Big Sur: The Race Report....

Truth time. I shouldn't have ran today, maybe the half but definitely not the full marathon. I've alluded to my lack of running lately, but here's the full story. My last long run was on Feb. 18, 18 miles on the AT&T marathon course. Then, came the engagement and wedding planning, traveling, work went to hell, and shin pain. I only ran a handful of times at all since then. I mean it, you can count the number of times on both hands. But, we had already made our travel plans, and I had made a commitment so I found myself on the start line of the Big Sur marathon at 6:45 this morning. I can't remember if it was Sisson or my first marathon coach, Janie, who said this, but it has stuck with me...You have to respect the distance. If you don't, it will eat you alive. I obviously didn't, and I paid for it.

We were up at 3:30am and went to the bus pick-up location nearby in downtown Monterey. It was close enough that we could have walked, but K knew that the walk back to the hotel wouldn't feel quite so good after 26.2 miles so we drove (smart boy). We drove the course up Highway 1 to Big Sur. It was still dark, so we couldn't see the scenery, but you could definitely get a sense for the winding roads and all the up and down. It made me nervous as I realized that I was going to RUN back the way that we came. We arrived at the staging area at Big Sur Station about 5:45am where the mass of runners were eating, going to the bathroom, dropping off their gear, etc. We ran into a couple of women from Austin, who we recognized by their Decker and ARA 20-miler race shirts. We wished them well then made our way over to the start line.
I kissed K goodbye and headed up the road to line up according to projected finish time. They released white doves into the air then we were off. I started out very conservatively because I knew that I wasn't fully prepared for the challenge ahead. Thankfully, I didn't have any shin pain to contend with, so that was probably my saving grace. The day turned out to be much, much warmer than expected, and the heat wore on me as the day progressed. I enjoyed the first few miles through the large redwoods and other trees. We got our first glimpse of the coast at around mile 5. What a beautiful sight and remarkable change in scenery! I had stomach issues early on, so I took a rather long bathroom stop at this point. I definitely took in all the beauty of the course during the first half.
Miles 11-12 are a tough uphill climb to Hurricane Point. The Run from Hell had nothing on this course, by the way. At mile 13, you hit the famous Bixby Bridge and are greeted with the piano man once you cross.
At this point, I was still feeling relatively well. But, this was also the first time that I started to get worried about my time. The race officials enforced a cut-off of 5 hours at the 22-mile point. I got more concerned as my times per mile started increasing as I was forced to walk more in the later miles. I stopped enjoying the scenery and taking pictures. It became all about one foot in front of the other at that point. I loved these signs at mile 20, as they reminded me of the P*Dipps.
I knew that I was going to be cutting it super close to make the cut-off point in time. I was reminded of the Ironman in Kona when the later participants aren't allowed to proceed with the marathon because they didn't reach the cutoff in time. I knew how heartbreaking that would be to make it that far only to be pulled off the course, but there was also a part of me that didn't want to make it either because then at least I could stop. I made it to mile 22 and saw the buses waiting to take the unlucky participants behind me back to the finish. I soldiered on. Then, the concern was making it the finish before the official 6:00 hour mark. It was close, folks. But, I made it. I earned my precious medal.

The marathon breaks you down mentally, but also renews your spirit once you cross that beloved finish line. I had good patches and I had bad patches today. I paid the price for my lack of training, no doubt about it. I learned to respect the distance. I'll be back though...but not until October, 2009 for St. George.

Big K ran Big Sur pretty relaxed and easy, but he still ran it well for this course. He actually finished slightly ahead of Dean Karnazes and talked with him at the finish. I'm proud of him.