I completed the Big Sur Marathon last weekend in 4:42. Unfortunately, Meredith couldn’t make the trip so I drove up alone on Friday and back on Sunday after the race. I met Karen and her husband John for dinner in Carmel on Sat. night. Karen was worried about her training but she pulled off a 4:15 in spite of the hills and wind, only 15 minutes off her BQ time last December on a much faster course.I walked all of the numerous down hills over the first 21 miles and jogged the flat and uphill sections. We had beautiful partly sunny skies and temps in the 50’s but we also had a stiff head wind of 15 mph gusting at times to 25 mph on miles 5 though 13. The wind quieted down over the second half of the course. I picked up my pace over the last 5 miles after spending most of the morning running with the 5 hour pace group. My jog-walk strategy worked perfectly and I was barely sore after the race. I had no idea that the course was so hilly. It may not have been as hilly as Catalina but it wasn’t that much easier. I knew it wasn’t going to be flat but the hills never seemed to stop and they were decent hills not just little rollies. I was glad I wasn’t running for time so I just jogged up the hills at a leisurely 10-10:30 pace. The race organizers put on a great race and really pay attention to the details.
During Friday's drive up along hwy 1, I passed a hitched holding a Big Sur Marathon sign just past Hearst Castle. I stopped and gave Larry Ng a ride up to a campground in Big Sur. He'd been dropped off by a frind and spent the prior two nights backpacking but he was planning to run his second marathon on Sunday. We had a nice conversation about running for an hour and then I dropped him at Andrew Molina State park. Larry had a great day and finished at 4:25.
Next week I’ll start my 12 week training period for the San Francisco Marathon at which I’ll try to run a 3:30 Boston Qualifier.
