Silvia Bobeica's Staging Area

I hope you make this a bucket list race if not a repeat race. The course is challenging, and the weather often makes it more challenging because it is often hot, but there are popsicles, 20 water stations for 15k, and beer from spectators in some spots on the course. The energy on the course is comparable to that of big marathons (with a little bit of a down time at mile 4 to 5 on the biggest hill, but there are still spectators at the top) and you will be excited at the finish to have unlimited beer. Hydrate well and do some 4-5% incline hill runs to prepare for mile 4 and 7 of this course. I’ve run 1:23 in 2016 when it was cool and misty and I’m excited to come back every year and try to beat it. My current PR is 1:16 (on a hilly course in december) and nothing would make me happier than matching it on the renowned Boilermaker course! Plan to be dropped off at the start for easiest race day because parking is not easy and you’d have to go before 5 am to park.

The course is tough but oh my so beautiful! I live in the Midwest so about 2 months out I started doing aggressive treadmill inclines of about 10-13 miles to get my quads ready for race day and it turns out it was enough to keep me alive! Made it to the finish without any muscle cramps or feeling like I was going to fall over.

The race organization was very smooth. The expo was a bit too crowded because of renovations at the Portola hotel but let’s hope next year it has more space.

The bus pickup in the morning was smooth as I stayed close to Carmel plaza. Everyone was super excited on the bus.

We got off a couple of minutes walk away from big sur station which was crowded with enough port’a’potties for a small army. There were bananas, bagels, coffee, hot water but after all the runners got there, the line was kind of long so I didn’t wait for that.(FYI line up early for food).

I wish the corrals were staged a bit differently. This is another FYI. You don’t have to go up when your corral gets called. Honestly I wish I used the bathroom a little later because I had to stop to pee like 1 mile in, due to lining up a bit too early because of what the announcer was asking … so take your time to pee at 6:15 for the 6:45 start if your bladder feels full just from thinking about not peeing like clockwork.

The race was a blast, honestly I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was my first without headphones and I LOVED IT. There were so many unique experiences along the way, drum players, piano man and so many people cheering, the volunteers (some of them) were hilarious “free Gatorade !!” I didn’t miss my headphones one bit.
I ran calmly first half since I knew hurricane point was coming up but it still took my legs out. Fortunately I took a lot of pictures along the way and didn’t feel very tired. After mile 22 ish weather started feeling a bit warm (we weren’t directly in the mild ocean breeze anymore), but the finish made it all worthy. Plenty of stuff at the finish though I didn’t have time to stay for the long massage line or long beer line.

I really enjoyed that everyone on the course was taking in the experience and there was no pushing and shoving in the first miles like in other marathons I’ve done (Chicago, Illinois, Naperville etc)

Getting in and out of the finish area was also really streamlined thanks to volunteers.

HIGHLY recommend if you can go!