Big Sur Marathon 2019: some pressure for a first

A marathon, a first? For one thing, I ran Boston 2 weeks ago! And Boston was my 26th marathon, not counting the 163 ultra races since 2006 or cumulated 410 ultra marathons when including the training ones. So what could be new and a first after 20 years of competitive running? Pacing a road marathon!

A few weeks ago, just before Boston, Chris Calzetta called me to see if I'd be open to make up for his partner to pace the 3:10 group at the Big Sur International Marathon. This other runner had injured his foot by doing too much vertical while preparing for UTMB. After the crazy 100K Nationals and Boston double over 2 days, then last week Trail Half Marathon in Napa, it was supposed to be a weekend off, something Agnès was very much looking forward to, especially before the other crazy 3-peat of May: Miwok 100K next week, then Quicksilver 100K, followed by Ohlone 50K...

And, yet, I did bite into the tempting apple and said yes to Chris. Great opportunity to run Big Sur again, get a redemption after a disastrous asthma occurrence back in 2000 (still managing to walk a lot for a 4:00:25 finish) and, more importantly, help the running community. After all, how hard could it be to run another 3:10 marathon...

By the way, I don't have a great recollection of my 2000 Big Sur Marathon because I wasn't blogging yet, but I went back on the course to run it solo and take many pictures in what I called a marathon-rama (unfortunately, I had put all these pictures into a Picasa album which Google dropped and erased, proving that the Web doesn't remember everything after all, in this digital world... --I do have personal backups at least, but not enough time right now to recreate online albums, that will have to wait for some retirement!).

With this crazy racing schedule, long is gone the time where I was taking a day or two to enjoy the experience including the expo and, in this case, a getaway weekend in such a unique location, Monterey, California. No, we drove just in time for a very short night at Chris', still getting to the Ocean for 15 minutes with Agnès. One of the ugly thing with Big Sur is that you can not drive on Highway 1 to the remote start. The race was starting at 6:45 but we had to hop on a bus at 4 am, yikes! I slept more or less 5 hours and really look still sleepy on that bus (just kidding, I'll blame the flash, it was so so dark outside! ;-).

The bus dropped us at the start at 5:10, we still had 1.5 hours to kill. Well, thankfully, if I dare to say, the lines at the porta-potties were insanely long and slow to move, Yet, there was a good vibe among the 5,000 or so marathon participants in particular thanks to the perfect weather this year: overcast, mild temperature, no rain and, equally important as we found out later, no head wind on Highway 1, phew! The rolling course is challenging enough but it was great to have the weather with us at least!

And the very cool Schnaitter-Winkler couple again, super serious contenders in the running frenzy competition: the three of us ran Boston 2 weeks ago, ran the Napa Valley half last week and now Big Sur!

With our 3:10 signs, we had to make our way through the entire Wave 1, which was defined by anyone aiming at finishing under 4 hours. We ended up 3 rows behind the elite and I managed to get a selfie with the Masters legend of marathon running, Michael Wardian, whom I paced on one of this North Face 50-mile in San Francisco a while ago.

We had a handful of runners who declared their interest to run with us after this 3:10 goal. By the way, that was the fastest goal among the pacing teams, the next one was 3:20, then 3:25, 3:30, and so on up to 5 hours I think.

We told them that, given the many down and uphills, we didn't plan on keeping a 7:15 min/mile pace, but for instance start faster in the first 4 downhill miles, to get some slack for the climb to Hurricane Point in particular at mile 12. Chris had also tried a negative split last year but ended up having only one runner with him crossing the line in 3:10 in 2018. By the way, it was Chris' 6th BSIM and he ran a 2:42 on that course in 2015! Oh, and he is also 18 years younger than me... ;-)

Anyway, I took the lead in these first 4 miles and we clocked a few 6:40-6:45 which was actually even less aggressive than in my flight plan. It felt easy and we were definitely not the fastest. Yet, once we were out of the downhills, I felt the pace laborious, even going above 7 minutes, now. At mile 7 and 8, there was a longer uphill and I slid behind the group as I had issues breathing and getting enough oxygen to my quads. Oh my, that didn't look good at all. Thankfully, the next section was a long downhill to Little Sur River Bridge (love the name), before the famous and steepest 2-mile uphill to Hurricane Point.

We were less than 2 minutes ahead of plan and when I admitted to Chris after the bridge that I was falling apart, he said not to worry, he'll wait for me. I replied "oh no, catch up with the 3 guys ahead and get them to the finish!" I slowed down to the 9 minute/mile pace I had in my Excel chart, then more, out of breath, down to a walk in mile 11. At the time I left Chris go ahead, Rob Boyce passed me and started chatting with Chris. I had met Rob at Boston where he ran 3:16. This time he clocked a solid 3:12, great Boston 2 Big Sur performance!

Before Hurricane Point, when my average pace fell over our 7:15 goal, I stopped on the side to hide the 3:10 sign I was carrying in my light backpack. I actually discovered that I had sweat quite a lot, overheating because of the additional effort without enough oxygen to my muscles.

At the half marathon mark, I stopped to take a short video of the Piano Man. Here is the anecdote about him. In the first 17 years of the Big Sur Marathon, Jonathan Lee was the Grand Piano Man, playing for 3 hours at that exposed spot, above the Ocean. When he passed away, his protégé and prodigy, Michael Martinez took over. Michael was then 15 he is now 29, what a tenure!

At this point, I started walking all the uphills and... I hate walking, I'm so bad at it! I could still jog the downhills but even that was becoming harder with the lung irritation. Not to mention the mental disarray by having all the other pacers pass me: the 3:20 guys were moving very nicely when they passed me around mile 17 I think. The 3:25 pacer had fallen behind. Around mile 20, I was contemplating dropping, wondering if I would be even able to finish. Yet, it looked like I could still break 4 hours if I was at least jogging the down and flat sections, and stopping feeling sorry about myself...

Also, wearing this special Pacing Team t-shirt, the least I could do was also to give encouragements to other runners, those I was passing but also those passing me although they were also struggling in this final 10K stretch. That got me moving, I even gave 2 S!Caps to a runner who was suffering from cramping on the side of the road and distributed a lot of "you can still break 4 hours" messages, although I was even doubting about that for myself! ;-)

Mile 22 has a climb, mile 24, and even the final mile, ouch! I was so out of breath that I had to walk a significant part of the final half mile, despite it being flat! And I pretended I was still a runner in front of the crowd, finally crossing the finish line in a painful counter-performance of 3:55:50. Well, at least a Personal Best at BSIM...

In my profound disappointment, I was relieved to hear from Agnès that Chris had run a 3:11. He finished with three runners this time. 2 others had actually picked up the pace to finish a few minutes ahead of the goal, while a few others fell off, albeit not as badly as I did.

All results were promptly posted in the afternoon. I will highlight:

1. Mike Wardian's impressive Masters win and 4th place overall in 2:35:18 (5:55 min/mile)!
2. Ian Sharman's 13th place overall, after running from Monterey to Big Sur before dawn (double marathon)!
3. Our M55-59 age group was won by Rami Ghaudour from Los Angeles in 3:05. 2nd place: 3:18, 3rd 3:26, even more regret for falling off the pacing cliff for me...
4. Gene Dykes, 71, ran a 3:18:07, wow!

Karl was shooting for 3:05 but broke 3 hours with 2:59:34. Through the second half, I was wondering when Simone will pass me, or where I had missed her passing me. She actually finished just behind me in 3:58. And she is on the Miwok 100K entrants list too!!

As for me: 765th overall, 534th in Men, 36th in M55-59, out of 7,795 finishers, dang!

The falling-off-the-pace-cliff chart, when a picture is worth a thousand words...

And a nicer story on Relive.cc's 3D flyover because it doesn't take the pace into consideration! ;-) (click on this link, or the image below to see the animation):

Lungs are still hurting this Sunday evening, making me burst into coughing if I take a full breath. 5 days before Miwok, that will have to do. Last week I also probably made a mistake in doing strength training (for once) on the stationary bike and leg press, both Monday and Tuesday, then run 10 miles on Wednesday with our running club at the office, and 15 miles on Thursday. I'll taper more seriously this week!

It had been a while since I got asthma this way. At MadCity 100K 2 weeks ago I attributed that to the freezing temperatures. This time, I think it was more the stress of making sure I won't miss the pace.

Since Agnès was stuck at the finish, while waiting for me for 45 minutes after Chris' finish, here is a collection of pictures of all the sub-4-hour pacers. Special thanks to The Treadmill in Carmel, which sponsored this Pacing Team program! And, no, it has nothing to see with the French Yellow Vests, duh! ;-)

Western States 2014: in through volunteering, crewing and pacing,

I still owe you a second post about Running in Malta, then of course, a belated (1 week already!) race report of last weekend's PCTR Summer Solstice, my very first 24-hour event and 100th ultra race. But, for now, let's keep the pace with another amazing weekend, the legendary and mythical Western States 100.

I wasn't supposed to be in California in June, but Europe, so I didn't even try to make it through the lottery. With three runs (2007, 2009 and 2010), I already feel on the lucky side anyway, given the hundreds of runners who can't get in every year. Of course I'd like to get back on that amazing course, where the weather creates a unique version of the event each year. But there are other ways to be "in" Western States, and equally essential to the success of the event. First, through volunteering at one of the numerous and sometimes remote aid stations. Second, pacing one of the runners between Foresthill (mile 62) and Auburn (mile 100.2). Third, crewing for a runner which, given the remoteness of certain aid stations, not to mention the heat, is a sport in itself. Fourth, of course, spectating, either along the course or on the net thanks to UltraLive.net's live webcast or the various Facebook updates.

I had the privilege to get pacers for each of my runs, and I know this makes a huge difference. So much that Karl Meltzer, who won more than 35 100-milers in his career and still counting, is a big advocate of a rule which would prevent the elite to place if they have a pacer. I heard that, among these elites, Rob Krar and Max King ran without a pacer, and they may be others too. Anyway, for me, I took advantage of this great support and I still have found memories of my pacers:

• 2007: Rob Evans (last 38 miles)
• 2009: my son Max (16 miles from Forresthill down to the river, Rucky Chucky) and Adam Blum (river to finish)
• 2010: my son Max (also from Forresthill down to the river) then Pierre-Yves Couteau

It took 4 years for Pierre-Yves to get picked in the lottery, 2014 was his year and, since I was in town finally, I was thrilled to return his favor (Pierre-Yves actually also paced me at my failed attempt at Rio del Lago 100-mile in 2011).

But, before meeting Pierre-Yves at Foresthill, I had time to volunteer in the morning. I have been the Aid Station Captain of Last Chance, a station which has been manned by my Cupertino Stevens Creek Striders club for more than 35 years at mile 43, but this year I decided to answer to the call of my other running club, the Quicksilver Running Club of San Jose, which has been operating the Duncan Canyon aid station for a few decades as well.

I needed a driver to move the car around while I was pacing Pierre-Yves and Greg was nice enough to make the trip again to the Western States trail. We slept in Auburn on Friday night instead of dry camping at Duncan Canyon, left Auburn by 5 am and were at the station by 6:45 am. As we arrived, the volunteers who camped were getting their breakfast. Greg was assigned to the fluids table.

Aid station Captain, Kristina Irvin, delivered her briefing before the opening of the station at 8 am, along with Co-captain, David Roberts.

Kristina has run (and finished!) Western States 10 times already, and the infamous Hard Rock, 8 times, so she is an expert at ultra running and this is a way for her to give back to the ultra community from which she has received, and we all do as well, so much from. A big thank to her for the huge effort that leading such an endeavor takes!

Because the 400 runners or so come through the aid station in about 3 hours, we operate this station with more than 50 volunteers, a large number which provides a dedicated helper for each incoming running for instance, to attend to the runner's need.

Our Master of Ceremony and announcer was of course our Club President, Gregg Lanctot.

Greg also picked the theme's of this year's costumes, the Far West. Here I am with Sachin:

I worked the check-out job with David Foote and we picked the time of all the runners going through except a handful of the elites who all flew by together and whom we missed. Hopefully all these numbers help runners and race officials.

I look forward to seeing all the pictures that station Chief Photographer Officer, Tonya Perme, took all morning. I managed to get a video of the leaders, Max King for the men and Stephanie Howe for the women, and legendary and Western States Endurance Run founder, Gordy Ainslegh, but that was it, the rest was just crunching numbers for 3.5 hours. Except a brief interruption to attend to Pierre-Yves' needs when he arrived into the station.

Unfortunately, Pierre-Yves had another of his bad days, not much so because of the heat which he doesn't like, but it wasn't so hot this weekend, in the 80s, but because of GI issues which started around mile 6. With that, he was in 245th position, certainly not in his usual spot, and it promised to be a long night for us.

We dismantled the aid station by 1 pm and Greg and I drove back to Auburn so I could take a nap before meeting Pierre-Yves at Michigan Bluff. I was encouraged to see Pierre-Yves gaining 42 spots at Last Chance but unfortunately he lost all of them in the subsequent canyons, back to square 1.

We met Pierre-Yves at Michigan Bluff indeed, just after 7 pm. While he was smiling, his intestine was really giving him some trouble and he eventually puked just before leaving the station.

I was not sure he'd made it to Foresthill by dusk on such an empty and painful stomach, I gave him my headlamp in case.

Thankfully, he not only hold on in the next canyon but managed to pass 20 runners, making him 217 at Foresthill School. More soup, more ensure, more watermelon, and it was time to move and go down to the river together.

We had a lot of fun going down for a few miles and started passing quite a few other runners faltering as we were approaching midnight. We had left Foresthill (mile 62, with 38 miles to go) around 9 pm and I set the goal to get to the river crossing by 1 am. At most of the subsequent aid stations, there were runners on chairs or cots. Without keeping a precise count, I could see we were gaining quite a few spots as the hours passed.

Our stop at the river crossing was sub optimally long with Pierre-Yves having to answer questions for the medical study, him spending some time in the porta potty, and the much needed refueling. We traded a few places which we actually regained in the 2-mile uphill to Green Gate on the other side of the river. By the way, it was the first time I crossed the river at night and I was certainly not suffering from heat myself to enjoy the coolness of the water. But I was so impressed with the courage of the volunteers who spend hours in the water to hold the cable for us and indicate us the path across and above the immersed boulders. Kudos to you guys!

Pierre-Yves had set his mind on walking up to Green Gate but I managed to run/jog/shuffle part of it, to his own astonishment. In the process, we passed a runner paced by living legend Ann Trason (Ann won this race 14 times over 15 years!). And, from now on, nobody was going to pass us again! Every light ahead became a target which we were happily hunting, keeping moving between stations at a great 13 to 14 minute/mile pace. We still spend the required time at the aid station for Pierre-Yves to refuel and eat, but the stops were getting shorter and shorter as we were progressing.

Unfortunately, at the exit of ALT by mile 85, I experienced a bad fall, stupidly tripping on a small rock which I missed. I fell on my side, hip and elbow, and, in the process tripped into Pierre-Yves' legs as I was following him closely. Fortunately, Pierre-Yves didn't fall himself and kept going. I was so much in pain that it took me a few minutes to catch him up and I even considered quitting at this point, each left stride becoming painful. It was a good pacing lesson and I decided to not mention any issue to Pierre-Yves, making sure we focused on his progression.

With that, I was happy with the 14 minute/mile pace myself, but I kept on pushing Pierre-Yves to shuffle the uphills and came up with the concept of virtual walking poles for driving an efficient power walking on the hills he couldn't run (walking/running poles are very common in Europe but forbidden on most of the races in the US so it doesn't damage the trails in National and State Parks, at least I believe that's the official reason).

I had seen Hal Koerner (2-time champion, 2007 and 2009) and Tia Bodington (Miwok Race Director) in the afternoon at the hotel Pierre-Yves had booked a room at, and it was uplifting to see them again at the rocking (as in Rock 'n Roll) Brown's Bar aid station (mile 90). It is always a delight to be helped by some of these high figures in our sport, like if James Lebron was giving you a ball on a basketball court in your neighborhood.

Keeping passing more runners, we had fun counting the remaining miles: a half marathon, phew! Then a 10K, then a 5K... All in all, Pierre-Yves gained 67 spots after Foresthill and we covered the 38 miles in 9.5 hours, that is just below 15 minute/mile. I was particularly proud of Pierre-Yves and how he was finally enjoying and having fun running again. And, for me, it was a great tune-up for night running for Tahoe Rim Trail 100-mile, in 3 weeks (I did run through the night at the 24-hour race last weekend, but the course was so flat and smooth, it barely required a light).

Pierre-Yves crossed the finish line in 25:39:56, taking 150. His first goal this weekend was to stay alive and avoid any incident like what happened to him at Ohlone 50K in May 2012 (helicopter evacuation and a few days in ICU). Checked! His second goal was to finish that mythical race, meaning finishing within the cut-off time. Checked! Third was the sub-24-hour of course. Unfortunately he wasn't that far but the initial struggle of the day killed this possibility. A Bronze Buckle will have to do it then, and, this Sunday morning, Pierre-Yves was barely realizing what happened yesterday and through the night, having had serious doubts after struggling so much for the first 62 miles (100K).

Not expecting us so soon based on Saturday's progress, Greg #4 (Pommier) was still sleeping when we arrived at 6:40 am but, thankfully, the "other" Greg (#2, Lanctot), with his amazing dedication and support to our running club in general and our ultra racing team in particular, was up again all night this weekend again and captured this nice shot at the finish:

While I was waiting for Pierre-Yves at Foresthill earlier Saturday afternoon, I saw quite a few known faces from our local ultra running community. Among them, Scott Dunlap who had paced Brendan Davies of Australia, down to the river. With two cars to handle at Foresthill, Scott was now waiting for someone to drop and request a ride back to Auburn. I also spend some time chatting and catching-up with Brian Robinson who was on the wait list, having offered to any runner in need of a pacer at the last minute. Brian did wait for some time and I was to see him just before No-hands Bridge as we passed his runner.

Western States undoubtedly remains the most sought-after 100-mile race, being the "mother" of all 100-mile races in the US and around the World. Although, 2012 and 2013 champ, Tim Olson, wasn't present to defend his title, there were at least 20 elite men who came and had the potential to win this race or at least place top 3. In the midst of this tough competition, Rob Krar passed Max King after Foresthill (which is the place, at the 100K point, where elites say the race begins...). Rob took first overall in 14:53, the second fastest time ever and one of the three sub-15-hour marks in the 41 editions of this event. Unfortunately, albeit still quite an amazing performance for his first 100-mile, Max got passed by two other runners: Seth Swanson, 2nd in 15:19, and Dylan Bowman in 15:36 (I chatted with Dylan at the hotel breakfast on Sunday morning, he was certainly delighted with the outcome).

In these perfect conditions (no snow, dry trail, top temperatures in the 80s), 129 runners managed to get a Silver Buckle, finishing under 24 hours. Quite a high number but not quite yet the 148 of 2012.

As for our team, Ian Sharman (M4) took 6 this year, Gary Gellin 16th with a time of 17:47 and 3rd Masters. Clare finished 28 minutes ahead of Pierre-Yves, good for 21st in the women division. Sandra Campos in 27:36, Loren Lewis, 28:53, Paul Ng, 29:42. Unfortunately John Nguyen dropped at El Dorado Creek (mile 52) and Jim Magill at Brown's Bar, mile 90. Jim finished his 10th Western States in 2004, he was going for his 11th at age 67 this year. He'll be back...

And back I hope to be in the coming years too, in any capacity. Indeed, there are many ways to be "in" Western States!

PS: a few more pictures. With ultra photography vizir, Glen Tachiyama:

Glen and Greg:

The cooling (sponge) station:

The check-in post:

Jennifer Bena, JB Bena's wife, and their JourneyFilm crew:

iRunFar.com's live cast coverage with satellite connection:

The medical crew:

The club runners and a special mention for Darcy Fick who abruptly passed away 2 weeks ago and was a mother for our club, being the chef with her husband Paul Fick of the renowned QuickSilver 50K/100K BBQ.