Another beautiful day for a run! This would be my fourth time running the Big Sur Half, and I had just one reasonably attainable goal: Meet my personal best finish time for this distance (and this course) or better it. Last year I set a new personal record of a straight up 11 minute mile, and for this year I thought, how about a 10.8 minute mile?
The Cast of Characters
Once again I made plans to run the race with my friends Anne, Evan and Annie. Evan is very fast in comparison to us, Anne and I can pace together, and Annie does a Race walk/run routine that is often close to my running pace anyway.
It was in the upper 30′s (air temperature) on Race Morning, but clear clear skies which opened out onto a beautiful sunny morning by the 7am start time in Monterey. Evan went to his “C” corral, Anne and I were assigned “G” and Annie “I” but Annie snuck in to start with us anyway. (shh! don’t tell!) We took all these cute pictures on my phone. Apparently one of the major differences with taking pictures on a phone versus an actual camera, is that on a phone, you have to press “save” to actually save the picture. Otherwise it doesn’t save. If you get my meaning.
Right around the time we reached the starting line and started running, Anne’s friend Deanne joined us. We three formed a line, and started out at a nice fair clip, talking, chatting, and warming up. It seemed kind of like a really fast clip to me actually- my deal is I start out way slow and then increase to a sprint for the last mile. At mile two we figured out we’re doing 10 minute miles. This is my top speed for a 10k and here we are at mile two of a 13 mile run. Oops! Ok, so maybe no negative split for me but if I try really hard, I might be able to hold on to it.
The inspirational part
Right around mile 1 we noticed a woman in a blue tank top and running skirt who passed us easily and was now floating quickly through the crowd ahead. “She must have started out in the wrong corral!” we agreed. By the time we got to Lover’s Point (mile 3? 4? I should look on the map) we saw the winners of the race thundering past on the way to the finish line. We cheered and stared, admiring their form. After the winners come the trickle of the “A” corral, not quite as thunderous in intensity, but remarkable runners nonetheless. Deanne spots her. The woman in blue, who started after we did, had reached the turnaround and was on her way to the finish line, and we had done less than half of the distance yet! She had a strong stride and her whole face was focused on moving forward. We gaped and marveled. That was amazing to see, and I held that image in my memory to keep me on point for my own race.
The middle
Traditionally, the middle of this course I am totally preoccupied. It stops being a loop and goes into an out-and-back along the coast, so on the one side you can see the waves, sea otters and surfers and on the road going opposite you, you can see your friends! So I divide my time between “look, an otter” and “Whoo hoo Zoe!” etc. but I am having more trouble sticking to Anne and Deanne as the pace hasn’t really slowed much. Instead of running right in line with them, I am now behind, but still chiming in with conversation.
The turnaround is at mile 7.5, and we see more friends on the sidelines (can’t stop to hug! keeping going!) and in the pack behind us (whoo hoo! yay!) and then mile 8 and 9 come up and I am working really hard. I can’t stay right behind them anymore, there are now some people in between. I am trying to stay in sight, to maybe catch up with momentum from the soft rolling hills (nope!) or on the next peak (nope!). Well, I can’t run anyone else’s race, this needs to be the one I can do, so I pretend the ground is a conveyor belt and keep going to my own rhythm.
The “Wall”
I actually do catch up at mile 10- Anne checks back for me and slows up a bit. We pass the mile marker and I call out the time of day so we can calculate pace. We are still in sight for our goal to repeat last year’s success! This is a fueling thought but I still can’t hold on to their pace, my breathing won’t let me. I fall much more behind than ever. I knew I shouldn’t have gone out so fast! But I had to try it, right.
Mile 12 is right in front of the Aquarium (they had a person in a big fuzzy sea otter suit out to high five everyone) and the crowd is thinner somewhat here. I notice a face looking backwards in the sea of bobbing heads. It’s Anne! I raise my hand so she can see how far behind I am and put my head down and flick on my motor. It is a motor that you can actually hear, because now I am wheezing with every lung movement. The crowd parts with concern in front of me as I pretend this is normal. As I reach my friends, Anne asks “didn’t you bring your puffer?” Well. I did in fact. For this very situation, even. Why don’t I use it then. OK.
The Big Finish
It works immediately and I am no longer wheezing audibly, though still trailing my pacers by a few people. In another 1/2 mile or so it kicks in for real, and I am breathing hard but comfortably, able to catch up by the time the finish line is actually within viewing distance. This is it. I sidle up behind Anne and Deanne. “All right Ladies, let ‘er fly!” And Poing! We each do exactly that, doing our own version of the top runners’ thunderous, stong, finish line sprint. All kinds of other people are also doing this around us, trying to pass, passing, being passed, and here are all the spectators and the arch! I hear my name from the crowd (Lauren, was that you?) and we cross the line, one, two, three!
Staggering around trying to locate the people who take your timing chip and the medals I look at my watch. 9:34am. We started at 7:10 (I think) so that means we made our time from last year! We self-congratulate, take the finisher’s picture, go through the food tent (FOOD!!!!!), find Evan, get the finisher’s cup of soup (Minestrone! Nom!) and find a sunny spot to wait for Annie, Annie shows up (YAY!!!!!) we are done eating, go to the car, chatter and yawn all the way home, what a great day!
Our real results
So my goal time to beat last year was 2:24:something, a straight 11 minute mile. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to match that time or improve, and if I could improve it to say, a 10.8 minute mile, that would be a new personal record, a new notch of progress for Julia.
I looked on the site for my chip time expecting to see 2:24:something again and could not believe what I saw:
2:22:45!!!!! A new PR! OK, what pace is that (calculator comes out). 10.8! You are kidding me!
So to recap, I went out too fast, fell behind, had an inaccurate system for keeping track of pace, got asthma, and somehow made my EXACT time goal! to the decimal!
Well. That’s pretty satisfying. And to all you who are noticing the time difference is but two minutes, I say, I worked damn hard for those two minutes and I am going to be excited about it! For at least another week anyway.
