Last year, I ran the Big Sur Marathon (recap here!) and just fell in love with Monterey, California. It felt like a “once in a lifetime” type experience, but wouldn’t you know, sometimes you just have to do it again 🙂
Just about a month ago, I saw a post on the JAMBAR instagram page where they were giving away three entries to the Big Sur events (winner could choose from marathon, 21-miler, 11-miler or 12K) – although it was a 30-min old post, I thought, “hey, why not?” – and the gamble paid off! I won the third entry, lost my mind a bit, then quickly formulated a plan to make it happen!
Since I had traveled pretty extensively in 2023, I thought I’d check my Delta account, and sure enough, I had enough miles to book a roundtrip flight through San Jose, and so the only other expense would be hotel and food. I checked my hotel from last year that I really liked (which was unfortunately booked up), but I could recall the general vicinity and chose another place that was available and walkable to the expo and shuttles.
Of course, I had to decide what distance to choose, and though everyone knows my penchant for the 26.2 distance, I was just two weeks out from Knoxville, so I recalled a conversation that I had had with my running pal Nancy about the uniqueness of the 21-miler distance, so that sounded like a good compromise, and would also double as a good long run for whatever I’d be happening to train for next 🙂
It was going to happen! YEAH!
PRE RACE THINGS
The trip kicked off on such a good note – when I checked in online on Friday, I quickly saw that I was going to be upgraded to first class! So, not only was the flight points + the processing fee of a whooping $12, I was flying down in style!
It was a crazy day – of course, I had to work all day, then take E to her play practice – then drive both kiddos up to my parents house for a fun sleepover weekend. But not only that! I was going to go see one of my favorite bands, AJR in Seattle, and my parents very conveniently live a lot closer to the Climate Pledge Arena then we do, so it really worked out. After arriving, we got the kids settled, then I ubered downtown and had THE BEST time. Wow, what a show!
LET THE TRIP BEGIN!
My ears were still buzzing when my early alarm went off, but my dad graciously chauffeured me to SEATAC for my early flight. The airport is so quiet and easy early, so it was low key – had my standard Starbucks breakfast, and before long, I was on that short 2-hr flight to Californiaaaaa!
Upon arrival in San Jose, I quickly was able to retrieve my bag, then picked up my chariot for the weekend (a Ford Escape! though the agent tried to convince me to get the Nissan Pathfinder lol) and it was on the road to Monterey. The traffic wasn’t too bad until right outside city limits, and I was able to quickly navigate to my hotel, park, check in, then walk over to the Expo.
…however, I was a little distracted on my walk as I strode past a big Trader Joe’s! I knew I wanted to pick up a few snacks, so I waltzed in and got a souvenir Bay Area tote, as well as the TJ brand poptarts, some Ube seasonal items, and some chocolate chip cookies. Armed with my goodies, I proceeded to the expo which was buzzing but not overwhelming, which was so low stress and lovely.
On the walk back to my hotel, I stopped into Ike’s sandwiches and had a weird-timed meal that was so delicious!
At that point, my room was ready and I chilled for a while, charging up my phone and changing clothes (it was feeling kind of breezy!) as I wanted to take a drive to the Pacific Grove area as I had really enjoyed the scenery there last year.
There is a really nice cycling/walking path along the water, so I enjoyed a nice stroll before heading back to grab a drink at my favorite local brewery, Dust Bowl Brewing. There, I ran into (almost literally! Haha!) one of the bartenders from last year and we had a nice chat about the marathon. Would definitely recommend that place for great drinks and very friendly service!
After that, it was back to the hotel to set out my stuff for the morning, then staying off my feet! I had everything set out, brushed my teeth and watched The Mask on TV and laughed my head off before falling asleep.
RACE MORNING
I was going to meet my friend Christina in the morning to take the shuttle over, and we wanted to grab the earliest busses so I was up a little before my 3:00 alarm, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
The vibes for this race were dramatically different than Knoxville a few weeks earlier – whereas I had big and defined goals for that one, this one was just a tribute to gratitude!
I was happy for so many reasons:
- Being back in Monterey for the second time
- Being healthy after a marathon training cycle
- Running Big Sur by some act of serendipity
- Excitement to “meet” friends that I had known forever but had never met in person (more on that soon!!)
- The opportunity to run a very unique iteration of the event (just weeks before the race, there were some dangerous landslides that closed parts of the regular course )
…just to name a few! And so when I was getting ready, the word came to me: “savor.” I pledged I would commit to being in each moment that morning, and just take in the experience completely.
The ride over was low key, and we were pretty nice and early so I unfolded my space blanket and Christina and I chatted away about a variety of topics before my friend Sandra joined us. The time passed quickly and soon it was time to drop gear bags, hit portapotties then head to the start!
LET THE RACE BEGIN!
The corrals were hearded up the street: Marathon and 21-Miler were kind of interspersed and from what I could hear from the announcers, 21-Milers were to begin with the Corral C runners.
As part of my whole “chill” approach to this race, I had adjusted my COROS workout in the app and my watch to reflect the regular parameters…5 min warm up, 20 miles of threshold pace (defined as 8’27 to 10’14 as per my current fitness) and 5 min cool down. Since it was set up that way, I would not see my current pace or splits pop up, only would be notified if I dipped out of the pace, and a countdown of the miles. This proved to be a little trippy, but nice to not get absorbed in the numbers.
Early miles in the race were very congested, as Corral C had the pacers from 10-11ish mile pacing going, which meant a bit of weaving (I tried not to do TOO much as not to run 22 or miles lol) but it was kind of a fun mental boost to pass a few pace groups with ease.
The crowding was more dispersed around 10K in, and I had settled into a grove for the most part. I did my usual water station routine of running to the last volunteer holding water, and walking with the cup until reaching the last bin.
The course was just as beautiful as I remembered, and it was actually really interesting to recollect the memories of the Carmel Highlands so early in the race (since it was out and back) and I knew that road camber would probably bite me in the butt later, but I just kept it going!
The only time I had to stop for a significant amount of time was when I removed my sunglasses from my shorts pocket only to find them completely fogged up, so I had to wipe them off with my buff. Otherwise, it was a jaunty journey up and down the hills!
Our turnaround came sooner than I had expected (not sure why I thought it would be later, haha) and I quite enjoyed the mental shift in my brain hitting the ‘back’ part of the “out and back.”
Of course, some fast marathoners now were also hitting the ‘back” and that was kind of cool to experience, with them blazing past! On the flipside, there were also slower 11-mile participants that I would pass. It was kind of an interesting collection of people sharing the road and I found that pretty cool.
Another perk of running 21 instead of 26.2? I got to keep going straight when I had about 2ish miles to go and marathoners had to peel off for a loop through Point Lobos. Nice!
I felt pretty good coming into the home stretch, and reflected on the unique experience of never knowing how you might feel like at the end of a race – and I was feeling exactly how I envisioned: controlled, comfortable, and accomplished.
This race was a dream, and I am still on cloud 9.
RESULTS AND FUN STUFF
I checked my results on the shuttle back to town, and at the time, it looked like I was in a good standing, and my time matched my watch, but today, I checked again and found that the participant number was adjusted and age groups had been added. Wow! Couldn’t be happier with how that turned out!
Big Sur is such a special experience – it’s not easy, but most things that are amazing aren’t right? 🙂 I highly recommend this race weekend, or if you’re not a runner, just coming up to visit this amazing place – I am convinced it is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever been.
Thank you again, JAMBAR, and thank you to my parents for hosting the kiddos this weekend!
Shiawase Life 