2017 Big Sur International Marathon Relay

 

Date: April 30th 2017, Sunday
Distance: 26.2 Relay
Start Time: 6:45 am
Team: Fueled By Kale

Saturday, April 29th

We arrived at Carmel By The Sea at 12:30 am, after a 7 hour drive from San Diego.  First, we headed to our beautiful hotel in the downtown village, the Normandy Inn.

We dropped our bags and  grabbed a quick lunch at the Mediterranean restaurant.

Arugula & Beets Salad with Pomegranate dressing, caramelized walnuts and falafels ( extra arugula, no feta cheese)

After lunch, we did a little bit of window shopping, before heading to the beach and visiting the majestic Bixby Bridge.

This is truly heaven on earth!

Around 4 pm, we drove to Monterey to attend a 5 pm mandatory meeting for the Marathon Relay's Team Captains. Our friends and relay teammates, Wendy and Andrew had already picked up our race packets ( bibs, shirts....) so there was only one thing left to do - to confirm the logistics for the next day (Where do we pick up the buses for the different race legs? I am running leg 1, my husband is running leg 4. How do we get back to the hotel?). We went over this and more in our 5 pm meeting. We were all set.  I usually like spending my time at the expo, checking merchandise, talking to the guest speakers but it was late. Jeff Galloway and Dean Karnazes were already gone for the day.  

At a short walking distance from the expo, you can find Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf, reminicent of the famous pier in the Fog City.

We walked the Monterey Pier and enjoyed the breathtaking views before heading to Pacific Grove for dinner ( just few minutes away). We met our friends Wendy and Andrew at Julia's Restaurant

   

This is a great place to carb-load before a race, especially if you like vegetarian and vegan cuisine.  I ordered a vegan mushroom garlicky pizza with a gluten-free crust. My husband ordered a scrumptious tamale pie (a layered Mexican style casserole with polenta, spinach, mushrooms and pinto beans served with a poblano red sauce, tomatillo, guacamole and roasted vegetables). Are you hungry yet? :-)  Since I don't have great pictures, you need to take my word. This is to die for!! I think I found my favorite place to eat in Monterey!

After dinner, we drove back to our hotel and went to bed. I needed to wake up 5 1/2 hours later to make it to the bus leaving at 3:45 am.

Sunday,  April 30th

For people running the full marathon or marathon relay leg 1 (only), there are two options: You can either take the (school) bus in Monterrey or you can take the bus in Carmel Plaza.  I opted for the second option since it was only 4 blocks from my hotel. By the way, this is the only way to get to the start line. The drive is 2 hours long. I slept a little bit! Once we arrived at the start line, I met a few friends.

Laurie, Jeff, Maria, Sandra

I finally met Julia! Marathon Maniac Goddess!! 

I also met one of my classmates from Rouxbe Cooking School, Christine Roth Akiyoshi. How cool is that! I am bummed I don't have any good picture of both of us.

The race started at 6:45 am. I crossed the start line at 6:52 am after a nice big shout out from my favorite race announcer, Rudy Novotny, 

Today, I was supposed to run JUST 5 miles. Easy peasy! I started at full speed. Why not? I remember thinking "I am not holding back!" and "This is all downhill".  I forgot that there were two hills on this leg (even if they don't show in the course elevation - see above). I lost a little bit of momentum on the hills but I reached my destination in 54 minutes. 

After handing the baton to my friend Andrew, I spotted Olympian runner Jeff Galloway. Since this race allows this, I decided to run with Jeff for a little bit.  A little bit of background ....

In 2015, I ran the full Big Sur Marathon. I ran out of juice at mile 16-17 and almost DNF ( Did Not Finish). I hit the wall really bad until Jeff Galloway came to my rescue. We ran together the last 9-10 miles of the course. He pushed me to the finish line. You can read more about it HERE. 

Today, I just wanted to thank him! We ran together mile 6, mile 7, mile 8, mile 9, mile 10 .... we passed the relay exchange for leg 2 and continued running and chatting through mile 11, mile 12, miles 13. I lost Jeff somewhere between mile 13 and 14 as I was distracted taking pictures of the stunning views. I continued on my own to mile 15, mile 16... passed the relay exchange for leg 3 and debated wether to stop or continue until the end ( this was the last relay exchange - no more buses after this point). I ran to mile 17 and decided this was the perfect place to finish up ( a good training run for me). Three years ago today, I cried at this spot. Today I was all smiles. I redeemed myself!

Jeff Galloway - Mile 6

Mile 6

One of my favorite mile markers

Mile 17 - Still smiling

At the buses at mile 17

I did it!

Team Fueled By Kale

Thanks Jeff Galloway for all you running wisdom and support!

Thank you Big Sur International Marathon! Your course is breathtaking!

Thanks Rudy Novotny for the shot out! You are really the best announcer in the US!

Thanks West Coast Road Runners!

To my running friends, I love you! To my marathon relay team, "Fueled by Kale", we rocked!! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

On a separate note, it looks like the Big Sur International Marathon's race organizers loved our team name, Fueled by Kale! Woot! Woot! 

2016 Pixie Dust Challenge 19.3 ( May 7th - 8th)

It's been a long time since I have written on this blog. Let's see ... My last post was from last July when I won Lululemon Athletica VIP passes at the San Francisco Marathon. Since then, I have run 7 races at Disneyland, completed two challenges ( Dumbo Dare and Gaunlet) and now recently the Pixie Dust Challenge. I also completed the San Diego Half Marathon, the beautiful Big Sur 9-miler and several 5k races with my daughter.

What is the Pixie Dust Challenge? It's 19.3 miles or 31 km. You run the Tinker Bell 10K on Saturday followed by the Tinker Bell Half Marathon on Sunday. If you finish both, you get a third medal.  The shirt and medal designs this year were BEAUTIFUL!

This was my 10 year old's second 10K and her fifth runDisney anniversary.  It was also my 50th half marathon, a special one. For this reason, I decided to dust off my blog a little bit. I have been busy with my full-time job and writing for my other food blog SunshineandKale. Check it out, if you haven't visited yet!


Friday, May 6th - Expo

This year we arrived at the expo twenty minutes before closing time. This is a PR (personal record). Last year, I made it in the very last minute. After picking up our bibs and shirts, we headed to the Team Sparkle booth to buy our "Donut Ever Give Up" race tops. On the way out, we stopped by the Official Merchandise Store and purchased our first 2016 Christmas ornament as well as this year's (vinyl) Mickey.

Double Luck! Two sweaty Mickeys

Saturday, May 7th - Tinker Bell 10k

We woke up at 4:00 am and left our hotel fifteen minutes later. We walked to our corrals in the pouring rain. All I kept thinking was "Oh dear, this is going to be a disaster" but I kept quiet for my daughter.  Lucky us, the rain ceased 10-15 minutes after the race started. My daughter was in a really good mood and ready to go. Maybe because she had the cutest outfit on. Thank you Team Sparkle! Sorry, I haven't gotten used to your "new" name yet, Sparkle Athletic. I am old school!

For this race, we followed my friend Pretty using the Galloway method, running for two minutes and walking for thirty seconds. This seemed to work perfectly for my 10 year old.  We ran through both parks ( Disneyland and California Adventure) and stopped to take pictures everywhere. My daughter had a blast. By mile 4.5, she started getting tired but soon after we left the parks and entered Downtown Disney (mile 5.5), she felt strong. She knew the way to the finish line and took off. She finished about 20-30 seconds before us.  She was all smiles when we met! She had completed her second 10K. This was also her second Tinker Bell race. In 2012, she ran the 400 meters for ages 4-6 and received a "plasticky medallion" ( her own words). Now, she was getting the real thing! What can I say? I am a proud mom!

My Tinker Bell ( bib 359) in 2012

My Tinker Bell - Donut Fairy in 2016

Sunday, May 8th - Tinker Bell Half - Mother's Day

This was the 5th anniversary of the Tinker Bell Half. I have run the race in 2012 and 2013, and 2014 (  you can click on each year to read the race recaps).  I skipped the Tinker Bell Half in 2015 for a wedding in Kentucky. Otherwise, I would have been considered a legacy running.  It's OK, family first!

This race is fantastic. I know many of my friends are not into Tinker Bell but I love fairies, especially if they have technical / tinkering skills ( kind of like me hehehe). One thing, I didn't like about the race this year was that they changed announcers. I was really looking forward to hearing Rudy Novotny. He is a pretty amazing at motivating runners and giving shout outs.  There is nothing like hearing your name as you cross the start and finish line. Rudy knows everyone and never misses! He is an extraordinary announcer. Based on the picture below,  I can tell I am not the only one that felt that way.

As for the rest of the race, it was pure enjoyment this year! I ran with my friends Pretty, Laurie, Cheryl and Robert. We ran and stopped EVERYWHERE for pictures. I don't think I have ever stopped this much during a race before. But hey, we were at Disney! I am not going to post a race recap mile by mile ( you can check my 4 previous Tinker Bell reports). Instead, I will share some pictures.

With Walt Disney at the Castle

At California Adventure

"Happiness is Expensive"

Only at mile 11, I realized that this was actually my 50th half marathon ( I had completely forgotten). It was time for me to push hard and finish strong. No more pictures. No more stops. Good vibes all the way to the end and beyond! :-)


Saying that I love Disney races is an understatement.  And YES, "happiness can be expensive" like my friend's Cheryl shirt says. But spending quality time with my family and friends at these races is PRICELESS!

To the race organizers, please bring Rudy back!

I WON Lululemon Athletica VIP passes!

There is nothing like waking up to a dozen "Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!" messages from my friends.  I had no idea I just won Lululemon Athletica VIP passes at the San Francisco Marathon.

 This is the message that they posted several weeks ago in Facebook:

"Who's running The SF Marathon this July 26th? Comment below if you are, or tag your friends who you know are running. I'm giving away 5 spots to the "get quiet. GET LOUD. Lounge" Presented by lululemon athletica. 

This event is by invitation only and will have exclusive giveaways from Lulu, a great view of the Finish Line Festival, Breakfast AND Lunch, Drinks, Yoga and Foam Rolling sessions, Bag Check, Private Bathrooms, and of course... Live Music!  Like, Comment & Share to Win! Winners will be selected on July 15th, 2015 at Noon!"


It looks like I'll be getting the royal treatment at the San Francisco Marathon ... as long as I finish the race between 11:30 am. 

Now, I really wished I signed up for the full marathon but I am fine running the second half and completing the Half It All Challenge. I am just going to miss running across the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge which is not part of this course. Hmmm perhaps I could run here on Saturday after visiting the expo!!

I am leaving you with one of my favorite quotes from legendary George Sheehan. 

Happy Running, everyone! Are you training for a race?

Thanks Lululemon!