Big Sur 2009 (aka: don’t cry, you were always an ugly crier)
April 28, 2009
This past weekend Eric, Chris, and I made our way to Monterey and Big Sur, California. And why? Because once again I talked Eric into doing the Big Sur marathon with me. But before I go into the details of the weekend let’s backup a bit….
So, just like the last time I signed up for a marathon (Big Sur 2007) the real purpose of the marathon isn’t really the marathon itself but instead the months of training. True to my Viking roots, I’m one of those people who gains about 15 pounds if I stop working out for more than a week or two. This means that I really have to be diligent about my exercise. And nothing spells diligent training like a marathon! And, let’s face it – I love food. And the body is a lot more forgiving for that Tartine morning roll and occasional donut (and big slice of cake with lots of frosting and strawberries with about a pound of homemade whipped cream, and …) when you ran 14 miles earlier that day.
And beyond all that, there’s a category at the Big Sur marathon called “Bonneydale” [sometimes it’s also called the “Athena” category]. It’s the category you can enter if you are over 145-150 lbs (depending on the race) and a woman. For men it’s called “Clydesdale” and is typically over 195 lbs. Anyway, I realized that if I ran at about a 9:30 pace for the marathon I’d have a real chance at placing in the top three for that. This would be a huge achievement because:
1) I’ve never placed in a sport. Ever. And to place for a marathon would be an epic win!
2) I thought to myself, “if you can place at a marathon than no matter what your body is like at that point, no matter how much you weigh, you’re really healthy. And that is enough.” Which is to say that I saw a win as validation that my body was good where it was – no matter what weight I was at when I crossed the finish line.
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but none of that happened. Instead, Eric and I ran it ~20 minutes slower than 2007 and I was in extreme pain.
The Injuries
- I started keeping my exercise journal again on January 5th and on my very first entry I wrote “yesterday did 58 minutes/ 6 miles so today was rest as to avoid inflaming my right hip and knee” And basically that issue (my right hip) plagued me through all of my marathon training. The pain basically feels joint-related all up inside my middle to outer hip into the very top outer part of the booty. It starts kind of achy with this “I want to extend my leg out and pop my hip joint” feeling and then it gets sharper and sharper as I run. Soon enough I also feel sharp pain in my knee. So much sharp pain in fact that I started to wonder (during the marathon) if it was going to get so bad that my leg would just be unable to bend at all – like sharp pain rigor mortis! No lies!
On the Friday before the marathon (so the 24th) I had my first physical therapy appointment. Basically I needed the guy to tell me how I was going to get through the marathon with all the shin pain I had been experiencing. When Chris and I ran in Mexico, for example, the first lap or two I’d be hobbling and then it would slowly get better right up until we stopped – at which point the shin pain would cause me to limp around for the next twenty minutes. This injury was the one I was most worried about. I hadn’t experienced the hip issue for a while (it tended to come and go) but the shin could be a killer. I figured it was classic shin splints so I asked the guy to just tape up my leg, show me a stretch or two, and let me know the exact amount of Ibuprofen one could take before reaching toxic levels. Unfortunately, instead of that I was told that I had stress fractures up and down my left shin. He proceeded to tape my leg (and teach me how to do it for the marathon) but it was a really hard blow.
Friday Night
After getting the bad news on Friday afternoon I was pretty low. I still went out to sushi with Chris and Neil but by the end of it I felt fairly withdrawn. I was having an internal self-pity party of sorts. I thought about all the training runs I’d done – so many more long runs than the last time we did a marathon… I thought about all those cold winter mornings when I’d get my ass out of bed at 6:30am to go on runs three times during the week (plus long-run Saturday!) even when it sucked. And then I thought about how there was a very very real chance I wouldn’t be able to complete the race. How I could end up with a full-blown fracture through my shin, which would then totally fuck up my chances at completing the AIDS ride.
Eric made it the Bay Area by around 8:30 – 9pm and he picked me up in Palo Alto and we headed right up to SF. He wanted to study for the rest of the night but it ended up being me sobbing and sobbing with him trying to say it’d be ok no matter how it turned out. I was so stressed out and so very very scared.
Saturday
Well the gods must have taken pity on me because I woke up Saturday morning in a much better mood. Chris, Eric, and I got up fairly early and headed down to Tartine for a delicious breakfast and then started on our way to Monterey! The Big Sur race expo happens at the Monterey conference center so we bee-lined for that first. Eric and I picked up all our packet stuff and then we all meandered through the booths.
After all that, we ate lunch at a lovely little seafood place Chris knew about.
Then, Chris and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium while loser Eric studied at the nearby Starbucks. The Aquarium just got a new special exhibit on seahorses and I’ve got to tell you – it’s seriously cool. Something about seahorses is so magical. Like I’ve said before, they’re like the chariots of Thumbelina-sized mermaids!
And, as you see here, apparently regular sized mermaids too! (who friggin knew?!?!)
After all that (oh and a glass of wine for Chris) we headed to a pasta place for our pre-race dinner. I wasn’t really that hungry (I’d already eaten so much that day!) but tried to get myself to down at least a little of my pasta! And, straight after dinner we headed back to our totally reasonable hotel motel and I went straight to bed.
Sunday
pre-race
The three of us all set independent alarms for 3AM. Those ended up being unnecessary because I was already awake. Laying there. Eyes open. In darkness.
Chris was super awesome and helpful and filled up my water bottle with half gatorade half water, put a few extra aleve in my little running bag, and drove Eric and I to the buses (for Big Sur you have to take buses to the starting area because they close down HWY 1)
The next few hours (and there were quite a few!) consisted of Eric and me trying to huddle in whatever way provided the most warmth. Turns out there really wasn’t a position that could keep us both warm. So that wasn’t so great. If you are reading this and will one day run Big Sur, bring a few blankets and a pillow!
race
About ten minutes before the start we all lined up at the starting area. It’s just amazing how many people sign up to do Big Sur. I mean it’s just a sea of people! How can there be that many crazy people?!
And yet when the epic champion music starts to play (of the eye of the tiger / start me up epic variety) you forget that it’s crazy. I just looked at Eric and we both just started screaming with excitement.
The race then started and we started all right. Sadly I put sports shield (which is like a friggin god send against chafing) around my stomach (sometimes you can get cut from your shorts on top) and that caused my slippery shorts to ride up my butt like crazy (too slippery to hold so they just decided to defy gravity and go up up up!) So the first two miles were me constantly pulling my shorts down (to no avail). Apparently showing the world my butt has become a favorite past time of mine anyways [see Puerto Vallarta entries].
But I do wonder if trying to pull my shorts down caused me to run with poor form, which then caused the hip to freak out.
Either way, by mile 7 or 8 things weren’t looking so good. My hip injury came on with full force and by mile 10 I couldn’t deny it any longer. I had to stop to stretch it (basically I stretch like I’m really trying to pop my hip out and that seems to help for a mile or so). Mentally doing that was rough because we were right with the 4:30 finish pace group at that point. And stopping meant we’d really lose them. And lose them right before Hurricane Point – the hardest climb in the race (about 520 ft over 2 miles). But I had to stop. The pain was so sharp I couldn’t properly put my right leg out in front of me – I was sort of doing a rounded stride (so instead of the leg going in a straight line it was pushed out to the side and up in a half-moon hoop instead). I just couldn’t take it any longer- after about two miles of it, it was just getting way too severe.
As you can imagine, having to take a stretch due to severe pain at mile 10 (especially when I should have stopped at mile 7 or 
is a mentally daunting thing. You still have 16 miles to go and, since I knew the course, the next 16 were the really had ones. Big Sur has some non-trivial climbing all the way to the end and pain that early means nothing good.
Eric was really understanding (later I found out that since mile five he was experiencing pains, but he didn’t want to “keep me back”) but for me it was rough. The pain was a familiar one – after many 12, 14, and even 16 mile runs with it I knew it was one that would not just disappear if I kept running.
Either way we made our way up Hurricane Point, where I had to stop many many times to stretch it out 
again. By the top my quads were shot. I think it was just a combination of my hip and shin just causing less than perfect form (so you’re using the wrong muscles to make your way up) and not enough hill training. Even though in 2007 our top run was only 12 miles, almost all our long runs were hardcore trail runs up in the LA/Malibu hills. And those runs made Hurricane Point seem not so bad at all. This year, Hurricane point seemed pretty horrible.
After that it was slow going on the descents and the hip pain continued. I got fairly emotional at a few moments because I was just so frustrated with myself. If only I would have trained better (better hill climbing and better as in injury-free) I could be achieving my dream 9:30 pace. But instead I knew I wasn’t even going to get what I got in 2007 (about 4:57).
I think it was around mile 20 that Eric and I finally realized we needed to seriously walk. We were both in so much pain and my hip felt way way better walking than running. And so we walked. And, to be honest, it was probably the most enjoyable part of the race. I laughed for the first time. And, once I realized I would still be able to finish, I felt ok.
At almost mile 24 Chris found us! He walked out to run the last mile with us (and take lots of pictures) but since we were slower than we hoped, he just decided to keep coming out to find us. Of course, that was after:
the 4:30 pace group ran past him
he video taped them, thinking we’d be there [video here],
we weren’t there,
he wasn’t sure we weren’t there so decided to run after the pace group just to be sure [video here],
then was sure and decided to keep walking (hoping we really hadn’t passed him!)
And then found us!
And with all that said, it was great to see him! Great and sort of funny and sad. Funny because the juxtaposition of his energy to our absolute exhaustion really showed me how dead Eric and I were. Sad because it meant that my marathon end wasn’t going to be what I hoped for (us running strong as we made our goal 4:30 time).
Either way, we all walked together until mile 25, at which point we decided to harness all our energy and run the final 1.2 miles in [video of agony here]. Near the end Chris ran ahead to get pictures of us, Eric grabbed my hand and we ran the last stretch and through the finish line together. A team and partnership. From start to finish. In 2007 and 2009.
And, just like in 2007, I got a bit choked up at the end. I was a bit too weak to hold back the tears. I was so relieved while also disappointed while also happy. Relieved it was over, that we made it. Disappointed it wasn’t what I wanted – that I failed in a way. And happy – happy for such a great best friend and boyfriend.
After that we dragged our bodies (with the help of Chris!) to lunch. And then, Eric and I both fell asleep as Chris drove us back to San Jose.
And that my friends, was my emotionally turbulent marathon weekend 2009.
You can see all the pictures (with additional inside commentary) here
And all videos can be found here
Comments
7 Responses to “Big Sur 2009 (aka: don’t cry, you were always an ugly crier)”
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Awesome job this weekend! Now it’s on to the biking, which is sooo much more fun. You’ll be ready for the Death Ride in no time.
Crazy how huge those sea horses were, huh?
so cool. not sure how we are of the same parents, but respect! respect! i was thinking about running again. mebs we can start racing again? yeah? oh yeah?
Incredible job! I don’t know how you do it! You show tremendous persistence. That sea horse is real? Was that photoshopped or what? BTW, are we going to Tartine?
Hey! I’m almost recovered!
Wow! I think Eric and you are amazing to finish this race. It sounds like it was brutal. So glad Eric, Chris and you had a good weekend despite the set backs. Love the last photo too…with your cute hat, medal and smile.
Well after Monday I will have a marathon experience to write about… AND I will have prettier backdrop pictures of me than you. I challenge you. Glad you made it through nevertheless!!
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!