I had signed up for the Big Sur International Marathon 2015
(www.bsim.org) mostly to experience the cheap
thrills of getting a 3rd medal in addition to the two individual
medals for each of the Boston and BSIM races. Further I had never run two marathons less
than a week apart. So that was another incentive.
Far too many people I know, had already raved about the BSIM
route. And anyone who’s been marathoning for a while would know that Big Sur is
perhaps the world’s most scenic marathon. Any one of the Bixby bridge or the
scenes from the road to Hurricane point or the stretches before Carmel would qualify
as a picture worthy of a photo calendar (unless you were born in the 70s-90s,
you may not get this expression. A poor alternative to that would perhaps be
“instagram-worthy”)!
I had been pondering my tactics for the Big Sur race post
the race at Boston. As I had not exactly been gutted at Boston, at least from
an energy system standpoint, I had been tempted to revisit my earlier plan for
Big Sur – which had been to take it easy, take a camera and soak in the sights
and generally have a good time. I spoke to two friends and my coach, all of
whom warned me off the tough course and how difficult it was to run it, let
alone run a BQ on it. I had been hoping to run a BQ at Boston, although it was
unlikely I would use it for the 2016 race. I had begun wondering if I tried
hard at Big Sur, if I could run, say a 3:08:45, which would give me a BQ.
All of these thoughts became moot, once I caught a cold
around Thu evening. I swear that in all my planning, I had never considered
falling sick before a race. That was to be expected though, after a wet race
day at Boston and a reasonably hard effort, which must have taxed my body fat
reserves, simultaneously with the expected lowering of immunity after such a
long run. Even at the time of writing this post (2 weeks later!), I still have
a voice which could fill in for a voiceover on radio. By Sat afternoon, I had a
fever which kept coming and going and I was feeling miserable, since it meant I
would now be lucky to finish the race. And my wife was concerned I might die or
something.
I lowered my expectations to a 3:25 finish or so and decided
I would run the 1st half in about 1:40 and then try and lose not
more than 5 min in the 2nd half since the legs would be complaining
about the steep hill towards the end of the first half.
Race morning was smooth and mercifully not wet, unlike
Boston. I lined up right behind the elites at the start (Big Sur has a
delightfully understated start). After the usual introductions and the anthem,
we were off. Shockingly my right calf became tight after the 2nd km
itself! I just shortened my stride and was fine after that. But this also meant
I would not run too many sub-7:30 miles. After a fast first 4 km, I began to
settle. I couldn’t manage the first 4 km well since the course is downhill and
my breathing with a cold, didn’t help me judge effort accurately.
The first big test in the Big Sur is actually mental. At
about mile 9, you begin to see the 2 mile long slope from mile 10 to mile 12
and it climbs about 500ft. You can see the entire road from the bottom right of
your horizon to the top left and you can see some runners all the way. Brave is
the man whose spirit doesn’t weaken a bit from this magnificent sight. And this
is if you haven’t died due to the incessant headwinds from about mile 5 to mile
12 or so. It is not without reason that the highest point of the race is called
“Hurricane Point”.
I did ok on this long stretch deliberately dropping pace but
it wasn’t enough. After a breezy mile 13, my legs began to show some signs of
the run on Mon. I never ran much faster than 7:30 min/mile after the 18 mile
mark, mostly since Big Sur is a very unforgiving course. Arun had insisted that
I sample the strawberries at mile 23 and I did. They were heavenly.
The respite from the course is provided by the breathtaking
sights on the course, mostly to one’s left , as one runs. The Pacific coast, is
a bit rocky but spectacular. Most runners spend significant amounts of time,
taking pictures and selfies at several points. I didn’t.
There were also several bands which were great. I did focus
mostly on the running. I was also keen to not get hypothermic at the finish.
Once I crossed the 24 mile mark, at which there’s another
hill of almost 100 ft, I knew I would finish reasonably fine. But I ran gently
till I was in sight of the finish line. Then one of my fellow runners and I,
raced the last 100 yards or so and I held his hand as we crossed the finish
line together. I really loved this part
of the experience. I finished in 3:31:56 and was quite delighted about it, as I
didn’t feel awful at any point, even during the few instances when I was barely
running uphill. It might also have to do
with the fact that I had few expectations from Big Sur, in the first place.
I quickly went to the B2B tent where I got my special jacket
for completing the B2B challenge and the 2 medals. Over a quick round of
refreshments, I caught up with some fellow B2B runners and soaked in their
experiences too.
The race and post-race experience was phenomenal. While my
quads were a bit sore from the hills, I was overall much better than I was
after Boston.
I even managed to attend the post-race party and meet some
incredible athletes, as well as imbibe some nice wine, thanks to the awesome
organizers.
When I look at the B2B results, I see that 60 of the 71
athletes who were faster than me on net times in the B2B challenge, were faster
than me at Boston. So there’s obviously loads to improve at Bog Sur itself. I
am still surprised at my Big Sur finish. While my 3:17:11 barely put me in the
top 20% at Boston, my Big Sur time put me in the top 5% at Big Sur. That may
have more than a little to do with the fact that Boston has a higher depth, but
still.
I am optimistic that I will come back and run Big Sur as a
standalone race and train much harder. I know I can do better with fresher
legs. Strangely all the hill training I did for Boston helped at Big Sur.
I was also looking at this experience to assess how I will
react to ultras. It is humbling at this point to note that the answer is “not
too well”.
There are a lot of thoughts in my head at this point, but
for now, rest and recovery are top of that pile.
There are also some personal matters that need my attention.
They’re part of the reason this post was delayed.
Till the next experience, here’s data from my B2B experience
Thanks to everyone who supported me on this quest.
