And I’m back from Big Sur! How would I describe my long weekend? Deliciously, delightfully, exhausting. Oh, and fun!! I will go into greater detail in upcoming posts, like where you can find this meal that includes THE BEST CLAM CHOWDER EVER. (Sorry, Sam’s!)

For now, here is my Big Sur Marathon Relay race recap!

Saturday around noon, I picked Susie up from her place and we zipped down to Monterey via 101 and 1. The sun was shining, my leg felt great –strong, even — after a trial 2-mile run that morning, and I had a Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiato in me… life was good! We checked into our hotel with ease (the Hilton Garden Inn which was also dubbed the “Relay Hotel” because of its location to the relay bus pickup and drop off next door at Monterey Peninsula College) and headed over to the Expo to pick up our race packets.

But not before stopping in the Portola Inn & Spa’s restaurant for a glass of wine and some light bites to tide us over until dinner. Yum!

(Shrimp Scampi, Crispy Calamari, Fresh Dungeness Crab & Avocado Sliders Portobello Mushroom Ravioli)

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Afterwards we had the perfect amount of time to pick up our race packets, attend a mandatory 5 pm relay meeting, shop the expo, (dozens of health and fitness companies were there peddling their gear) and go back to the hotel to freshen up before our 7 pm dinner reservation in Carmel. There, we met up with the rest of our team and received wine and dessert on the house to compensate for a 30 minute wait despite having made a reservation well in advance. What incredible hospitality!

Immediately following dinner, we went back to our hotel and prepared for our early wake up. Clothes were laid out, fuel and gear packed, and alarms were set. I think we were all in bed and lights out by 1030!

(Peanut butter and honey for the win! Here’s a tip: when you make it the night before, put pb on both sides and honey in the middle to keep your sandwich from getting soggy.)

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Due to the logistics of getting thousands of runners participating in the marathon, 21-, 10.6-, and 9- milers, and relay to their respective start points on a winding 2-lane cliff-hugging highway, we were required to catch busses starting at 4 a.m. It was reeeeally dark and reeeeeally cold when I went to catch my 4:30 a.m. bus:

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Needless to say, if you’d asked me around this time if I would do the race again next year I would’ve flipped you the bird because that’s all I had energy for. I was SO TIRED!! I slept horribly if at all and my poor legs were shaking from exhaustion when I pulled on my shorts at 4 a.m. I seriously wondered how I was supposed to run when I felt this physically ill. And to think, I willingly signed up and PAID to do this! Melissa, aka our relay leg #1, had to set her alarm for 3:20 am and said she found herself seriously re-evaluating every life decision she’d made that led to her huddling in a freezing-cold Safeway parking lot in Carmel at 5 a.m. as she waited for the 6:45 a.m. race to start.

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(I’m in green, Mel’s in grey) 

Being leg #3 in a race that goes out and back, I had the furthest start point down Highway 1 from the start/finish line in Carmel so my wait was a little more pleasant:

And the 10.6 and 9 milers are off!:

Just as the sun peeked over the mountains, the marathon frontrunners flew by and I got my second wind! You can’t help but feed off everyone else’s positive energy!

Finally around 8 am I shed my layers and started to anticipate when my teammate, Sarah aka relay leg #2, would arrive. Apparently we were supposed to know everyone’s pace beforehand to estimate about when they would come down the stretch to hand-off the slap bracelet/baton. Originally we were planning on texting each other once the handoff was completed but hey, there’s no cell reception out there! Oops. Now we know for next year!

As I craned my neck to watch for Sarah in between stretching and hopping around to stay warm, another teammate, Kelley aka Relay Leg #4, found me in the crowd. It was kind of insane because BUSLOADS were crowding the sideline waiting for their teammate to come down the stretch and handoff to them. And since I was running out and back, my relay exchange handoff point to leg #4 was basically across the street so it was nice to see a friendly face, have someone to wait with, and hey, I could hand her my bagful of layers I’d shed instead of leaving them unattended on the sidelines or throwing them at Sarah when she arrived. Another added convenience having the out and back leg? I have my layers back in my possession upon completing my leg. All other legs had to wait until everyone reunited at the finish line. Obviously when I signed up I didn’t know this, nor was this even an option since it was originally a one-way course. Score!

And at 8:22 am I’m off! And yes, I totally stopped and took photos along the way. How could you not when the scenery is this stunning?!

At several vistas there were volunteers designated to take photos of you with your camera! The volunteers for this race are in one word, awesome. The community, too. They come out to the ends of their driveways to cheer you on. It was so funny, at one point one of the spectators was hollering out, “Good morning! Good morning!” to all of the runners and by this time I’d already been up nearly 5 hours and was thinking/feeling, “Isn’t it afternoon?!” But no, it wasn’t even 8:30!

In addition to the views, along the way there was plenty of live entertainment in the form of musicians, dancers, bands, drummers, and pianists to motivate you:

I ended up running my 6 miles in 50 minutes… 8 minutes slower than the San Jose Turkey Trot. However, that’s a really unreliable estimate of my pace since I stopped and took A LOT of photos and there were WAY MORE hills. In reality, even with all the stopping, gawking, and photo-taking, even with my bum leg and lack of training, I overtook two pace groups! One guy towards the end of our leg thanked me for pushing him… right before I left him in the dust when I started my sprint.

I finally found Kelley (actually, I think it was more like she found me) and handed off the slap bracelet to her. Sarah had waited around with her so it was nice to have someone to make the long walk (5 miles) to the next relay exchange to catch the bus. It was walk or wait for EVERYONE to complete and clear the course  so the bus at my relay exchange point could go. I’m glad we walked, or else I would’ve missed the pianist and the drummers!

Everything worked out perfectly time-wise! Sarah and I made it to the busses we were hoping to catch just in time to hop a lift to the finish line. Kelley had managed to hop the bus just ahead of ours and Susie crossed the finish line minutes after we arrived. Our official time and place? 4:17 and 22/60 teams in the open women’s category. Check out the cool finisher’s medals we got!

Ask me now, after 11 miles total, if I’d do it again next year and it’s a definite yes! We are hoping to make two or three teams next year just to make the “downtime” before each leg pass by more quickly, so let me know if you’re interested and I will add you to the mailing list!