2 Days to go

After 3 days of “work” in San Francisco I had a few hours to kill before leaving the foggy city, so what better way to put in the time than with a little cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge on a tandem with my colleague, Jonny. There were a couple of unforeseen problems with this smart idea, firstly Jonny hadn’t been on a bicycle since he was 7 years old, therefore, I was nominated as the front man and after consuming copious amounts of garlic in The Stinking Rose the night before, it started to ooze liberally from our pores – in hindsight it was probably just as well that I was in front! Secondly, we not only underestimated how far away the bridge was, but also how hilly it was to get to this masterpiece of constructional engineering. It took us almost 3 hours to get back to the rental place- our arms and legs were like jelly after it–perfect pre- marathon preparation!

Jonny had hired a Mustang Cabriolet to drive to LA and he kindly offered to drop me off in Monterey where I was staying prior to the marathon. By the time we got there, both of us ended up getting sun burnt, probably an even more stupid idea than the tandem expedition, but excellent fun...

1 Day to go

After a short jog at 5.30am along the beach and some early breakfast, I walked to the convention centre to pick up my number. The entire organisation was carried out über-efficiently and in less than 2 minutes I had my bib number, my timing chip, a bus ticket with an allocated departure time of 4.15am (yes am, not pm) and my t-shirt. Having grown up in a country which has a (mostly unfounded) reputation for efficiency, this military-style operation was quite scary.

I spent a bit of time at the expo, acquiring a pair of Brooks running shoes and a very cool massage stick (www.thestick.com – I know I am a sucker when it comes to these things, but it is actually very good). Bart Yasso, the Chief Running Officer of Runner’s World (how cool a title is that!) was there to flog his forthcoming book(he has the coolest job on the planet: he gets paid to travel around the world and run in fun races.) Free talks were given all day and I went to listen to the nutter of all nutters Dean Karnazes (www.ultramarathonman.com). I just couldn’t sit in an auditorium all afternoon and decided to go whale watching (as you do) to top up my sun-burn. After the usual dose of carbo-loading, I hit the pillow early to get some sleep before the big day.

Getting to the Start

3.45am! Three alarms went off in short succession and I got dressed half-asleep before heading off in the dark to walk to the bus pick up area. There must have been well over 100 buses lined up to get us to the start. The organisers had hired the famous yellow school buses and covered each one’s big ‘School Bus’ signs with ‘Marathon Bus’, which given the time of the day, was probably a wise thing to do to avoid any confusion. On the bus most people either had their breakfast in silence or slept. The ride took just over an hour and covered the entire run route backwards. I couldn’t see any of the scenery since it was pitch black outside, but I could hear a lot of gear changes and this is when the realisation kicked in that this wasn’t going to be easy!

The start area was a big car park in the Big Sur, where food (fruit and bagels) and drink (coffee and Gatorade) was provided. I went through my usual anally retentive pre-race routine before hitting the portaloos which proved more of a challenge than expected. If you ever have to visit one of these in a big dark forest, I strongly advise you to either bring a torch or, if that’s not your thing, rehearse the exercise blind folded – I am sure you get the idea…

The Start

10 minutes to go and time to get to the start. The American flag got hoisted by a selected runner and the last encouraging words of wisdom were provided by the CRO himself (I just love that title!). 5 minutes to go and suddenly everything went silent. The US anthem was sung by a local opera singer – running caps came off, hands were put on hearts and chins were raised to the sky. I was tempted to apply a bit more Vaseline, but decided to show some respect for the lubricant industry. Then, 26 doves were released! I really think that it should have been 26.2, but I guess it would have caused some concern with California’s animal protection association if a dove leg was thrown into the air too. We eventually got underway and the fun started…

The Race

The first 5 miles were on rolling hills through the Big Sur forest and there were more spectators on that stretch than on the entire Belfast Marathon route. Log cabin owners, campers, forest worker and stoned hippies all provided support which was quite impressive given that it was still only 7 o’clock in the morning. The route was pretty much up and down until mile 10, when we approached the scary looking climb to the notorious Hurricane Point. At the foot of the mountain we were drummed in for the ascent by the Taikos. My speed dropped down to 10.5 minute miles and then went up to 8.20 on the downhill stretch which included the most stunning bridge I have ever crossed in a race.

• They had two people at each mile marker, one was shouting out the current time every 5 seconds and the other was then yelling the estimated finish time. While this seemed like a great idea, it was actually quite useless since it didn’t actually take into consideration the chipped times.
• Neither bottles, nor plastic cups were handed out, but instead half-filled paper cups which were squeezed together at the top, basically creating a little spout. This worked really well since you can have a drink without pouring half the contents over your face and had the added advantage of you not tripping over all the plastic bottles lying around.
• At 23 miles there was a “Free Hugs Station”! There was a range of people – wearing plastic bin liners on top of their clothes – who offered a bit of a cuddle if you were so inclined. Not quite sure if this concept would go down too well in this part of the world, but then, you never know.

The rest of the race was made up of a lot of hills, quite strong head winds, excellent feed stations (6 types of gel from the halfway point) and stunning scenery.

The Finish

By the time I finally got to Carmel (where Clint Eastwood was mayor a few years ago) in 4:04 (806th out of over 3,200 finishers), the temperature had risen to25 degrees. After crossing the finishing line, you were greeted by 10 people – 5 on each side – whose sole purpose was to high five you – excellent use of volunteer marshalls! The timing chip came off and we were all given a very unique medal. At the entrance to the (huge) food & drinks tent everyone was handed a little carton-style box to stack up on supplies. Fruit, bagels, yoghurt, you name it, it was there. The entire finishing area was a real spectacle with free beer, massages, more food and more drinks – not a ham sandwich or a tray bake in sight! Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to enjoy all the freebies as I had to rush back to the hotel for a shower, check out and take the 2 ½ hour shuttle ride to San Francisco airport. I am sure spending all night squashed in an economy class seat wasn’t the best thing to do after 26.2 miles of hills.

Well, that’s the rundown on my Big Sur adventure - it was my 10th marathon and it was certainly one I won’t forget! I’ll finish with the quote Bart Yasso (remember, the CRO) inscribed for me in his book: “Never limit where running can take you”.