The Big Sur International Marathon is advertised as the “most scenic marathon”. Yes, it is spectacular as it winds along the rugged California coast from the pseudo-town of Big Sur northwards for 26 miles to the art gallery mecca of Carmel. Viewing the coast and the spectacular homes and occasional beaches in slow motion for better than three hours one gains a splendid appreciation its beauty. Though I’ve now run 83 marathons, the marathon distance is still daunting and though it was as close to sea level as one will ever get the repetitive rolling hills took its toll… I ran the entire distance, but the final six miles were in excess of 7 minutes each with at least one poking above 8 minutes. There was one overly long uphill that took us from about mile 11 to the halfway point on the famous Bixby Bridge. To add to the fun we ran into a stiff headwind on this 2-mile uphill. Fortunately I found someone willing to trade drafting advantages up this long slog. I had bought a $25 pair of sunglasses in the expo which is about the high end of what I will willingly pay for sunglasses because they were advertised as “anti-fog”. Well, let me tell you in the fog and low clouds we ran through on this Sunday they fogged up and I had to stash them in my back pocket.
Rebekka and I rounded out our “mini-vacation” with a wonderful two days with miles of walking in San Francisco, including up and over Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill (Coit Tower) and along the Embarcadero and China Town then back to Cathedral Hill.
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