Yesterday I ran the Big Sur Half Marathon and I have to be thankful that the race turned out well. Every year I wait until the month of to reserve a hotel room, and all the closer hotels are already booked and we end up having to drive to the race and scramble to find parking. Next year, I'm making it my goal to reserve one walking distance to the race! The morning started at 5:45 am with the horrible ring of Jeff's cell phone, yelling at us to wake up. Jeff was really good and got up immediately to take a shower and I laid there for a good 20 minutes having mental battle to get myself up. I finally dragged myself out of bed and look outside the window. The sun wasn't even up yet. The sky was dark and dreary and the winds were blowing so hard that the trees looked as if they were going to blow over. My heart sank at the thought of having to run in the freezing, gloomy weather, but I quickly reminded myself that I wasn't going to be doing this alone.
By the time we headed over to the started line, it was already light outside and the streets were quickly filled with other racers. At 7:00 am, the gun went off, and the race had begun. I have not been training as vigorously as I did last year, so I was a little anxious about how long my endurance would last. At mile 4, the winds decided to give us a challenge, but the sun began to break through the clouds, and made the whole coastline glow. The race was much more hilly that I remembered and at mile 6, my legs were starting to cramp. Not a good sign considering that I wasn't even half way into the race! With the help of 3 GU's and many water stops, I was able to finish the race in 1:48:05, only 2 minutes shy of last year's record. Woohoo! With the help of Advil, a recovery drink, and a nice long soak in epson salt, I'm feeling pretty good right now. :) It was much more challenging this year, but I had a blast. See you again next year, Monterey!
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