Yesterday I was lucky enough to participate in the Big Sur International Marathon for the second time - as part of a relay. Let me say, I think this is the best run event I have ever done, in what may be the most beautiful spot on the planet.
The course itself is stunning. You start 26 miles south of Carmel inside the Big Sur park, then follow Highway 1 through the redwood forests out to the coast, and the next 20 miles are filled with the most incredible views! At around mile 10 you start a 2 mile climb up to hurricane point - from here you can see for miles up and down the coast. On the other side of this hill, you drop down in to a valley and cross the Bixby bridge, which everyone should recognize from the numerous TV and print ads. Awesome. It’s a challenging course, with lots of hills, and the race times reflect this - I think the winning male this year finished in close to 2:30, and the course record is 2:16. The scenery makes the course go by much faster, though.
The aide stations along the way are well stocked with plenty of volunteers, gatorade, gu, fruit, vasaline, band aids, cold sponges, etc. Top notch in my opinion. In between the aide stations there are various musical acts, like a classical pianist at Bixby Bridge, a drum group at the base of Hurricane Point, and one mom and pop group that reminded me of the Will Farrell / Ana Gasteyer act on SNL.
Logistically, the race is a huge challenge. The course starts 26.2 miles from Carmel, and the road is closed before and during the race. To get there, you need to pile on a bus starting at 4:00am. Since I was doing the relay, we had to be on the bus at 5:00am. I swear, every school bus in Monterey county was called in to service for this race. They got us where we needed to be, on time, and even opened the aide station so we could warm up with coffee or hydrate with water or gatorade.
I started 9.8 miles in, which gave me the opportunity for a nice, fully supported 16.4 mile training run. I felt bad at first, charging up hills and feeling fresh when those around me had already put in 10 miles. After my official leg, I stopped and waited for a coworker who was doing the whole race and paced him the rest of the way in. We were shooting for 4 hours, but came in a little over that - he had a bum knee, which slowed him down.
At the finish line they treat you well. The volunteers were awesome, and even though I was just a relay runner, they were all giving me high 5’s as I came through thr chute. There is plenty of food, free beer and soup (why soup? I dunno…).
I will be back for this one next year - either the full distance or the relay again. It was too much fun to pass up.
The web site is here: www.bsim.org