Catching Unicorns (Mountains 2 Beach 2023)

I signed up for Mountains 2 Beach because I was running (no pun intended) off of a post-race high from IM California 140.6 and wanted to get back to marathoning (and marathoning without swimming and biking beforehand). I asked my fellow Sasquatch runners about their spring plans (because races are more fun with people you know), and quite a few of them had signed up for this one. My friend Lavar coaches runners virtually and has a marathon PR of 2:43, so I hired him to write a 15-week training plan for me. In life, accountability and learning from those who are better than you are key. With the exception of a couple of workouts (which I’ve attributed to low iron and very tired legs), everything went well. I also dropped my half-marathon PR that was from 2013, so that was a huge confidence booster. Still, you never know what’ll happen on race day, and so I set three goals (A goal: break 3 hours; B goal: beat previous PR of 3:01:41; C goal: get sub-3:05 and BQ). With that, I went into race weekend thinking that I had done all the training I could do and whatever happens happens. 

We got an Airbnb to house our crew of 10 (5 marathoners, 2 half-marathoners, 1 5Ker, and 2 spectators). Most of the crew had arrived on Thursday, but we flew down to Ventura on Friday afternoon. Dinner consisted of pizza and fries, and then we stopped for ice cream.

We all trekked down to the (very small) expo on Saturday to pick up race materials, and then to Vons so that I could pick up some oatmeal cups for race morning. And while we were there, I discovered Pure Leaf extra sweet tea (hello, liquid sugar for carb loading!) and Rise cold brew (the Airbnb only had a Keurig, and most coffee is better than the K-cups). From there, we drove up to Ojai so we could do a shakeout run along the course (2 miles for me) and get lunch (chicken pad thai).

Once we got back, we relaxed until dinner. I used some of that time to pin my bib to my singlet and get (mostly) everything ready for race day. Dinner was pasta with chicken sausage and a bit of salad. After dinner, I got my oatmeal ready (overnight oats style for the win!) and was in bed by 9pm.

Race Day:

The race started at 6, so I set an alarm for 3am. However, I woke up at 1:45 and laid in bed until 2:45 when I finally heard a bit of commotion downstairs. It was so interesting to see everyone with their headphones on just trying to mentally get ready by tuning everyone else out. I had one can of Rise cold brew and two travel cups of instant oats (one apple cinnamon and one maple brown sugar).

The race offers shuttles, but none of us coordinated our shuttle selections, and one of our support crew ended up driving all five of us to the start. I took a bottle of Nuun in the car with me and finished it by the time we parked (around 5-5:15am).

After everyone used the portapotties, we all proceeded with our warmups. The rest of the crew did a short jog and I stuck behind and did some dynamic stretches.

All five of us were in the same corral (they split everyone up into three corrals based on estimated finish time), so we lined up together. At this point, I went from being mildly nervous to extremely nervous. After the gun went off, Mark took off while, Alex, Warren, Leon, and I stuck together.

The first 6-7 miles take runners around Ojai and are the hilliest miles of the course (roughly 200-250 ft of gain), so I expected these to be slower than target pace. You can imagine my shock when I saw that the mile 1 split was 6:44 (8 seconds faster than goal). I wondered if I had gone out too fast and this race was going to unravel. But I just kept focusing on sticking with the pack. At the 5k mark, we turned around and headed back towards downtown Ojai - the pack was still together and still hitting splits between 6:40-6:49.

Thirty minutes into the race, I took my first gel, and then just kept trucking along with the pack. At some point, Alex mentioned that their plan was to hit a 6:45 average for the first 20 miles and then it would be a duel in the last 10k. I responded by saying that if I hit 6:45 for the first 20 miles, I’d be elated. 

Around the 10k mark, we saw our shuttle drivers. I personally appreciated seeing them, and I was quite happy and surprised that our pack of four was still together. And that we We started climbing a hill and I started singing “Running Up That Hill”. (Maybe it was runner delirium or euphoria, but I was uttering most anything that came to mind.) 

We continued running along at our 6:40-6:45 pace, and I sucked down my next gel at the 1 hour mark (somewhere between miles 8 and 9). We logged 6:30 for mile 9, leading Alex to say that we needed to slow it down for a bit (since we were about 3 seconds per mile faster than his target pace). I fully supported this, because we still had over half the race to go. We slowed it down for that mile, but then picked it back up for the next couple.

Eventually, we hit a crowd of people and the gel aid station. I snagged a chocolate Clif Shot from them because it was within reach and I needed a gel for later on. We also hit the halfway mark in 1:27:38 (6:41/mi).

At the 1:30 mark, I opted for a gel with about 30mg of caffeine. Around mile 15, we hit a hill (seriously, wasn’t this course supposed to be downhill). Warren drifted back from the pack, Alex drifted back to motivate him, and Leon decided to keep trying to maintain our pace. In that moment, I decided to run my own race. I scaled back to a 6:50-6:59 pace and was playing mental math against my A, B, and C goals. I also stuck with my plan of gels every 30 minutes, and took my Maurten gel with 100mg of caffeine at the 2 hour mark (close to mile 18). 

I hit mile 20 in about 2:15 (and with an average pace of 6:45, shockingly), and realized that I could hit sub-3 if I ran 7:20ish miles for the rest of the race. This was the first point that sub-3 actually seemed like a reality. Funny enough, someone fired off a confetti gun at that moment. 

Either adrenaline or the caffeine from my gel (or both) must’ve kicked in, because my pace dropped down to 6:42 for mile 21 and 6:33 for mile 22. At the 2:30 mark (between miles 22 and 23), I took that chocolate Clif shot I grabbed and was seriously grossed out by it. Shortly after, I caught up to Leon and passed him. 

With 5K left to go, we entered Ventura (where the race ends) and made our way to Main Street. This was cool because we went there for dinner on Friday (so it was like, “Hey, I know this place!) but awful because they had us going uphill. (This ended up being my slowest mile of the race.) Alex caught up with me on Main Street and passed me. At this point, it seemed too early for a surge and I was more focused on my mental math and running my race. It’s also worth noting that with each mile, my A goal seemed more and more within reach.

In the last mile, I started seeing our crew of spectators and runners who did the half-marathon and 5K, which was energizing. Also, I thought I saw the finish line, so I surged. I saw Alex cross the finish line, and I crossed the finish line while he was still in the chute.

I knew I had broken the elusive barrier and I was floored. Additionally, I was glad to be able to celebrate with a teammate in the finish chute and have our crew on the other side of the barricades. I also realized how badly everything hurt. With some help, I went to the results tent and got my time - 2:57:55 (6:47/mi). First sub-3 and a BQ by seven minutes.

What went right:

Above all, I think the training went right. Having someone more knowledgeable write a personalized plan was definitely worth the investment. As was having someone who checks in regularly (both via text and call). 

Setting all of the big things out (clothing, shoes, socks, gels) the night before took a lot of stress off of me on race morning. I can’t believe it took me 16 times to figure that out.

I stuck to my fueling plan and I think that helped a lot. Thank you, Garmin watch, for the feeding alarms!

What could be improved:

I took my Nuun in the car because I completely forgot it until right before we left the house. I’m glad I was able to hydrate in the car, but this is something that could’ve been done in advance.

I only brought four gels because I thought that my shorts only had room for four. However, they could hold at least one more and had I brought one more, I wouldn’t have had to grab a nasty chocolate one.

Lastly, I started my kick with about 0.25 mi to go, and maybe I should have started increasing the speed with 0.5 mi to go. 

Key Takeaways:

Coaching was well worth the investment. I could write a whole separate post about my experience with this, but I’ll just say that if you have a race in mind and a race goal, get a plan that’s specifically tailored to you. A nice bonus is you get a cheerleader who will remind you that you’re doing awesome when you feel anything but.

On the note of goals, they may be big and scary, but big and scary doesn’t mean impossible. And if they ever start to feel that way, call your squad to have them remind you that they’re possible and to believe in yourself.

Things the Ocean Taught Me (BSIM 2017 Race Recap)

I'm aware that I haven't posted an update since 2015, which I will chalk up to life getting in the way. But I ended my 1.5 year marathoning hiatus with the Big Sur International Marathon, and felt like it should be documented.

Big Sur been toted as a bucket-list race because the whole course runs along the ocean, and the scenery is spectacular.

Mile 23 of the course

But it's also notorious for its hills, the worst of which is Hurricane Point. HP starts just before mile 10, and over the course of two miles, runners climb over 400 feet. Based on the hills, I threw any expectations of setting a new PR out the window. Plus, I didn't want to be so hellbent on a time goal that I missed out on the scenery. But my training felt good overall, so my attitude about BSIM in the days leading up to it became, "I'll give it what I have to give, but at the end of the day, 'whatever happens, happens.'"

The race was scheduled for a Sunday, so I opted to fly down on the Friday before. Since we weren't driving to Big Sur until the next day, Meredith and I had a nice day of leisure. And by "day of leisure," I mean that we got breakfast, ran (I went for three miles, and she went for 7.5), got new tires for her car (and got lunch at this Mexican restaurant while we waited), went grocery shopping for the weekend, and cooked dinner. Oh, and Meredith also prepped the batter for our pumpkin teff pancakes we planned on having the next morning.

The next morning, we woke up around 6am and had some coffee before our shakeout run. We ran together for two miles, and then I returned to Meredith's house for some stretching while she continued on for another 2-3 miles. Once she returned, we got started on breakfast. Unfortunately, the pancakes took way longer than expected to cook, so we left for our adventure about 45 minutes later than planned.

Part 1 of breakfast (part 2 was simply more pancakes)

We stopped in San Jose on our way so we could pick up Erin. The three of us had not hung out together since November 2015, so we were excited to have an extended block of time together. By the time we made it to Monterey (where the BSIM race expo was being held), it was about 2pm. The expo was smaller than I was expecting, so we were in and out of there in about 30 minutes.

The wall of registered crazy people

Once we were done there, we fled Monterey and drove to Big Sur. BSIM is a point-to-point course, so your options are to either stay near the finish line and take a shuttle to the starting line at 3:30am (or thereabout), or stay near the starting line and take a shuttle back after the race. We chose to stay near the start at the Big Sur Lodge. And as a result, we got to drive along the entire race course to get there. Since we were all feeling quite hungry, we snacked on trail mix, peanut butter M&Ms, and other food that I can't recall. We stopped for a photo op at the mile 23 marker on the course, and then we stopped for linner at the Big Sur River Inn. (I call it linner because it was around 4pm.) Of course, we managed to snack so much in the car that by the time we finished lunch, we were crazy stuffed. (I took half of my linner to-go, and I'm not usually one to take leftovers!)

Grilled chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries

Since our hotel was super rustic (no TV, no wifi) and cell phone coverage was spotty at best, it made it very easy to crawl into bed early. So the evening's activities consisted of a walk to the hotel cafe so we could try to digest dinner and that Meredith could get something for her pre-long run breakfast (and we all ended up getting ice cream while we were there), chatting (during which I finished my linner), laying out my race stuff for the morning, and going to bed at 8:45pm.

Race Day
I woke up at 3:45am. I had no idea if there were extra blankets in the room (let alone where they were), so after I made coffee, I took that and my millet porridge and had breakfast in bed. (This completely fit in with the "rustic romantic getaway" feel of the Big Sur Lodge.) I filled up my handheld bottle at this time too. (BSIM also has this really nifty BYOB program, where if you bring your handheld bottle, you can fill it up at the water station if you need to.)

Erin and Meredith woke up around 5am. Erin was going to be race cheerleader and watch the finish of the race. In order to make it up there before they closed Highway 1, she and Meredith needed to leave by 6. We also made the executive decision to check out of the hotel on Sunday and send Erin to the finish line with our luggage, so we could just leave from Carmel. So around 5:45, Erin, Meredith, and all of our luggage left the Big Sur Lodge, and started on the 26.2 mile journey to Carmel. (Alright, more specifically, Erin dropped Meredith off at about mile 7 of the course so that Meredith could do her long run, and then took our bags to the finish line.) Erin was kind enough to leave me with a long-sleeve shirt that I was free to throw away, just so that I wouldn't freeze before the start. I felt badly about tossing it, so I ended up holding it for the entire run. (It came in handy as a sweat rag for later in the race.) So ultimately, I ran the entire race with a handheld bottle in one hand, and a long sleeve tech shirt in the other hand.

Once they left, I thought, "I guess I can't chicken out now, because I'm going to have to make my way back to my stuff somehow." I warmed up, and then left the hotel around 6:10 to make my way down to the starting line in time for the 6:45am start. (See why staying near the start is amazing?)

After hanging around the starting line for about 20 minutes, the race officials kicked off the race and sent all of us on our jaunt up Highway 1. My first thought after crossing the starting line was, "What the fuck did I sign myself up for?" After a mile of running through the forest, my attitude switched to, "Ooo, this is kind of fun!" Of course, the first few miles are downhill, so I also had to tell myself to stay controlled. Other thoughts from these first few miles included, "You do you" and "As long as I finish in under 3:59, it won't be a PW (personal worst)."

Around mile 5 or 6, we emerged from the forest and saw the ocean. The view itself was enough to make me ecstatic and think, "Being able to run alongside this for 3.5 hours without being interrupted/bothered is wonderful!"

I took the first of my gels at mile 8. In case you're wondering how I juggled the handheld, shirt, and gel -- whenever I took a gel, I'd hold the shirt and handheld in the same hand, and hold the open gel with the other hand. (As I type this out, I see how ridiculous this sounds. But with a third of the race underway, my somewhat-fatigued brain thought this was perfectly acceptable.) I also photobombed some guy's GoPro shot at some point between then and HP.

Just before HP, you run downhill and can hear these rather ominous drums off in the distance. Immediately, I thought, "Oh no... It's coming." My strategy for the hill was to exert the same effort, and not be alarmed if the pace was slower. I started chatting with this other runner, which helped the hill pass by more quickly. The ocean views helped with this as well. After that, the next few miles are relatively downhill, which is a nice reprieve after going uphill for two miles.

I took my second gel just before the halfway point. I crossed the halfway point in about 1:45, and thought, "OMG, maybe a negative split and a sub-3:30 are possible!" So my goal shifted from "Not getting a PW" to "Finishing in 3:2x and negative-splitting the course". The next few miles included ocean views, and doing math to remind myself that my new goal was possible. I also used math to make the race seem more manageable -- specifically, "x more miles to the next gel, then x more miles to the next one, and then x more to the finish." I was still feeling okay and still passing people, which made me wonder if I were running too quickly. But since I felt okay and my mile splits and calculations still had me finishing in under 3:30, I kept going at that effort.

At mile 18, I took my double espresso gel. This gel has 100 mg of caffeine, and I figured that if I took it at 18, the caffeine would take effect in time for the final 10K (which starts at mile 20). This gel was definitely not my favorite, but it did the trick.

Between mile 20 and 21, I caught up to Erin's friend Sunny, so I said hi, passed her, and continued onward. After that, I focused on mile 23, because Erin, Meredith and I stopped there the day before for a photo op, and I knew that the view was amazing. Also, I planned on taking my last gel at that point. And of course, I continued checking my watch after each mile so I could do math and remind myself that I could finish in 3:2x (and I thought that x=9).

After mile 23, I knew that I only had 5K left, and I was still passing runners. This was reassuring until 24, when I started feeling the fatigue of the miles I had already run. With so little left in the race, I knew I couldn't give up on my goal (because I'd kick myself later if I somehow missed it). I also wanted something more refreshing than water. About a half-mile later, I reached the water and Gatorade station, and that Gatorade seemed like an oasis in the desert. I grabbed some, and it hit the spot.

I eventually reached mile 26, and just picked up the pace until the end. Once I saw the finish line, I knew I had to just empty the tank. I saw that the clock said "3:27:xx", and started grinning like a crazy Cheshire Cat. I then heard/saw Erin and Meredith in the stands, and heard the announcer say my name. Seconds later, I was across the finish line, stopped my watch, and saw that my time according to Garmin was 3:27:53. I got that sub-3:30, my time was faster than 3:29, and by my math, had run the second half about three minutes faster than the first. Yes, my legs felt trashed, but I was floored.

Post-Race

Team Blueberry

My official time was 3:27:43, which is 26 minutes slower than my PR -- literally, a minute per mile slower. Ordinarily, I would've been disappointed about this. And yet, I felt on top of the world, and had this huge grin on my face. And after thinking about it, here's my theory on why. I think going into the race with zero expectations definitely helped. By not setting a time goal, I gave myself permission to focus on something other than the final time. More specifically, I gave myself permission to focus on the activity itself -- the course, the scenery, even the thoughts that popped into my head (I mean, I was without a cell phone for 3.5 hours).

This race reminded me why I love running and subjecting myself to these feats of endurance. Running has allowed, and continues to allow, me to see all sorts of places -- Berlin, the five boroughs of NYC, and the CA coastline, to name a few. And it's usually a reliable way for me to escape from everything and everyone and replay my head movies. More importantly, running (and marathoning, specifically) continually tests my limits, and finishing a big race like this reminds me that I'm capable of more than I believed I was.

During the sixteen weeks of training, there were moments when I felt stressed (about trying to work full-time, be an excellent friend/boyfriend/person, and do all of these workouts) and was ready to file for divorce from the sport of marathoning. But after this, I'm not quite ready to divorce marathoning. No relationship is perfect, but if the relationship brings you more joy than sorrow, then you ought to keep that relationship alive.

Post-race milkshake, with a side of creeper eye

PS: In case you were wondering, I haven't signed up for #14 yet.

PPS: If you want a good laugh, check out these race photos.