On Wednesday, June 2, was National Running Day and our club members reported 215 miles ran on that day! Great job for a week day of running! That was over 20,000 calories burned on that day which is enough to consume 37 small Oreo blizzards! (Sorry but Donna and I never met a Dairy Queen we did not stop for or think about!)

Last month Donna Akers, Christine Cardinal, Rhonda Williams and I traveled to Monterey CA to experience one of the most beautiful marathons in the world, Big Sur. Big Sur is the largest rural marathon in the world, winding through redwoods, ranches, and offering stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. You may have read the quote from Bart Yasso of Runner’s World: “If we were told that we could run only one marathon in our lifetime, Big Sur would have to be it.”  This is one of those marathons you need to experience to fully understand this passionate comment from Yasso.
We were blessed with great weather as we boarded the shuttle buses to the start at a very early time of 4am! The trip from Monterey to the starting line takes over one hour due to the hilly two lane road and surprisingly the participants were mostly quiet in route considering the event that was about to unfold. Did I mention it was early!
The temp for the 6:45am start was in the low fifties under clear skies. The first ten miles were flat to down hill but you don’t want to go out fast as the two mile climb to Hurricane Point is relentless but the view of the ocean waves crashing along the rocky coast can easily distract a runner. Once you reach the summit of Hurricane Point you can see the ½ point at Bixby Bridge and also hear the popular piano music of Michael Martinez.  The sight and sounds of a grand piano complete with the musician wearing a tux is stunning and very unusual for a marathon. This point was magical with the early morning sun shinning down on the polished black piano playing popular tunes along side the attractive architecture of the Bixby Bridge. You just wanted to stop and absorb it all in!
Several live bands line the course and were a welcomed addition to the scenic course and challenging.  After the ½ point the runners ran along the Palo Colorado Canyon to the Garrapata Bridge. You think the view can not get any better but then you make another turn and the “wow’ factor is everywhere! I know Donna enjoyed seeing the cattle graze in the pasture along the coast. It was exhilarating to have the ocean cliffs on the left and the mountains on the right with almost no homes or development to spoil the view. The last six miles were all up or down running along Yankee Point, Point Lobos and San Jose Creek. Even though the temperature had reached the low seventies at the finish, my clothing was dry due to the low humidity. What a wonderful break from the consistent high humidity we experience during the summer on the East coast.  Dozens of runners completed the “B2B, Boston to Big Sur challenge and I can only imagine how their quads were screaming after completing these two challenging marathons in a one week period!   The ceramic medal was very unique and one to keep! My only mistake was not wearing sunscreen as my pale body was not used to a full day of being out in the sun.

I know all of us that ran Big Sur would recommend this event and the 100 mile drive from the San Francisco Airport was very scenic and not as congested as the southern California roads.  The direct flight from Charlotte, NC was uneventful and I would definitely do this event again.

Check out the photos of Big Sur