details of the race when I signed up, and I’m glad I didn’t. I found out later that there’s a 2 mile long uphill stretch, that there’s really no place to stay near the starting line, and that if you stay in Monterey, you have to take a shuttle at 4 am. Four in the morning!! And that’s one of the later shuttles. I purposely chose a hotel with a pick-up between 4-4:15. Some hotels had pick-ups from 3:15-3:30!

My mom and I checked into our hotel on Saturday and went to the Expo. My mom was really excited to meet Jeff Galloway, and he was super nice and encouraging about her story. We found our names on the banner, took some pictures, and got our t-shirts and race bibs. That evening, we went for a walk along a bike path near the beach. I wanted to get my legs somewhat warmed up before race day and get rid of some nervous energy.

I got in bed by 9pm, but had trouble falling asleep. I woke up throughout the night thinking it was time to go, until 3:30 rolled around. My mom dropped me off at the bus stop at 4am and I got one of the last seats on the 4:00 bus. The bus ride was dark and long. I wasn’t planning on it, but I ended up rolling my coat against the window and trying to rest. This was partly to prevent me from getting car sick because the winding road and the reflections in the dark windows made me feel a little queasy.

When we finally got to the drop-off point at Big Sur Station, it was 5:15. I still had to wait 1.5 hours for the marathon to start. This was the worst part for me. It was really crowded and pretty cold. A lot of people were sitting down, but I thought the cold ground would make me feel worse. So I stood around and waited. And waited. I had forgotten my cell phone and had nothing to do!

Finally at about 6:30 the announcers started calling people to line up for the race.

At 6:50 I was off with Wave 2! The sun was out by now and already it wasn’t as cold. I took my long sleeve off before mile 2 and never put it on again, even though some places along the coast were very cold and windy! I started off near the 4:15 pace group and thought I could finish around that time. However, I hate running near a pacer! It’s too crowded for me, and I like to run my own race rather than trying to keep up with someone else. I was trying not to go out to fast, so I let the pace group go ahead of me. The first 5 miles were mostly downhill, so I was trying to hold back and run a steady pace. I caught up with the pace group again around mile 4 and ended up passing them.

Miles 6-10 were a gradual uphill climb, but these were some of my favorite miles! We were finally running along the coast. It was beautiful! I didn’t have to worry about holding back anymore, so I settled into a good pace and my legs felt strong going uphill. I actually think I did better on the climbs than the descents. I kept passing one girl going uphill, and then she would catch up to me going downhill!

I knew miles 10-12 were the biggest climb of the race. It was 2 miles of a fairly steep ascent up to Hurricane Point. I had decided to refuel at mile 10, so once I got to the big hill, I walked for a bit and ate my Honey Stinger waffle. I recently discovered these things during training and I love them for refueling during a long run! After I was done eating, I started to run uphill. I also quickly stopped to refill my water bottle with Gatorade on the way up. I think making those two short stops helped to break up the long climb, because before I knew it, I was at Hurricane Point!

I realized at the top why they call it “Hurricane Point”. It was crazy windy. I felt like I was going to get blown over. It was so windy that when I picked up one leg to stride forward, the wind blew my free leg into my other leg, and my ankles bumped together painfully a few times. It wasn’t until after the race that I realized this had caused me to bleed into my running tights! #battlescars

The descent from Hurricane Point to Bixby Bridge was my favorite part of the race! The views are absolutely gorgeous and as you run down, you can hear the piano music drifting towards you on the wind. There’s a piano player who plays classical music at Bixby Bridge every year and it’s a memorable moment hearing it as you cross the iconic bridge.

Bixby Bridge was the halfway point. I honestly don’t remember miles 13-20 that much, except that we went uphill and downhill a lot, and I had bathroom issues around mile 17. TMI warning: I had started feeling like I had to go around mile 15, and by mile 16 knew I had to find a porta-potty. Since I had gotten on the bus so early, I hadn’t had time to use the bathroom. At mile 17, there was a row of 5 porta-potties so I ran into one. I was kind of irritated that I had to stop, but when you gotta go, you gotta go! I probably only took 3-4 minutes, but this must have been when the 4:15 pacer group passed me. After mile 17, I could sometimes see them in the distance, and I spent the rest of the race hoping to catch back up!

I was going to do my second refuel at mile 20, but when I got there, we were going downhill, so I decided to wait a little bit longer and time my break for when I could walk uphill. At mile 21, I took my break and ate my second Honey Stinger waffle. The hills at miles 21 and 23 aren’t that long, but they can be brutal because they’re at the end of the race. I tried to maintain a good pace on all the hills and continued my trend of passing people going uphill, and they’d pass me going down!

We ran through the Carmel highlands next. It wasn’t my favorite part of the race. We were no longer along the coastline, so it wasn’t as pretty and it wasn’t as cold. Even though there was some shade, I missed the breeze from the ocean cooling me off! I did get a strawberry at mile 22 just because it’s special part of the Big Sur race!

During the last few miles, I was trying to calculate if I could finish in 4:15. My watch was off from the course markers by about 0.2 miles, so it was kind of hard to figure out. I would be sure I could make it, then a few minutes later sure that I couldn’t! But I decided to try! The last 2 miles were a hard effort, and the hill at mile 25 was a killer! But after that, the last mile was downhill to the finish! It still seemed to take forever to see that finish line, though!

I got tunnel vision at the end. I didn’t have energy to look for my mom in the crowd or to look around at anyone else. I had my eyes on the finish line and ran hard until I crossed it. My Garmin said 4:15, but my official results were even better: 4:14:56 – a new PR and just under my goal of 4:15!!!

Overall, a great race and I’m glad I did it, but I don’t have a desire to do it again. It was very challenging and the point-to-point course makes it impossible for friends or family to meet you anywhere along the course. However the views were spectacular and the race is very well-run and organized. Definitely a fun destination marathon!

Official Time: 4:14:56