Race: Big Sur Half Marathon
They call the Big Sur Half Marathon a ‘destination race’ (one of the top 3 in the country), and it more than lives up to its billing as a ‘must run’. The Central California Coast is just an amazing piece of our planet. When we heard about a race that starts in Monterey, heads down Cannery Row, through Garden Grove and along an amazing stretch of the Pacific, umm, book it Dan-o was an easy decision! As with most destination races, the race itself is only just one piece of the overall experience. And with our hotel in downtown Monterey, essentially two blocks from the race start, one block from Fisherman’s Pier, and just a little walk to Cannery Row, there would be no doubt of this. Even before we the road I was having visions of Cioppino Bowls dancing in my head.
So upon arrival Friday while we didn’t make a complete beeline for the seafood (we checked into the hotel first) I think it was less than two hours after we got there that we had an awesome piece of Blackened Pacific Red Snapper and a nice Halibut steak in front of us at a little place called Monterey Fish House. The place is very small and really caters to locals, but it was well worth the squish and living room environment.
Saturday was as full as day as we could cram in considering we always like to call it an early night the day before a race. We started the day with an early stroll along the water and piers. Of course we had to do a little walk around Fisherman’s Pier and reminisce about the time we had the boys with us and we ate at the little restaurant at the end of the pier and Mike and Zac put Dungeness Crab exoskeletons (their dinner) on their heads (PIC HERE) - ahh where did those days go? Then we headed over to the Race Expo to pick up our bibs and race packets. Seeing it was going to be a cold one, I grabbed some of the cheapo gloves and Kimberly picked up a pair of compression pants she could wear under her shorts - the girl may always wants to look good, but is will to sacrifice for warmth always :-). After the expo we took a little walk down to the Cannery Row section of Monterey. A very cool little stretch that was once full of Canneries of course, and now consists of shops, restaurants and the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.
After walking around some of the shops, having some more excellent seafood at Louie Linguine’s (an excellent spot in the Cannery with great views, a fun vibe, an really good clam chowder) we got some tickets and headed into the massive Monterey Bay Aquarium. We immediately realized that to do this place right you need a full day, and we sadly only had a couple of hours. We did manage to hit all the main areas and attractions but did not do the place justice for sure. I took a ton of pictures, of course shooting through glass you will not get what you hope for, but some of them actually came out pretty decent. The star of the show right now has to be the Seahorse exhibit. These things really are amazing. There is one bred that has even developed legs and arms that look like branches - it’s scary cool evolution. Do check out some of the shots, a couple I got zoomed right in on the sea creature - some it may even take you a minute to find it as it blends in so well. After a little more walking around we headed back to the room, ate some of the homemade pizza we brought (as is a pre-race night tradition) and called it a night.
A 6:15 start time means a 4:00 alarm clock even though we could walk to the start line from our room. While we for sure lay out all the ‘gear’ the night before, there are many things to get done before a race including a little warm up run and most importantly the oatmeal and coffee! We both sleep fairly decent, though not long, neither of us had any major injuries and we were feeling pretty good - all good omens for a great race. We put on the gloves, downed B12 and headed over to the start line. I gave Kimberly a kiss, we headed to our start lines and before you knew it we were off.
The course was spectacular. Aside from the runs we have done along the Rim of the Grand Canyon perhaps, I can’t think of a more scenic place we have ever ran - in fact I repeated the course the day after the race by myself. You start off right next to the piers, circle back through Monterey and run down the center of Cannery Row, then you are right out running with the Pacific on one side and the California cool homes of Garden Grove on the other - sweet! It’s more or less and out an back course with slightly different return. The last bit is especially nice as you run along a stretch of a bike/pedestrian path that runs about 18 miles totally along the coast in that area. The course has a few little hills but is fairly flat and fast. In particular the last couple of miles are slightly downhill so if makes for a nice finish which comes right back into the Fisherman’s Pier area and close to the Hotel. We both had very good runs. Kimberly had a new Half Marathon PR with 1:55:03 and the top 15% of her age and of all women. I ran in 1:36:13 which was top 4% overall and a new PR for me too by 10 seconds or so. We hung around the finish line for a bit and got our very cool pottery style medals.
After the race it was still early and we wanted to take advantage of the area. So after a quick shower we headed 10 minutes south to the ‘perfect’ little town of Carmel by the Sea. We tried to walk off the race legs, stopped into a few of the shops, tried to find something out of place in the town to no avail (even a leaf) and finally got my bowl of Cioppino at Flattery’s Seafood Grill - which was most excellent by the way. After lunch we drove a little further south and stopped at Point Loma Reserve. What an amazing place. When you picture that idyllic view of mountains and California coast, this is the place. We did a nice little hike and took some pictures of the Sea Lions and amazing shoreline. This is another place where I wish we had a full day to hang out, but it was getting late in the day and the bodies were starting to fade fast. We headed back to town, took a little walk to the local Sprouts and picked up some easy foods we could eat in the room - no fancy dinner celebration required, just some turkey, a little chocolate and a good bottle of Vino in the room - a perfect night to cap off a perfect trip. PICS HERE