At some point last year, I entered a whole bunch of lotteries for races. Tokyo, Sydney, and Big Sur. I was unsuccessful in Tokyo and Sydney, but as luck would have it, got into Big Sur. In November, I booked flights and hotels and started to train somewhat lackadaisically in January.
With intensified training in February and March, including running a record 177 miles in March, I suddenly found myself at the airport getting ready to fly to CA. My dad, a California aficionado and marathon tolerator (that is apparently not a real word, please stay with me here), accompanied me.
Naturally, we missed our connecting flight to Monterey in Denver after a teeny tiny storm in Baltimore. Our adventure expanded with a random overnight at a Hampton Inn near the Denver airport. Luckily we were rebooked on a flight to Monterey the next morning (stopping in SFO, because why not get more airline lines while we were at it?). So, plenty of time to get my bib, since the expo was open until 6.
When we finally landed in Monterey, it was a little bit rainy and the airport was a tiny regional one. We got right into a taxi and headed for the hotel where they informed us that despite the fact that we could (in fact, had to) pay for all 3 nights, they did not, in fact, have any rooms available at the moment. Fantastic! Let’s go straight to the expo!
The expo was a bit of a walk away - we joked that we took the “scenic” route that included a dead possum AND dead seagull. The flora and fauna route! The expo was at the Monterey conference center and it was very well organized. I got my bib right away, lingered in a fairly small merchandise area where I spent too much money on a hat and shirt but restrained myself from buying 3 $30 stuffed sea otters for my kids. Probably the best part of the expo? It was dog friendly! We saw several pups walking around, including one who wore a sweatshirt.
Then we wandered back through Monterey, stopping to get lunch, which included a burger for my dad (and a large plate of French fries for me) and then a stop at chipotle for the essential pre-race burrito.
I was already starting to get a little nervous. People really like to talk about how hard Big Sur is. And it’s a fairly small race in comparison to Marine Corps or New York, but Monterey is not a big town and it seemed like everyone was there to run. How do I still feel imposter syndrome with running sometimes? Unclear to me. Do I feel like I don’t look the part (what would help with that, I wonder?)? Am I not fast enough? I don’t know - it will still nip at my heels until suddenly it doesn’t.
Anyway. We went back to the hotel and checked into very lovely and spacious rooms. Since I usually share a queen bed with 1-3 kids at any given time, the king bed just for me seemed quite luxurious! If only I didn’t have to get up at 3am for the next two days….
That night, my dad and I walked down to cannery row, which is apparently very famous because of John Steinbeck’s book, which alas I have not read, so that fame meant nothing to me. I got to talk to my oldest daughter on the walk and “took” her on the walk with me via FaceTime. Maybe someday soon I will get to take her back. We saw seals on rocks, the ocean, lots of crazy shops. Then we overshot our restaurant and had to turn around (why wouldn’t I want to walk 7 miles the day before a marathon?). Our dinner reservation was at a restaurant overlooking the water and included one of my very best friends and her son, who drove out with their whole family to watch the race! We had a really nice dinner (I was a little nervous about what to eat but the portions were small which was actually perfect for me), with her son looking out at the boats and pointing out to all of us that it was the Coast Guard (I’m not sure we believed him but then when we left, there were Coast guard signs everywhere, let that be a lesson to all of us to just listen to kids). They gave us a ride back to our hotel, which saved my legs and also it was getting cold!
I lay out my race gear and went to bed at 8:30. I had to be on a bus by 3:45 and while I was reassured that it was “walking distance” from the hotel, the expo was also “walking distance” and took a long time. I was awake by 2:45. I got dressed and got a coffee and did a final gear check (here is where the difference between mom spectator and dad spectator became very clear - my dad slept in. My mom would have been up with me, getting the coffee, walking me to the bus. No criticism, but it made me appreciate her even more when I had to get my own coffee!). I gave myself a pep talk in the bathroom mirror. The taper period had made me feel weirdly unprepared. More pep talk.
It was raining lightly when I headed out and immediately found other runners to walk with- the bus was walking distance, a mere 5 minute away (highly recommend the Hilton garden inn for this race!!). I ended up walking with a woman named Laura would had done Big Sur the year before. There were school buses and coach buses and we joked that the coach buses were for the elite runners: “here we are!” I cried. Then we did actually get on a coach bus, which was much nicer than riding a school bus for an hour up the hills. We were some of the last people on the bus when we approached and one of the organizers asked if we were together - sure! we said. Why not become new best friends?
We got on the bus and Laura continued to share tips of Big Sur with the people around us. She said it was so beautiful that she didn’t even notice the hills. She told us about the Grizzlies, a group who have done the race every year since it started and how one of them views a race as a whole life cycle: you are born at the starting line, there are ups and downs in your life (that was a beautiful thought although now I’m realizing that makes the finish line…..death??). She told us how she read a story online about a guy doing it for the first time and saying he was nervous and the guy next to him on the bus gave him a sharpie and said, “write this on your arm: you get to be here.” I mean, could I have asked for a better new best friend?
I also found myself sitting directly behind someone else from Rockville. How is the world so small?
It was completely dark as we rode up to the start, on the same road that we would run down later. I knew there was ocean out there but we couldn’t see it. You could just see the long trail of buses before and behind you. Cell service faded.
We got to the starting area and got off the buses. There were only 3 corrals, each very well organized and equipped with porta potties. Laura was in a different corral so we gave each other a huge hug and parted ways. There was over an hour to go before the start, so I used the bathroom, ate a banana, used the bathroom again chatted with people. Everyone who had done it before confirmed it was the most beautiful race they had ever done. And that it was hard but that the hills weren’t too bad. I ended up checking a bag, which I never do, but they made the process so easy and I figure I might want my old old old pants back at the end. I talked to people in the bag line, where I finally admitted to two people that this would be my 30th marathon. It was one of their first and I was so excited for them. What a gift, that first marathon! You never know how it will change your life. I don’t think I ever could have foreseen myself running Big Sur 18 years after my first marathon.
After doing some of the larger races, the starting line for this felt downright small, which was fun. I was in the first corral and we started right on time. We ran through the woods - I’m told they are redwoods. How amazing and beautiful! It was still raining lightly, but it wasn’t too cold. They had announced that the 2 hour barrier had been broken in the London marathon earlier that morning and that it was some of the most favorable wind conditions that this marathon had ever had. Do you need more to pump yourself up??
I started running without headphones, because they wanted you to, and also to see if I could do it for the first hour. I did end up using my headphones but not until after the first hour. I started out way too fast (a special talent of mine) but it was a little bit downhill (actually the beginning is WAY downhill and a little scary since it was rainy and no one wanted to fall) and in the woods, and so beautiful. I didn’t realize that the first 5-6 miles were all in the woods. I kept waiting for the ocean. There were people outside camping areas cheering but other than that, it was pretty quiet. I found myself by the 3:50 pace group and hung with them to try to slow myself down because I really was going out too fast.
Then at some point around mile 6, we turned and there was the Pacific Ocean. The man next to me muttered, “well that doesn’t suck!” Which earned him a guffaw from me.
I was thinking around this time several things: I did not really have a goal for this marathon other than to try to do it in under 4 hours and I had in my head that it was going to be really hard. So I was in that place of weird “maybe everyone exaggerated and I will go really fast” and “oh my gosh I’m going to finish in 5 hours,” so what should my other goals be? There was no cell service, so I didn’t get any of the videos and messages that people were sending me to propel me forward. It was just me and my own thoughts.
But damn….it really WAS exceptionally beautiful. You know how some of these things can be overhyped? This was not overhyped. There is not enough hype. So I focused on just enjoying the views and allowed myself to put my headphones in. At some point, I saw animals in the water and because I had read that people can see orcas, I immediately decided that’s what they must be, so I excitedly started to babble about WHALES to the guy next to me, who clearly thought I was wrong but who cares? I’ve decided they were definitely orcas haha.
Then we got to mile 9. Mile 9 started downhill and then it started a 2 mile incline which I believe I people refer to as hurricane hill. I lost the pace group. I waited for the 4 hour group to overtake me. The tricky part was that it didn’t actually look that steep. But suddenly my pace slowed and I was huffing and puffing and trying to enjoy the cows in the distance along the course and telling myself that I would still be happy to do the race even if I finished in 4 and a half hours. It was a little early to hit a wall, but there it was.
And then I smashed through it at mile 12.
At mile 12, you could hear the grand piano music from the guy playing the piano at the halfway point. I took out my headphones. There was a spectacular downhill with these green mountains covered in succulents (at least I think they were? Let me have my orcas and succulents please). And then you run across the Bixby Bridge and the piano music is just echoing out over the ocean and people are stopping to take pictures and you just feel like there is no where else in the world. This is the only place, this is the only thing happening, the only thing that could and should be happening.
After that, I found my other goal. I wanted to feel that good for the rest of the race. If I finished in under 4 or more, I just wanted to feel good. And I did! I took pictures, I clapped along with the entertainment. And I ran! There were rolling hills for the last 6-7 miles but it just felt….good. Really good. Around mile 20, I rediscovered the 3:50 pace group. They were still a little ahead of me, so I just told myself that I would stay close and try to get in just after 3:50. I stopped for a strawberry at mile 23, one of the hallmarks of the course. It was the most delicious strawberry I have ever eaten, but it was also hard to eat and run so sadly I didn’t eat the whole thing. I would like another strawberry now please.
At this point, I was pretty sure that I would finish under 4 hours and I was starting to think I might even get in right with the 3:50 group. There were some hills even right at the end (someone had told me it was a net downhill, it felt like a lie), but I still felt just…good. Happy. At some points during the race, my cell service came on and my headphones would blast me with a series of encouraging messages which made me smile.
At the end, you sort of just turn a corner after mile 26 and the finish line is not only within sight, but seems easily obtainable. I find that often you can see it and it feels so far away. I saw the 3:50 pacers and passed them! THEN I saw my own cheer squad - my dad and my friend and her family, with signs, right there by the finish line and I think the only word to describe it is elation. I have never had so many people waiting right at the finish line, it was absolutely one of the most special moments I have ever experienced, especially when the announcer at the finish line said “there’s Sarah, she found all her friends!” And then something like “head to the finish line Sarah!” It was a moment I wish I could keep in a bottle and open up because it was so exciting and energizing and wonderful.
It was easy to find everyone at the finish line, after getting my medal and my post race snacks (which included chocolate milk, which I wholeheartedly believe should be offered at the end of every marathon). We took pictures and I showed the kids my medal, then we went to the gear check which was insanely easy and well organized. I think I need to do more of the “smaller” races because it was really refreshing not to have to wait in line for every single thing.
One of the best parts was that I still felt so GOOD. I was so happy with my time (3:48:56). My legs were…just happy. I was not hurting. I was with my dad and my friends. It was amazing.
We went out to lunch and my friend gave us a ride back to our hotel. I took a shower and lay down and called my daughters (they were not really very interested in the race but wanted to see my hotel room again). Then…my dad and I decided we wanted to see the ocean again so we ended up walking probably another 5 miles. Still feeling good! Just mildly sleepy, as evidenced by the fact that when we got back to the hotel, I went to sleep at 7:30. Only to get up again at 3:15 to catch a 5am flight home.
So.
Big Sur is big fun. I felt like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, which considering how expensive it was to get to CA, perhaps it was. But maybe not. I’d like to see the piano player on the bridge again. There is a special program called Boston to Big Sur, where you run Boston the week before then head to Big Sur (talk about expensive!!). But maybe…..someday?
