BIG SUR - Most Amazing Marathon Ever!!!

Boston was hot....Big Sur was simply AMAZING!

Mary James and Dave Willey

At the expo, I met the race officials, who were just the nicest guys in the place and I knew that I had to have a photo with them! So, they all posed for this photo....and it turned out pretty good!

Race Officials looking official

I also met David Willey, Editor and Chief of Runners World magazine....he was nice enough to let my friend, Joannie take a photo of us. I thought I saw him on the race course the next day talking to a course official but I may have just thought I saw him, he did say he was going to be out there, but that might have meant that he was going to be on the course too...who knows, it was great to meet him. 


After surviving the heat of the Boston marathon on April 16th, I looked forward to the west coast Big Sur marathon which would be much, much cooler than Boston. The Big Sur marathon course runs the coastal Highway 1 through some of the most scenic coastline in the world. I was not prepared for the hills as I hadn't really done a lot of hill training but I figured I could always walk up the hills and run down the hills which I love to do....the downhills are my friend they make me feel like a fast runner because I can really run downhill fast. I realize this might sound like a "duhhhh" statement but I know a lot of runners who don't like to run downhill and actually prefer to run uphill because the downhill just feels a little too scary. I love it!! 

At the Start

I was so excited race morning to get to the start line and woke up at 2:30am and was up and ready to go by 3:15am....the first bus leaves Carmel High School at 3:30am to go to the start....My friend, Joannie, drove me to the bus drop off so that I could get to the start and after one last check to make sure I had everything, I was on the bus and off to the start. I put on my music and just kicked back with my Promax bar and coffee, feeling great even though it was only 4am in the morning....but I'm a true morning person and love this time of the morning....it is just so crisp out and everything seems new right before the sunrise. 


As the bus drove along the course backwards I started talking to the guy sitting behind me who was from Carmel and when I went to show him my special Boston 2 Big Sur bib....I grabbed my race belt that I had put on earlier that morning and realized that I didn't put my race bib or timing chip on my belt. In a panic I looked through my drop bag and no bib!! yikes!! 
This just doesn't happen to me....I have never, not ever, forgotten my bib or timing chip!!
I texted Joannie as quickly as I could hoping and praying that the text would go through because we were quickly entering no cell phone zone and she got it. Thank you!! She found my bib and was headed back to the finish line to see if she could find someone to take it to the start. 

Sally Smith...the best race media
registrar public relations official ever!!

I couldn't really do anything about it on the bus so I settled down, or tried to settle down and ate my breakfast and drank my coffee. The other runners on the bus around me said that I shouldn't worry, it would all work out...they were very nice and actually were very encouraging about the course when I said I had never done it, all they said was, "piece of cake, after Boston, if you can run through that heat wave...you can do any of these hills in the cool ocean air....little did I know then that they were so right on!! 


As I got off the bus, I ran right into Sally Smith, race official extraordinaire, and told her my delimma. She said that she had an extra bib if I didn't get mine by the first wave start. So, I walked around and tried to stay positive and warm....I was feeling great and there were a ton of people coming off the buses. I ran into 3 guys that were running the race, one for the first time and they all were friends that worked in San Diego as physicians....so we talked about Racing for Autism and charity running and then I got a text from Joannie saying that my bib was on it's way with Rocky who was in a van driving to the start. Thank you Joannie!!!                                                                                       

Guys that I met at the start....running together....
Collin on the right was running his first marathon.

One of the most amazing races was about to start and I had no idea how amazing it was going to be....of course I still didn't have my bib.


I went to drop my bag off with the drop truck that would take it to the finish for me and I met the volunteers that were taking the bags. These 4 young men were actually US Marines.  They told me that they had arrived in dress uniform and then realized they had 2 hours before the race started so they changed into t-shirts and jeans. 
I was talking to the four guys that were the Marine color guard and would be doing the starting ceremony for the race! They were so nice. They even asked me if I thought they could run a marathon, I had to laugh knowing what US Marines go through for boot camp training. I told them that anyone could run a marathon if they trained for it and really wanted to do it. They were really nice guys and then I got to see them perform before the race started, quite the transformation when they have those uniforms on. (see video below)

Rocky!!
Bib Delivery Extraordinaire!!

I was getting pretty worried about my bib since it was my Boston to Big Sur bib and I was suppose to show it at the finish to get my Boston to Big Sur medal and jacket and everything so I was pretty worried that I wasn't going to have it and would have to use the bib that Sally had just given me. It was 6:30 and the first wave was set to start at 6:45am and all of a sudden I saw the white vans coming up the road from the finish...thank you God!! I gave Sally back the loaner bib and ran over to Rocky. The elite runners were all unloading and I found Rocky with my bib waving it to the crowd of runners walking toward the start. 
I went over to him, gave him a big hug and thanked him for bringing my bib to me!! Yeah....I was now ready and the morning couldn't be more perfect!! The race was about to start and the color guard and national anthem were set to begin....here's the marines in action. 

This second video (below) is of the start of the first wave...I took off in the second wave....it was incredibly, surreal that they just set up a start line on Hwy 1 and then 15 minutes after the last wave the start line disappears.....crazy!

Start Sea of Runners

Racing for Autism was never more fun than at the Big Sur marathon....the race was completely amazing and my legs felt great through the first 20 miles but the wind was really strong....I had traded sun and hot, hot, heat at Boston for the cold, windy, windy, California coast with cold fog blowing at us right off the ocean at 30-40 knots....it was crazy backwards....it should have been cold in Boston and hot in California...right??!! I felt great so I ran the first 3 miles too fast and still felt great. If it wasn't for the wind I would surely have run a sub 5 hour marathon....but the wind was really blowing right in our faces....gale force winds that caused the fastest, first place runner to be one of the slowest times in the 27 year history of the event. So, just like Boston where the weather caused the winner to have a slow finish, here in Big Sur, the head wind and the cold had caused the winner to have a slow finish. Crazy!!


The aid stations were amazing and they had everything from vaseline for chafing, to water and gatorade, to gels and more....it was quite amazing. 

The support was incredible on the route and I came across an impromptu aid station of college kids with huge bottles of alcohol who were giving a shot to anyone......of course they wanted me to have a shot...but I wasn't going to mess with the incredible way I felt by adding straight alcohol to my stomach....no thank you....they were really fun to watch though, chasing down runners trying to get them to take a shot!! Hilarious!

I had to have a photo with them so I stopped and they offered me Rum, Whiskey, Vodka and whatever other shot I wanted again and again. I took off running when they tried to pour it into my mouth....yuck! 


The route was amazing as I've said before and I had a tactic that worked pretty good in drafting behind other runners because the wind was so strong, even being in the slipstream of a walker was helpful to get out of the wind....I felt like I was in front of one of those giant fans they use on movie sets. It was that windy, you couldn't really carry on a conversation and when I found the day after the race that my friend, Katy, was proposed to by her boyfriend on that windy course, I thought, I wonder if she even heard him with all that wind...Will you...shuussuuusshh...marry......swshsssuuu.....me?
I don't think she really had to hear him since getting down on one knee and holding out a ring probably meant only one thing that he was asking so I'm sure it didn't matter at all and her facebook post - "It was the best marathon ever!" said it all!!

Then there were the views.... and the musicians....playing bridge over troubled water at Hurricane point was an amazing pianist....here is the photo of me sitting next to him after his assistant told me to sit down for a moment and enjoy the music:) You would think he thought I had all the time in the world!!
It was an amazing view and an amazing marathon!!

Photo taken by my faster running friend 
Katy Robinson who jumped up and took this 
photo.....later during the marathon...she was 
proposed to by her boyfriend....what a 
very memorable race for her!

The piano man was incredible....it was so surreal not having any cars on the large bridge that I have seen for so many years as a child camping with my family, as a college student showing my East coast friends my favorite parts of California and as a parent showing my kids this amazing stretch of the California coastline. It was incredible!! It was like no other running event that I had ever done....it was just a ton of fun and although I had done Boston just a few days before and suffered through the heat, my legs weren't even complaining as I got to mile 18, then 19, then 20 and then I was just tired not sore, just tired. 

Video on how windy it was out there!

Met some great athletes out on the course, including Laurie and Frank from Florida who were just finishing the course to finish....we crossed the finish line photo section together....they were great to run with for a while!! Recruited more folks to the Racing for Autism team also....so it should be a coast to coast team of people now:)

In the Boston to Big Sur VIP tent....it was
a ton of fun to be there and actually finish
the course still feeling pretty good!!

Laurie and Frank who were
running the Big Sur together....we ran
the finish line together!!

It was an incredible marathon and what a great two weeks of marathon mania.....across two coasts, in hot and cold weather and such amazing and great people that I ran into on the course and at the expo and all over. Amazing to think that I actually did complete the goal of finishing both of these marathons even when the weather and the conditions were not ideal. 

I must be a runner because I am already thinking about what else I can do, maybe a 10K race or an adventure race or maybe something that I can check off my life's list of things to do? Hmmmm, maybe I just need to keep running and something will come up that sounds amazing to do. 

Boston Marathon Finisher Medal and Big Sur Finisher Medal and
Boston 2 Big Sur Finisher Medal!!
Very Cool!!

I want to thank my family for putting up with me over the last 5 months of training and then to have me take off for two weeks to go and run a couple marathons....well, the best I can do is thank them for being so supportive and letting me do these crazy things. 

Thank you to all who donated also, I realize that times are tough right now and there are so many fundraisers going on for such amazing things, I feel grateful that you gave what you could to my fundraising campaign!

The Big Sur marathon is an amazing marathon and if you have ever thought to run a marathon - you should at least do this one, once in your life!

Got to sign the B2B Poster that was signed
by all the B2B runners:)

My friends at the finish - Joelah and
Joannie....what a fun day!

River Ice Bath down the road
from our cottage in Carmel
water was freezing cold but felt
wonderful!!!

The river water was great to ice down my feet in after running 26.2 miles, the blisters that I got from Boston had reformed and so the icy river water was the very best way to make them feel much better!

Thanks for reading my blog about the Big Sur marathon!

Mary