After checking into our motel (the Fernwood ), we cleaned up and drove a couple of miles further south to Ventana Inn . We ordered cocktails as we waited for the restaurant to open. These three photos are the first of many that I took using the camera that's built in to my new Palm Zire71. It's a crummy little camera. But what it lacks in quality, it makes up in quantity - I can take pictures of anything anytime. I took it along on the marathon, too.
Saturday morning, we went to the Big Sur Bakery for pastries and coffee. The BSB makes fine examples of both. The photo to the right is us enjoying breakfast on the terrace at BSB. The goal for Saturday was to expend as little effort as possible. I think we succeeded...
- it's a difficult course so start slow
- Hurricane point is the first af several hills, so go slow.
- Enjoy the view, go slow.
- drink lots of water (but not too much)
Cultural note: a Brazilian style drumming band (3 or 4 persons - none looking particularly Latin American) played in the Fernwood bar at around 9pm. They were very good and they didn't play for very long. We had a good night's rest.
The start line is far, far away
We took a pit stop at the Fernwood (about 1.3 miles into the race) and hooked up with Mary. She wanted to get in a 5 mile run before her appointment for a facial at the Ventanna Inn Spa.
Shortly after Mary turned back, Kathy and I split up, too. We had been holding a 12:30 mile pace (not counting the pit stop) to try to maximize Kathy's chances of finishing under the 5 1/2 hour time limit. I decided to increase my pace to attempt an under-four hour finish.
As the sun continued to rise, the scenery changed from dim wooded glens to vast grazing land. One of the coolest shots that didn't come out was the coastal fog clinging to the cliffs to the south. This little bump of land with a lighthouse on it was the second photo. You'll just have to use your imagination for the fog thing.
There's a little more of that coastal fog thing appearing just above
the runner in the white top.
Sorry about the sun flare. I need to remember to shade the lens when I take shots like this. The start of Hurricane Point (mile 10) is a bridge that sits about 50' above sea level. The Taiko drumming core was way cool here. Inspiring though they were, I followed my race plan and began walking up the hill at Hurricane Point.
In the shots below, I tried to give you an idea of what an 8% grade
looks like. One cruel feature of Hurricane is that the windy road teases you:
each time you think you've reached the top, it curves back into the hill
for another long painful stretch.
packing up the music...
I'm not sure where this is on the course, but somewhere along the
way, I saw an ambulance drive by with lights flashing. As we ran, we heard
rumors that someone had gotten into serious medical trouble on the course.
We found out later that , in fact, a runner had died. The news stories say
that he was in his mid forties (like yours truly) and had flown out from the
east coast with a friend to run Big Sur.
Actual split times (blue) and intended negative splits (pink) to reach a sub-four hour finish.. As you can see, The experimental data has very little relation to the theoretical data. I declare the experimental data to be made up entirely of "outliers". No more need be made of this discrepancy.
Heart rate during the race. This race was not a test of my aerobic capacity.
Obviously, this was a terrible race for me: I finished 45 minutes slower than my previous marathon.
On the bright side:
- I got to run on "the raged edge of the western world" on a spectacularly beautiful day.
- Mary said she had a fabulous facial etc at the Ventanna Inn.
- After burning 3046 kcal, I get to eat whatever I want.
- Kathy has completed her marathon and will not be bugging me to do this crazy thing again.
- I did not, in fact, die.