BIG SUR 2019
What an event. Where
do I start? Ohhhh my number 1 Bucket list race (and oh yes, I do have more!)
I am so thankful that I got into the lottery so that I could
do this race this year. I loved training
for it, accumulating so many miles, so many THANKFUL MILES—thankful that I
could RUN AGAIN After my hip/hamstring injury.
Our trip started out wonderfully- it was so beautiful there, and I was
just so amazed to see the sights. My
senses were on overdrive for our 4 days there.
Truly amazing. Our first full day
there, we did a bunch of hikes down by Big Sur area, went to the beach at
Carmel by the Sea, walked up the big sand hills. Such an active day that I ended up a bit sore
from the hikes the next day! I never
ended up mentioning that to Ryan because I felt kind of stupid that I had maybe
overdone it, but I wouldn’t have changed it in any way because WE WERE THERE!
Nothing would stop me from doing our full trip!
The day before the race, the hikes we did were much less elevation gain/
easier on ankles, and I told Ryan that at about 1:30 I should really take some
time off of my feet, so we went to a wine tasting! It was right in the city of Monterey and was
so fun and nice and relaxing and different- my mind was totally off of running
for this time, and that was good!
We had dinner that night and then just went back to the
hotel, I had everything lined up for the morning, food, waters, bag of clothes
for afterwards, etc. I did legs up the wall for about 30 minutes while reading
and then also did “cupping”. I did this
for about 20-25 minutes on my quads and IT band and I have to wonder now if
that really did give my legs some benefit/ boost the next day. Basically cupping is using these suction
cups to work into the fascia and bring blood flow to the surface of the muscle
and fascia. It felt good and my legs did
feel good the following morning. (maybe
it was the wine flight though?! Haha).
Race morning:
It was early. OMG, I had to wake up at 3:15, had to be at
the bus stop in the center of Monterey at 4.
It was a LONG bus ride there. The
26 miles from Carmel down to Big Sur goes so fast when you are in the middle of
the day and have miraculous beauty on both sides of the road to be absorbed
in. But in the pitch black, I just kept
thinking… this is REEEEAAAAAALY long!
I got in line for port a pots immediately. Couldn’t really go. Ate a banana along with my coffee that I had
from the hotel. It wasn’t as cold as it
could have been, so I was so thankful for that! I had my shorts/shirt/arm warmers
under long throwaway pants, a long sleeve shirt and another long sleeve shirt
that I had planned to throw (both of them) away at the start line. (they normally donate those clothes).
It really wasn’t a super long wait and that was good. Waiting is the worst. It always is- the hardest – the waiting for
workouts, for hard track intervals, ughhh get it over and BEGIN!
Anyway: it was so
exciting at the race line up. I was in Wave 1- predicted under 4 hour time. I had placed myself there on registration
only because all of my previous marathons have been. HOWEVER.
For this marathon—oh my gosh, I had told Ryan it would be very possible
that I may not be coming in until 5 hours?
I had no idea what would happen and I didn’t want to be out there on the
course and feel guilty. I thought it is
highly possible that I will have to walk the final 4 miles? Anyway.
I was in wave #1, we began at 6:45AM- perfect time to begin, with a
perfect SONG at the beginning: the gun
went off and “CHARIOTS OF FIRE” started playing. I loved it!
It was so perfect with the location.
The beginning in Big Sur was wooded, beautiful big trees, etc. I was so happy. I was smiling completely- I probably looked
like a clown, but I was so happy. I knew
how lucky I was- it would have been so easy for me to not be there- I just got
lucky- both with the lottery and with my hip getting better.
The first 5 miles were a net downhill. It was a perfect beginning. I would rather finish the final 5 miles
uphill than the first 5 miles uphill. The beginning of the run is always the
hardest, so the downhill was very welcomed! It literally felt so easy. My breathing never got hard in that first 5
miles. It was awesome. I was totally relaxed, holding a very smart
pace. Within 1 mile, I kind of wanted to
already throw my one long sleeve shirt that I was still wearing away, BUT:
California and this race particularly were so noticeably environmentally aware
that I didn’t want to get “in trouble” by throwing it to the side of the
road. At Mile 1, I saw some people had a
few shirts in a pile and so I pulled it off and threw it. It wasn’t cold and I was already beginning to
sweat.
I continued to be surprised by feeling so great and really
at ease, my pace being strong, but knowing I was going downhill. The scenery was the rustic part of the race
with trees, redwoods, cabins, the river on the side of the road, etc.
The 2nd 5 miles of the race I ended up
considering to be my 5 mile “hill warm up”.
On the course elevation map, the hills on this 5 mile section were like
little blips. When they didn’t really
FEEL like little blips, I got a bit worried thinking, what is the hill from
mile 10-13 going to feel like? But I
just reminded myself to not think about the future and to just stay present
with my body, doing the next steps and having focus. I was telling myself to stay calm and I would
deal with the hill when it came. The
miles continued to go well, although my stomach didn’t. Within these 5 miles, I had 2 port a pot
stops. Good grief. Luckily, they were efficient and I was
probably out within 40-50 seconds. Boom
and run!!!!
I was running near the 3:40 pace group for much of the first
10 miles. I was slightly worried because I knew this was too fast for my
finishing time, but I felt “appropriate” in my intensity and I went with how I
know I should be working. I felt a
combination of worried, but also happy that I was still around that pace group.
Mile 10: This was the beginning of the 3 mile climb to
“hurricane point”. Everyone was talking about it. All conversation quieted down as the hill
began. No talking. It was steep.
It’s ok, I trained hills over and over and over and up and down and up
and down and 3 miles nonstop uphill on the treadmill as practice. ½ mile in.
This is VERY STEEP. The TAIKO
drummers were there, which I previously have LOVED in a race. The drums just rumble through your stomach
and gives you this intense beat that vibrates through your being. This time, however, it didn’t feel as
magnificent and I was surprised, but I had too much to concentrate on to dwell
on it, so I just reminded myself to go
ahead, continue. 1 mile in. I was thinking that there has GOT to be maybe
20 feet where it levels out, right?
Should I walk? No. There will be
a place of leveling out. I kept telling
myself to continue around the next corner, and to look LEFT at the ocean! 1.5
miles, no leveling out, but a PORT a POT.
OK, well great, here I go again I quick went in, got my business done
and back out quickly uphill. It felt BETTER- like I had had a good “break” from
the hill while in the bathroom! When I
came out, I think that may have been the last time I saw the 3:40 pace
group. The 2nd half of the hill was definitely less steep, but still
felt 9/10 hard. It frankly SUCKED
BAD. It may have been 9.5/10 bad. When I hated it, I just said, “look left” and
there was the big beautiful pacific.
Calm, peaceful, beautiful. It
reminded myself to stay calm, step by step.
That was all. Super simple. I
tried to not allow it to be too big in my head.
No drama. Continue on. I MADE IT.
No stopping and we crested and what a GLORIOUS 1 mile downhill afterwards!
At the bottom of this hill was the famous Bixby Bridge. We had stopped to take pictures of it two
days before and it is just an awesome sight.
It was super neat to run over, I was looking around just literally
soaking it in. So, it was kind of like I
was half focused, but “allowing” myself some freedom to also be open to seeing
the big picture. At the end of the bridge
was the iconic grand piano playing of Michael Martinez. I had heard about this tradition and kind of
judgily thought…. Grand piano playing???
Middle of a marathon??? Ummmm, no send in more drummers!! BUT. I LEARNED. It was perfection…… literally it was like the
peacefulness of the ocean, air, mountains, land were being played out in
music. The peacefulness was just the
essence of this race. It was a pure
highlight. https://www.ksbw.com/article/big-sur-marathons-mile-13-is-music-to-runners-ears/1319689
So, I had mentally divided my race into 1-5 warm up miles,
5-10 warm up hill miles, 10-13 hill, 13-14 recover with downhill. 14 miles I knew I was coming into a critical
time. NEED TO FUEL. I think I had messed up some training runs by
not fueling well, or early enough. I
made a commitment to have a block/honey stinger at each mile. And to keep drinking my water that I was
carrying. This was a rather flat portion
and I was so so so so so thankful for that! Flat felt so so nice after that
hill! I kept at what FELT a decent pace,
and was happily surprised when the miles came and my GPS/watch beeped and I saw
that my pace was in fact holding quite steady and strong!
I planned to go from mile 14-17/18 having a block each mile,
drinking water and having that be a “segment” that I was focused on
fueling. At mile 17, I took a run gum
piece that I was carrying and told myself that I could use that for 2 mile- it
has caffeine, was cinnamon and I was hoping it would help my stomach stay calm
because it had since approx. mile 13!
So, I enjoyed chomping on my run gum for 2 miles.
I felt great at mile 19 (great meaning…. I was continuing
and not slowing down, mentally still connected and strong, not overwhelmed, not
giving up, and still HAPPY! On the flip
side of this, I was very aware that my legs were getting quite tired, I felt a
few times that my hamstrings and hip were so fatigued and on some of the hills,
I thought that it could be any step that would send my hip over the edge back
to massive pain where I had once been.
Luckily, that never ended up being the case.) At this point, I spit out my run gum and went
back to blocks and water. I was drinking
my own water, but also there were aid stations every 2.5 miles approximately,
so I would also usually get a cup of water from the aid station and take a few
sips from that. I was really nervous to UNDER-fuel. I knew
there were 3 hills that were predicted to be quite big from 20-25 miles and I
kept myself mentally prepared. They
obviously weren’t as bad as the 3 mile
uphill, so I knew I could manage. I just
mentally told myself to take it one hill at a time. They were hard, my legs were tired, but I was
committed and continued step by step. I
didn’t speak nastily to myself when I had to slow down, I just kept my confidence
and motivation and took it strong, tall running, focusing on form, and made it
up step by step. There began to be more
people lining the sides of the course.
There were bands- a middle school band, a harp player, a banjo. And there was the view. It was amazing. What a beautiful earth we live on. What a privilege we have to be on this earth,
see these things, use our bodies to our potential.
I felt just LUCKY at this point to be a witness to this
opportunity.
Hill by hill, I was making it. Each downhill, I felt more excitement
building as I knew I could do it at this point.
I knew I had felt so much worse in training. It was not easy, but I was still at the point
I could keep decent pace, keep form.
There were some times where my hips/hamstring would scream with the
hills and I thought, here is the end.
One wrong step and I may pull something and it is over, so I was also
being careful.
Mile 24 came and it was the strawberry station. There was a group of kids handing out
strawberries. Of course I never TRAIN
with strawberries, but I remember doing Boston marathon when people were
handing out orange slices, they were SOOO good, so I decided to go to the side
and get some. The kid I was aiming for
was kind of in a daydream, and I felt a slight annoyance that he wasn’t going
quick and I didn’t want to have to slow to a stand to get my strawberries. I had my hands out like I was going up for a
wafer at communion and he got 2 strawberries in my palms. I took a small bite of strawberry and HEAVEN. Just the perfect sweetness. I KNEW this could
get me to the end. It would have been so
easy to pop the whole strawberry into my mouth and gobble it, but I knew how
good it was and I wanted to save it. So
I went about .2 miles further before taking another little nibble of the
strawberry. I only had 2 berries and I
didn’t want them to be gone too soon. I tried to save them as long as I
could. Maybe ever 1.5 minutes I’d have a
teeny bite. I was worried they’d start
smooshing in my fingers. I was holding
them delicately one in each hand. They
took me really until the last mile. When
they were gone, my hands were free and I knew I could make it to the end. 26 miles came and I was elated. I of course was way fatigued, legs tired and
heavy, but it was a dream come true. Two
tenths of a mile left and I was so so so happy, I could hear the crowds, I
began looking for Ryan. I didn’t see
him, I kept looking along the way, making sure also to not miss anything and do
something stupid like trip on something when my legs could barely hold me. But I finally saw him and called his name
(shouldn’t it have been the opposite way!!!) Anyway, I was so thrilled, I
wanted to cry. I crossed the finish
immediately after I saw him and I couldn’t believe that 26.2 was already done!
Finish time = 3:45:53
In the finishers area, I met up with Ryan and we walked
around to keep my legs moving and beginning recovery. Ryan had brought me a diet coke, which is my
favorite thing after a race. They had
minestrone soup, which I think was so helpful to me- broth/some salt/ and
veggies. I went for a 2nd
cup, I changed into dry clothes and we didn’t really hang around there at all
because I didn’t want to get cold, which kills my recovery after races. I showered at the hotel and we walked right
away to the harbor area in Monterey, sat on a bench and ate something, walked
back and it was then 1:00 when Highway 1 was set to reopen. So, we got into the car to drive back down to
Big Sur. We sat in an Adirondack chair
in the Big Sur river- put our feet in the frozen water- so maybe that was a bit
helpful for recovery as well?! It was
PERFECTION!
Mile splits (for my future reference, I know this is not
very interesting to many)!
8:25
8:00
7:32
7:33
7:43
7:44
7:50
8:36 (first bathroom stop)
8:06
7:35
10:48 (2nd bathroom stop plus first mile of big climb)
8:57 (another big climb)
7:19
7:59
9:37 (another bathroom)
8:34
8:11
8:56
8:47
8:53
8:37
9:07
9:13
9:51 (final bathroom)
8:52
9:32
7:32 pace to end.