Tony Conti's Staging Area

This was the second time I got to run this course, and it was everything that I remembered from the previous year. The only thing that I forgot was all the rolling hills and the challenging course. I guess I blocked out all the pain and only remembered the beautiful course. That said, it remains the most scenic marathon that I have ran. As a runner from flat Florida, I could never get tired of running this epic route.
The entire race weekend was great! I was able to participate in all the activities from the pub run, the runner panel presentation at Fleet Feet, the shake out run, the course tips presentation at the expo and then the marathon on Sunday.
The event was super organized, especially on race day. I picked up my bus at the Delmonte Mall, and the event staff/volunteers had all the logistics flowing smoothly. When I got to the start village, we were organized into our corrals. There were a lot of runners, but I just found my spot and did my pre-race routine. It was raining again this year at the start village, but nothing that ruined anything and it actually felt great once I started. So awesome to run Highway 1 through the redwoods and then out to the coastline. So awesome to get to mile marker 13.1 and see the piano player (Michael) playing while all the runners ran past him. The course had entertainment throughout the 26.2 miles. The only place that spectators could be seen and heard was once I got to the finish area, which gave me a shot of adrenaline while I ran to the finish line.
I highly recommend the Big Sur Marathon to anyone looking to create memories as they run “the ragged edge of the western world”.