Most gorgeous marathon

Finally overcame computer troubles that prevented me from posting this blog entry over two weeks ago, as planned.

Big Sur Marathon definitely lives up to its billing as the most gorgeous marathon. We lucked out with great temperatures. While the first five miles had light winds of no more than about 5 mph as predicted, shortly thereafter the wind picked up to at least 15-25 mph steady winds -- headwinds -- making the run more difficult than we newbies were already expecting. At the same time, though, they certainly kept us cool - I never even contemplated dousing myself with water.

Not only is the scenery great, but so, too, are their mile markers.

Given how fast the first place finisher crossed the finish line, I'd say he blew past this speed limit sign.

Not quite THIS soon. But later... yes.

Perfectly placed marker, as it turns out. Very shortly after here, once we saw the ocean, we were slammed by the wind. And it never really let up.

Now that's a sign you don't expect to see on courses that don't show regular 5k intervals. Huh. Not sure why this is even here.

One thing I found out in the days leading up to Big Sur was that there is a bit of a tradition where those people competing in Boston 2 Big Sur (as I was) wear their Boston Marathon bib on their backs, so that fellow marathoners and B2B'ers can distinguish we crazies. While I no longer had the bib by the time I heard about this, I did still have the gear check bag with the number on it, so I cut out that number and put it on my back.

It was shortly after this marker and while running past the base to our left that a few of us were musing as to what the heck the structure was atop the hill.

Turns out, this Naval Facility is a state park nowadays, but back during the Cold War, it was used to eavesdrop on Soviet submarines. Something none of us had a clue about as we were running past. And, amusingly enough, one of the ladies I was slowly passing around here noticed the gear check number on my back and where I'm from. Turns out, the two of them were from Reston, just about 10 minutes from me. Small world!

Sure! So far, it's been great. Not being overly worried about the time in which I finish (I've given myself a huge 1-hour range: 4 to 5 hours) makes it so much less stressful to stop and take all these photos and videos.

It is at this point that we have a nice long, fast descent. Great spot to gain as much time on the pace as possible, because from Mile 10-12, it is a very long hill, with essentially no flattening in it. Nastiest spot on the course, that just keeps going and going.

As if looking at the course profile wasn't intimidating enough, you had to have THIS be your Mile 10 marker? Ha!

Yep, we're still climbing at this point. But, it's about time for another brief break.

Yes! Made it to the top of this hill. Aptly named Hurricane Point -- damn was it windy up here!

And, unfortunately, it was overcast enough where I couldn't truly appreciate the view back down the hill from whence we came:

The iconic Bixby Bridge that spans the half-way point of the race:

Absolutely amazing hearing the piano from this far away (it's about .25 miles, I'd say). Granted, it's coming through a speaker set-up, but still...

Unfortunately, the video I took was too long, and the file size is too large to upload. :-(

Good thing that I had long ago decided to not be overly concerned with my finishing time, because it was at this point in the race that I had to have a considerably long pit stop. It's one thing to have had a quick one once or twice earlier in the course (I always need to go at least once if I'm going particularly slow compared to my normal race pace), but this was... a bit more. ;-)

Finally getting back underway...

While there aren't that many spectators other than at the hydration stations, this guy was having a great time entertaining the runners:

While this is the approximate point in many races where people hit "The Wall," we're one mile away from literally running through a part of the course that is known as The Wall, for what will be obvious reasons.

Shortly after here, we got to the strawberries. Sure, you're not supposed to eat anything new on race day (let alone during the race itself), but I was willing to make this an exception. Damn, the strawberry was great. Huge, sweet, refreshing. Just what I could use at that point, with less than 5k left in the race.

Hallelujah, indeed. Less than 2 minutes later, I crossed the finish line. (4:10:52) What a great race. Even though, typically, I vastly prefer the big races with lots of spectators cheering the runner along, at no point in time was I dragging for lack of that extra energy boost being supplied by a crowd.

Highly recommend taking on this marathon. And for those of you who do Boston, take the opportunity to do B2B at least once. You'll be glad you did!