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10.6 mile walk - Big Sur/Carmel
So I did the 10.6-mile walk event in the Big Sur International Marathon on Sunday. My feet still hurt a little bit. I emptied icy cooler water into the bathtub last night & soaked my feet before going to bed, taking a note from LJ-Kat. Brrrr! It helped, though. I should’ve gone to the beach and walked in the ocean right after the walk. Next time.
It was a weekend long thing. I was too tired to pack Fri. night, and finally got out the door, plants watered, etc. etc. at 10 AM Saturday. Did an hour’s worth of errands around town, and hit the road.
In Gilroy, I stopped at a McDonald’s to use their restroom and on a whim, detoured onto the San Juan Bautisa historical road up into the mountains to Coyote Lake and Gilroy Hot Springs. Wow, it was gorgeous – lush, green and 10-15 degrees cooler. The SCA was having a tourney (please don’t kill me if you’re an SCA’er and I’ve used the wrong term) at Coyote Lake and I watched a battle for a little while. See, this is where and when they should have the Renaissance Faire. Wearing a costume in 95-degree dusty heat in Sept.? No. Actually, leave the fog belt in Sept. to go anywhere near Gilroy? HELL NO! The hiking looks awesome in the Henry Coe area. No dogs, apparently a lot of wildlife back there, not that you’d see it, but I like that. The canyon trails looked enticing. The lake looked eh, but the campground seemed okay. If I ever hike it, it has to be an overnight trip.
Got into Monterey around 3, checked in to the hotel, went to the Marathon center to get my bib # & look at exhibitors, out to dinner & back to the hotel to get ready. I was going to drug myself to sleep at 8 PM since I had to get up at 4:30 AM for the race, but it was still light out! Too early. So I walked around, explored some cool looking secluded areas, swam, watched a tape I’d brought (a hotel with a VCR! so great!) and popped an Ambien at 9:15.
Up at 4:15 AM, and off to the bus to take us down Route 1 to the race start – and lots of standing in a line waiting for the bus. Grr. They could have had us arrive at 6 AM instead of 5 AM! GRRR, also, brrr. Rocky Point was freezing once we finally were bussed there, and the porta-potty lines were insanely long. The sun came up over the coastal range while I was waiting in line. Pwetty. I’d never been to Rocky Point before. It’s a place to go back to for a meal and/or drinks. GORGOUS!
Walking along the coast in the early AM was beautiful. Birds were singing madly, the scent of dew burning off sage and flowers warming and/or opening was wafting in the air, the views of the craggy coast were spectacular. Later, there were gazillion dollar houses & gardens to ogle.
After I guess about an hour and a half, the front runners came by. It had been quiet, just people walking and talking, race marshals on bikes zipping by occasionally, and we could hear the ocean and birds. Suddenly, the bike marshals are going nuts admonishing us to move left (which we did the first time they asked 20 minutes ago), there’s a police motorcade, the Jaguar sponsor’s driving along with a front runner flag, and whoosh, the Kenyans: Ibrahim Limo (02:26:19) and Wilson Gatiha (02:27:40) came in first and second, although they were 5-10 minutes apart when they passed us. The finish must’ve been incredible. It was very cool to see world-class runners. I assume Mr. Limo had the lead the whole way; if so, he had his arms up, in proper racewalking form, interestingly enough. The reason you do it in racewalking is to keep blood from pooling in your hands, and it helps with forward momentum. Maybe it’s why he did, too.
In 30-60 minutes, the marathon completely overtook us and it changed into a loud festival. There were bands every few miles and a lot of motion and noise from the runners. I took a couple of detours, since I wasn’t in this for the time. I stopped to look at a sculpture garden and there was a party going on so I hung out for a little bit.
Also, I went down to stare at the water at Monastery Beach. It looked so innocent and glassy, but I know better. I know how deep the underwater canyon plunges. I’ve done a shore crawl out of that surf onto those squishy fine pebbles where you can’t get purchase under you and it’s so steep you can’t get out without help if you’re me. Most of the drownings in Monterey are at Monastery Beach. I will never, ever go diving there again, even if it is an incredible canyon.
I crossed the finish line around 11:15 or so. I didn’t pay too much attention because I thought I it would be on the website, but they have everyone’s time except the 10.6 mile walkers. Heck! They loaded everyone with goodies, and I wandered around a bit then went back to the hotel. When I made my reservations, they told me I could arrange for unusually late check out, like 3 or 4 PM, but when I stopped in after the race, the guy in the office said I had to be out by 1 PM. Feh on him. I took a shower, had a cold IPA and lay with my feet up on pillows watching the Gilmore Girls on the VCR until the phone started ringing at 1:30.
I couldn’t leave without going to the new shark exhibit at the Aquarium, so I spent about 3 hours walking around looking at exhibits at the Aquarium, then drove home with a couple of stops to put my feet up and press cold soda cans onto the bottom of them. Ahhh.
We got clay “medals” for participating. I wasn’t thinking about where I’d put it, and shook out a vest to hang it up in the stairwell, and accidentally threw it downstairs. I have the big pieces, but the center smashed to tiny bits. Bummer.
It was a weekend long thing. I was too tired to pack Fri. night, and finally got out the door, plants watered, etc. etc. at 10 AM Saturday. Did an hour’s worth of errands around town, and hit the road.
In Gilroy, I stopped at a McDonald’s to use their restroom and on a whim, detoured onto the San Juan Bautisa historical road up into the mountains to Coyote Lake and Gilroy Hot Springs. Wow, it was gorgeous – lush, green and 10-15 degrees cooler. The SCA was having a tourney (please don’t kill me if you’re an SCA’er and I’ve used the wrong term) at Coyote Lake and I watched a battle for a little while. See, this is where and when they should have the Renaissance Faire. Wearing a costume in 95-degree dusty heat in Sept.? No. Actually, leave the fog belt in Sept. to go anywhere near Gilroy? HELL NO! The hiking looks awesome in the Henry Coe area. No dogs, apparently a lot of wildlife back there, not that you’d see it, but I like that. The canyon trails looked enticing. The lake looked eh, but the campground seemed okay. If I ever hike it, it has to be an overnight trip.
Got into Monterey around 3, checked in to the hotel, went to the Marathon center to get my bib # & look at exhibitors, out to dinner & back to the hotel to get ready. I was going to drug myself to sleep at 8 PM since I had to get up at 4:30 AM for the race, but it was still light out! Too early. So I walked around, explored some cool looking secluded areas, swam, watched a tape I’d brought (a hotel with a VCR! so great!) and popped an Ambien at 9:15.
Up at 4:15 AM, and off to the bus to take us down Route 1 to the race start – and lots of standing in a line waiting for the bus. Grr. They could have had us arrive at 6 AM instead of 5 AM! GRRR, also, brrr. Rocky Point was freezing once we finally were bussed there, and the porta-potty lines were insanely long. The sun came up over the coastal range while I was waiting in line. Pwetty. I’d never been to Rocky Point before. It’s a place to go back to for a meal and/or drinks. GORGOUS!
Walking along the coast in the early AM was beautiful. Birds were singing madly, the scent of dew burning off sage and flowers warming and/or opening was wafting in the air, the views of the craggy coast were spectacular. Later, there were gazillion dollar houses & gardens to ogle.
After I guess about an hour and a half, the front runners came by. It had been quiet, just people walking and talking, race marshals on bikes zipping by occasionally, and we could hear the ocean and birds. Suddenly, the bike marshals are going nuts admonishing us to move left (which we did the first time they asked 20 minutes ago), there’s a police motorcade, the Jaguar sponsor’s driving along with a front runner flag, and whoosh, the Kenyans: Ibrahim Limo (02:26:19) and Wilson Gatiha (02:27:40) came in first and second, although they were 5-10 minutes apart when they passed us. The finish must’ve been incredible. It was very cool to see world-class runners. I assume Mr. Limo had the lead the whole way; if so, he had his arms up, in proper racewalking form, interestingly enough. The reason you do it in racewalking is to keep blood from pooling in your hands, and it helps with forward momentum. Maybe it’s why he did, too.
In 30-60 minutes, the marathon completely overtook us and it changed into a loud festival. There were bands every few miles and a lot of motion and noise from the runners. I took a couple of detours, since I wasn’t in this for the time. I stopped to look at a sculpture garden and there was a party going on so I hung out for a little bit.
Also, I went down to stare at the water at Monastery Beach. It looked so innocent and glassy, but I know better. I know how deep the underwater canyon plunges. I’ve done a shore crawl out of that surf onto those squishy fine pebbles where you can’t get purchase under you and it’s so steep you can’t get out without help if you’re me. Most of the drownings in Monterey are at Monastery Beach. I will never, ever go diving there again, even if it is an incredible canyon.
I crossed the finish line around 11:15 or so. I didn’t pay too much attention because I thought I it would be on the website, but they have everyone’s time except the 10.6 mile walkers. Heck! They loaded everyone with goodies, and I wandered around a bit then went back to the hotel. When I made my reservations, they told me I could arrange for unusually late check out, like 3 or 4 PM, but when I stopped in after the race, the guy in the office said I had to be out by 1 PM. Feh on him. I took a shower, had a cold IPA and lay with my feet up on pillows watching the Gilmore Girls on the VCR until the phone started ringing at 1:30.
I couldn’t leave without going to the new shark exhibit at the Aquarium, so I spent about 3 hours walking around looking at exhibits at the Aquarium, then drove home with a couple of stops to put my feet up and press cold soda cans onto the bottom of them. Ahhh.
We got clay “medals” for participating. I wasn’t thinking about where I’d put it, and shook out a vest to hang it up in the stairwell, and accidentally threw it downstairs. I have the big pieces, but the center smashed to tiny bits. Bummer.