The complete Big Sur entry

So I've been promising to chronicle our Big Sur 2008 weekend, and now I am finally sitting at home at my computer, raring to go!

Our trip to Big Sur began with a long traveling day (including a delayed flight and a canceled flight) but finally arriving in Santa Barbara, CA the Thursday before the Marathon. There we had a chance to visit with Nicole, Lauren and Nicole's friends, as well as travel to Oxnard, CA and have dinner with my cousins and uncle (which was fabulous!).

Saturday AM we hit the road in two cars and headed north for 4 hours, arriving in Carmel about 1:30pm. Our group of 5 was the first to stop at the house we rented for the weekend in Carmel Valley. It was fantastic. 3,300 square feet of quirky house, but it had amazing views and lots of space to spread out and enjoy nature. To the right is a picture of the edge of the house and one of the many beautiful views.

After dropping off our stuff and checking out the house, we headed into Monterey to pick up our race packets and meet up with Megan, Megan's mom Jean, Laura, Laura's boyfriend Mike, and Nicole's friend Sam. When Megan informed me of my race number, I just knew the days ahead in Carmel would be spectacular, as my marathon number was the last four digits of my home phone (3011). Too cool. So, after the packet pickup we grabbed some late lunch and headed back to the house. That night we (when I say we, I really mean Jean) made a big pasta dinner and had a great time discussing plans and strategies for Sunday's events.

2:55 AM Sunday, I awoke to my alarm, and began Marathon Day. Megan, Laura, our new friend Sam and I were all doing the full marathon and needed to be at the Big Sur Marathon Bus by 3:45 AM in order to get bussed down to the start before the road was closed off for the runners. All in all it was a great pre-marathon gathering at the start line, with the exception of the near heart attack Megan and I both experienced when we were separated for about 20 minutes before the marathon started, after I took one last potty break. With only 5 minutes before the start of the race we were able to find each other at the start line, and could calm down. The reason the separation was so stressful is that we had planned on running the marathon together since we began training, 4 months prior, so it wasn't a good feeling thinking about the possibility of a "solo" marathon.

The start was beautiful, huge redwoods lining the road, perfect weather, and plenty of white doves. The four of us ran together up until about 5.5 miles, where Megan and I stopped at the port-o-potties and Laura and Sam tapped into their natural speed (Laura would go on to finish in about 4.5 hours and Sam in about 4 hours). I documented our potty stop with a photo, because it was the very first time I have ever had to use the port-o-pot during a race!

As promised, the scenery was spectacular. I really can't describe it in words. It is a place where everything that is beautiful in nature comes together, mountains, ocean, green pastures, all untouched and perfectly natural. I am extremely grateful that there was one development in this natural place, the Pacific Coast Highway, so that we could experience all of it.

The first 9 miles were pretty mild, elevation change wise. We did get some downhill, which started the quad workout from the beginning. Then the very much talked about Hurricane Point climb began at mile 10. Before the climb started we took our second round of gels, expecting an extremely challenging 2 miles ahead. Truthfully, we killed that hill! It didn't stand a chance. We passed hundreds of runners walking as we ran with ease up 600 feet. It felt fantastic.

After Hurricane Point it was a downhill descent to Bixby Bridge around mile 13. We rounded the corner and came upon the Bridge as we heard 'Music of the Night' being played by a pianist on a Grand Piano. Now, as I did in that moment, tearing up, it was something that would be a scene straight out of a great movie. It was magical. Crossing that bridge I was in a wonderful state of gratitude, for my life, my body, and my friend.

Miles 15 to 19 were rolling hills and more beautiful scenery. Every time we would come upon a turn I would say "It's about to get really pretty", and Megan would respond with "Thank God, we really need some good scenery around here." Needless to say, we were having a great time! There was lots of singing and shouting and talking, never did we really feel out of breath. Although, starting at mile 18 my legs were talking, and we all of a sudden went extremely fast around mile 23 for no apparent reason, and had to slow down. Miles 20-25 had some tough last minute climbs and the scenery changed a lot with civilization approaching (although still beautiful!). We never did find that "Wall" that you hear marathoners speak of, I attribute that to our tough training schedule that we stuck to rather diligently and great pacing during the race. We started out pretty slow and just had fun! We ended up crossing the finish line in 4 hours and 51 minutes, which was an excellent finish time for us considering the elevation changes. Word on the street is that Big Sur will add 20 minutes to your normal finish time.

As anticipated, the finish was pretty emotional, as soon as we heard our fans (Bill, Nicole, Laura, Jean, Lauren, and Kat) cheering I started kicking my legs up in joy. Probably wasn't too smart to be attempting strange dance moves after running 26 miles, but luckily I didn't fall flat on my face! After crossing the finish we hung out with our friends and fellow runners, Jean ran in the 5K, Lauren and Nicole ran in the 10.6 mile race (which was the furthest distance they had ever run) and Kat ran in the 9 mile race (the farthest she had ever run). Shortly after returning to the house we ate sandwiches and took ice baths. Laura and Mike left later that day to return to Palo Alto and Sam headed home to Santa Barbara.

That evening we ate leftovers, drank some adult beverages and went to bed. Monday morning Lauren, Nicole, Megan, Jean, Bill and I went into Carmel by the Sea and ate in a super cute very yummy little restaurant called The Cottage. Afterwards we drove down to Big Sur and showed Bill and Jean our marathon route. It was amazing how different the day was, while Sunday was completely perfect weather, Monday was quite foggy and cold, we were again very grateful for our marathon weather. Nicole and Lauren continued south to Santa Barbara, as Lauren had a 6 AM flight back to Orlando on Tuesday. The rest of us got to play in Big Sur a bit and take in more beauty.

Tuesday AM came and we left Carmel and headed north to Palo Alto. Megan and Jean were flying out of San Francisco and dropped us off at Laura's house on their way. We were then able to spend the day in San Francisco, had lunch in Chinatown, pastries and coffee in North Beach, and headed to Alameda for dinner with my cousin Brian, his wife Becky and their 1o month son Brody. Afterwards we headed back to Palo Alto, stayed with Laura, and Bill left for Gainesville the following morning. I was able to spend the day relaxing in Palo Alto on Wednesday, my initial plan was to travel around San Fransisco, but I was completely exhausted and opted to lay low. I made the wise decision to get a massage that day in preparation for the upcoming weekend relay in Black Mountain, NC.

Wednesday evening, before my red eye flight to NC, I was able to have dinner with Laura. It was the perfect way to end my 6 days in California, with a great girl over a good beer. Our dinner and time together was one of the highlights of the trip.

I think I'll leave it at that... I had an amazing time with amazing people. My friends and family donated over $2,200 to Hope Runs, I am so proud of that. 6 days following the Big Sur Marathon I was able to be part of another amazing event called Blue Planet 24 - Black Mountain (formerly known as Run for Africa). That will be my next blog.

Thank you for helping me experience the most perfect marathon weekend imaginable, almost makes me want to retire from marathoning because I don't think I'll ever duplicate the excellence of last week's marathon. Thanks.