Big Sur International Marathon - Waking Early and the Bus Ride
Big Sur International Marathon deserves its reputation as one of the best "destination marathons" in the world.
Here are my impressions of two parts of race day on its 25th anniversary: waking early and the bus ride to the starting line.
Waking Early Because the marathon is a point-to-point race that begins at Big Sur Station and ends on Highway 1 at Rio Road in Carmel, the race organizers provide shuttle buses as part of the registration fee to take racers from Carmel to Big Sur before the race (for people staying near the finish line in Carmel) and from Carmel to Big Sur after the race (for people staying near the starting line in Big Sur).
We stayed at Carmel Mission Inn, across the street from the finish line in Carmel -- and therefore highly recommended for its convenience.
Because California Highway Patrol must close the race course early enough for the organizers to set up the finish line (literally on Highway 1), the free shuttle buses (something like 135 school buses) leave from a middle school about one mile up the road in Carmel from the finish line -- starting at 3:45 AM.
You can park your car at the middle school to catch a shuttle bus.
But we very much appreciated that a non-racer spouse of someone in our group drove us from our hotel to the school (and then promptly went back to the hotel to go back to sleep!).
Why? Because the line of runners and walkers in cars waiting to park at the middle school was ridiculously long at 3:30 in the morning.
The Bus Ride Our shuttle-bus driver got lost soon after leaving the middle school.
She accidentally turned north onto Highway 1 and drove a mile or so toward Monterey before someone familiar with the area told her that she was going in the wrong direction.
Once we got turned around and headed in the proper direction -- south, toward Big Sur -- we rode for what seemed like more than an hour toward the starting line, chatting away with fellow racers.
The ride was a bit disorienting, given that the driver had the lights off inside the bus and given that the very curvy and hilly Highway 1 in that area has almost no lights.
We had to ride about a mile south beyond the starting line in Big Sur to a point with enough space for all drivers to turn their shuttle buses around and head back north to the starting line.
So we were all excited and happy to finally exit our shuttle bus and join the growing crowd of racers in the woods at the starting line, even if it was only something like five o'clock in the morning!
Here are my impressions of two parts of race day on its 25th anniversary: waking early and the bus ride to the starting line.
Waking Early Because the marathon is a point-to-point race that begins at Big Sur Station and ends on Highway 1 at Rio Road in Carmel, the race organizers provide shuttle buses as part of the registration fee to take racers from Carmel to Big Sur before the race (for people staying near the finish line in Carmel) and from Carmel to Big Sur after the race (for people staying near the starting line in Big Sur).
We stayed at Carmel Mission Inn, across the street from the finish line in Carmel -- and therefore highly recommended for its convenience.
Because California Highway Patrol must close the race course early enough for the organizers to set up the finish line (literally on Highway 1), the free shuttle buses (something like 135 school buses) leave from a middle school about one mile up the road in Carmel from the finish line -- starting at 3:45 AM.
You can park your car at the middle school to catch a shuttle bus.
But we very much appreciated that a non-racer spouse of someone in our group drove us from our hotel to the school (and then promptly went back to the hotel to go back to sleep!).
Why? Because the line of runners and walkers in cars waiting to park at the middle school was ridiculously long at 3:30 in the morning.
The Bus Ride Our shuttle-bus driver got lost soon after leaving the middle school.
She accidentally turned north onto Highway 1 and drove a mile or so toward Monterey before someone familiar with the area told her that she was going in the wrong direction.
Once we got turned around and headed in the proper direction -- south, toward Big Sur -- we rode for what seemed like more than an hour toward the starting line, chatting away with fellow racers.
The ride was a bit disorienting, given that the driver had the lights off inside the bus and given that the very curvy and hilly Highway 1 in that area has almost no lights.
We had to ride about a mile south beyond the starting line in Big Sur to a point with enough space for all drivers to turn their shuttle buses around and head back north to the starting line.
So we were all excited and happy to finally exit our shuttle bus and join the growing crowd of racers in the woods at the starting line, even if it was only something like five o'clock in the morning!
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