Q's Adventures: Big Sur Marathon

Hey, I ran in a race!  Well, part of a race.  I ran one leg of the Big Sur Marathon as part of a relay team!  Gotta say, it was pretty freaking awesome.  Big Sur is gorgeous.  They close down Highway 1 between Big Sur State Park and Carmel, and that's the marathon route!  How cool is that?  One of the races they have is a relay, where up to 5 people can split up the marathon at designated relay exchange points.

The five legs are 5 miles, 4.8 miles, 6.9 miles, 5.5 miles, and 4 miles.  The first and last legs are supposedly the easiest, mostly downhill.  Especially the last leg, which is short.  The first and last legs are also pretty interesting, being as one is the cattle call of the start, and one is the awesome feeling of crossing the finishing line.  The third leg is the most difficult, not only because it is the longest (the distance differences are pretty negligible, really), but mostly because there's a 2 mile climb in the middle of it up to Hurricane Point.  TWO MILES OF CLIMBING!  However, that's offset by this being the most beautiful stretch of the course, and also getting to run across the Bixby Creek Bridge.

I did the 4th leg, which is the second longest, and was pretty up and down.  Rolling, hilly terrain is how the leg was labeled.  So I'd run up, then I'd run down, then I'd run up, and then I'd run down.  But man, it was still very pretty.

So, I was pretty amped up.  I finished my 5.5 miles in right around 40 minutes.  I didn't get an exact time, but I was flying. Well, flying for me.  I came in right around an 8 minute mile pace...maybe a little faster.  Not too shabby for a fat kid, eh?

When you finish your leg, there's busses waiting to bus you to the finish line.  But there's a lot of waiting involved.  I handed off the slap bracelet to my dad, who was running the last leg, and took a quick break to hit the potty and grab some water.  Then I strapped up the backpack full of my dad's prerun sweats, and my postrace sweats, and decided to run the 5th leg in as well.  I mean, it was only 4 miles.  Let me tell you, this was a good decision.  It was pretty awesome to have been running for over an hour overall, and to cross that finish line.  I may have not done the whole marathon, but it was still pretty awesome.  Almost makes me want to train to run the whole marathon next year.

The Big Sur Marathon is really quite an impressive event.  They have music seemingly every mile.  Including a grand piano at the Bixby Creek Bridge.  On my leg there were a couple local high school bands, one drum line, an electric guitar, and a keyboard.  Pretty cool!  The highlight of the 5th leg had to be the drums (canvas and steel drums...pretty awesome) and belly dancers by the beach at Carmel Bay.  People also rave about the fresh strawberry table.  I passed, but they smelled amazing.  But all this entertainment on the course really did make the event feel all that much more special.

Anyways, I do have a few pictures.

Here's one my dad took as I was coming in to hand off to him.  Yup, that's me running in a race (follow the yellow arrow)!

Here's my dad crossing the finish line for our team (blue shirt).

As a team we finished the marathon in 3 hours, 52 minutes, and change.  We finished 53rd out of 256 teams overall.  Not too shabby.

This is a two-set of me running in the race...one is me coming down a hill (leading the pack, whaaaaaaaaaat!), and then me crossing the finish line.  And yes, I totally stole these photos from the website of the guys taking the official photos.  But they want me to pay 40 bucks to download each one!  That's outrageous!  I'll just deal with the big PROOF on it.

Here's me just after finishing the 5th leg.  I guess I was kind of beat (I was...although not THAT beat).

Here's dad and I, posing with our medallions for finishing the marathon relay.

I guess I was feeling much better (I was).  And, finally, here's the whole team (left to right:  Dad, leg 5; Tim, leg 3; Fred, leg 2; Vicky, leg 1; and me, leg 4).

Well, most of the whole team...I'm only two-thirds in the picture! Heh...

Anyways, it was a pretty legit event, and one I enjoyed thoroughly.

Next year's Big Sur International Marathon is on April 28, 2013, and registration opens on July 15, 2012...which means I have, what, 2 1/2 months to decide on whether I want to commit to training for it?  Well, better than nothing.

So, should I train for the full thing next year?  I'm thinking yes.  If not, I think I'm going to ask for leg 3...running down into the Bixby Creek Bridge as the grand piano fills the air?  Yes please!