So little personal story about this race- 15 or so years ago, attending my sister’s wedding, the couple got hazed because the groom had just ran in the Big Sur marathon the day before, and everyone joked: “what was he running from?”

Fifteen years later I ended up helping out in the sag wagon for him, in this race. We camped at a really nice campground- Ventana- then around 7am watched them head off into the redwoods.

Despite a pulled quad, Damien worked hard to place 10th (in his group/age, I think), not far from his time 15 years before. Big Sur is fun for amateurs and pros alike- there’s a walk/run portion and a half-distance bit. It’s coming up in April- time to sign up! Read more details and random vignettes after the jump.


I got this in my email this morning, from one of my favorite groups:

Dust off those running shoes and join Habitat for Humanity San Francisco at the Big Sur International Marathon on Sunday, April 29 in Carmel , CA . Run or walk to help build affordable homes for hardworking families in San Francisco and Marin. Or, donate to a charity runner securely online.

In the 2004 race- a heartwarming story came from the winners. A nephew was running with his uncle, an international running star from Kenya. The uncle had an injury during the race but he stayed in and helped his nephew finish, and the nephew won!

We had walkie talkies in our car, and we kept on picking up another sag wagon. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, they kept talking about eating candy. Then I realized they didn’t know how to pronounce Carmel.

If you’ve read this far, please comment with your favorite race- I’m also a big fan of the YMCA’s Chinatown New Year’s race. First time I ran that my fellow runners were sleepless & hungover, having marathon mah-jonged all night. I sat next to a woman in her 60s on the bus ride back to the Chinatown YMCA. I told her I had just started running, and she told me she had too- at the age of 55.