North Vancouver

Hi folks: Here is a brief summary of the days events.

I woke up at 3am to eat breakfast at 3:30am. All my gels, liquids and everything was ready. It was tough sleeping (nerves and noise) as there was a jazz piano in the courtyard of the hotel and lots of guests chatting til 10pm. That made for a tough night of sleeping. Getting to bed at 7:30pm was one thing but with only 4-5 hours of sleep I was a little tired.

I got up and ate a nice breakfast at the hotel here Bagels, yogurt, fresh fruit and went out the door to the bus at 4am. I was told to sit on the right to see the course as we drove from the finish line at Carmel to the start at Big Sur 26 miles away. Fat chance, it was dark! I noted the hills and got a little nervous and told myself ......SLOW SLOW SLOW

We got to Big Sur at 5:15 or so, race started at 6:45 am and it was really organized and ALOT of people for the marathon. Everyone was friendly and I chatted to an elite Triathalon who was 5th at Kona for his age group (he was 21) and he runs around 2:40. He didnt cough too much when I explained that if he ran fast he could do two marathons in the time it would take me to do one.

Lots of people and everyone was remarking about the heat. It was in the 50s at Big Sur, no wind and no need for fleece, gloves or jackets. I ran in shorts and a singlet and it was hot hot hot.

The US anthem was song, a dozen or so doves let go and then the gun went off. I was 3-5 mins behind the start line so it took a while for me to cross the line and then its basically 4 miles of downhill to start jogging through Redwoods and Forest. At mile 6 you come out of Big Sur to the first real hill and a sense of several things......the fog (NONE), the ocean and waves.....gorgeous, and the wind (not alot today). The heat was noticeable even then. I was stopping at every aid station and getting both water and gatorade and also fruit and I was running slow. I ran by heart rate and kept it at 150 for almost all of the race. This was a key.

The race is well organized with bands every few miles, some are high school bands, some are playing rock and roll, some are percussion. I remember a few of them, the Taiko Drummers before the big hill at mile 10 (2 miles straight up) , a Samba group in the last half and some percussion drums along the way. Some were DJs, some played harps, flutes and some were rock and roll. This made it fun. I didnt wear my IPOD and it was a gorgeous run and great scenery. The race director said you had two choices for the day.

1. Stop and take photos and enjoy the view and finish 10 mins slower to the race (they already estimate that you take your fastest time and add 20 mins to it to get your Big Sur time).
2. Run without stopping to enjoy the views and finish 10 mins faster but never ever come back.

I decided on #1 and brought my camera along.

The other thing that saved me was the EXCELLENT aid stations. This race has a marathon at 26 miles, a walk of 21 miles, a relay of 5 teams doing the marathon, a 9 mile run, a 5k run and a 10.6 mile run. You can imagine there are ALOT of people during the race and you have to weave your way around them.

Back to the race.......

At mile 8 you get a great view of a very old Lighthouse called Point Sur which is on a rocky island off the shore of the highway (did I mention they close the #1 highway for 6 hours for the run) . After mile 9 there is a short hill downwards to mile 10 where the Taiko drummers are signalling that its time for athe big climb, and you know the tough 2 mile hill known as Hurricane Point is coming. I was doing ok here and felt confident. I made it up over the first mile which is steeper and started to take some pictures of where we were to show the climb. I then got to the summit just after mile 12 after 3 false summits and thanked all the hill work we did at the clinic. Downhill to the half way point at Bixby Bridge and this was the highlight for me.

As you come down you hear the sweet sounds of piano sounds from the child prodigy Michael Martinez and I had them take a picture of me and him at the Bixby bridge which was built in 1932 and is magnificent and on the medal at the end. My halfway time was 2:09, slow but not terrible and I suddenly thought of maybe making it before my record time of 2:30.

Miles 13-15 arent bad but 15 there is a small hill, and I was feeling great at this point thinking that I was going to be ok. Well after some rolling hills and battling wind til mile 18, the Yankee point hill came up and the wind and height of it were tough. I got through it but this sapped my strength and although I never really hit the wall at 20-21 like in past years, I was slowing down.

At mile 22 you reach the Carmel Highlands and the road gets canted steeply, filled with walkers and lots of hills. This was to be the tough part, I knew that there were hills at this point at 22, 23 and 25 but they were tough. Its rolling from around 18-25 and hilly for me. There was fresh Strawberries (Yum yum) at the 24 mile marker and I knew that I was almost home. The D minor hill at the D major time at mile 25 almost did me in but after cresting the hill and keeping my composure I managed to run downhill to the finish. All around me were walkers (some exhausted marathoners) others just walkers but I knew I could finish. I had slowed down alto for the last 4-5 miles but I made it to the end and was so excited to see faces (this race doesnt have alot of people in many stretches) and then the finish line loomed.

The time on my watch was 4 hours and 26 minutes, but the clock said 4:31. The actual chip time was somewhere in between I imagine. If so I actually broke my personal record and considering all the photos and the hilly course I was pleased with the result.

I have included some photos from the day. As time marched on I got tired and took less photos but you can see that it is a scenic course for sure. The photos go from beginning to end so you can see what the terrain and the race looked like. I liked the course, it is tough but scenic and well organized. I hope to do it again in the future and encourage anyone looking for a beautiful and well organized run to consider Big Sur in the future.

In closing I met Dean Karnazes (50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states last year) and had him sign my T shirt yesterday and met Bart Yasso who is a famous road runner. This is one of those races that the elite do come to .

Enough drivel.....take care and enjoy.

Clinic Members