Big Sur Marathon Review

Foothill Flyers Race Reviews
Last update June 20, 2005

Big Sur Marathon

4th Sunday in April, Big Sur Marathon/ Half Marathon in Carmel, CA, 7 AM Start

App and info: (831) 625-6226

Julie Miller's report on the Big Sur marathon -- Sunday April 24, 2005

Big Sur was a blast!
Jennifer Harrelson, Brenda Kobernusz, Julie Miller and Karen Johnson drove the scenic road trip to up Pacific Coast Highway to run the Big Sur marathon. Perfect weather conditions and none of the famous Hurricane Point headwinds helped Jennifer to run a 4:45, Julie chip a 5:17 and change and the intrepid Brenda K., who decided to run Big Sur on the spur of the moment, and after doing Catalina came in at 5:20 -- an over one hour PR from her Catalina time. Karen Johnson supported us and wisely did the 5K. So how does an all-girl's weekend out at the marathon go?

Friday, April 22: The intrepid four meet at Peet's in Pasadena for lattes and scones. Jennifer roars in with her brand new-arrest-me red-convertible mini-cooper to join us inÊstocking up on snacks and caffeine. Buttonwillow: time for more snacks. Cambria: great spot for brunch on Main street. Piedras Blancas: another stop to see juvenille elephants seals. We speed up the California coast to Napenthe, a restaurant near Big Sur for drinks. Then, on to Monterey, where we hit the convention center. First Big Sur tip: Pick up your bus pass right away, so you can get the "late" 4:30 a.m. bus to the race start. Big Sur has very cool ASICs long-sleeved coolmax tees. We shopped til closing. Karen and I stayed a the Portola Plaza and walked to the Monterey wharf for seafood. Brenda and Jennifer stated in Pacific Grove and ate Italian.

Saturday April 23: Breakfast at the Italian cafe next to the Portola for good coffee and eggs. After, the intrepid four squeezed in massages between lectures on Chi Running and Galloway intervals and did more shopping. BTW Saturday is MUCH more crowded. Lunch Greek restaurant in Pacific Grove that gave us free turkish coffee (the waiter liked Brenda.) Second tip: Rosine's, one block from the race hotel is THE place to go for a nice pre-race dinner. Great pasta, deserts. Get there early because they don't take reservations.

Sunday April 24: Third tip -- the Crossroads shopping center, where the race finishes, has a number of restaurants where runners can go to fuel up after the marathon. We ate Italian (again). We decided to speed post-race recover by walking and shopping, so after we cleaned up, we drove the 17 mile drive back to Carmel to do just that, and eat Thai food (with our medals on). We load up on saltwater taffy in Carmel Village -- it's the best and Karen and I ate an entire bag after the race. Hit the beach at sunset where we brag on our cell phones about the marathon to all of our Flyer friends back home.

At right, Julie stops running long enough to beat the drums

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