"
Yes, it would be a lot of fun, so Tim and Iris
joined Flyers Deana Culbreath and Janet Hanson
in Exeter and ran Boston 2 days later, and of course ran
Big Sur 6 days after that. If one is good, 2 must be better, and 3 ...
Meanwhile, over on the left coast, the Big Sur Marathon has been growing and this year was its 25th running. Variously described as Spectacular, rewarding, mystical and unforgettable, Bart Yasso writing for Runners World once said "If we were told that we could run only one marathon in our lifetime, Big Sur would have to be it."
So with 2 such races occuring within a week in April, and to enhance the celebration of Big Sur's 25th running, the organizers came up with a brilliant idea: "The Boston to Big Sur Challenge", aka the "B2B".
rom the Big Sur Marathon Web site:
"Only the fittest (or craziest!) ever attempt back-to-back marathons, much less 3,000 miles and 6 days apart. In 2010 the Big Sur Marathon will be honoring those runners willing to accept the challenge in celebration of our 25th presentation." ... "The challenge will be be open to 400 participants on a first come, first served basis. To be eligible, you must run Boston, just 6 days before Big Sur. When you come to pick up your Big Sur packet you must also present proof of finishing Boston."
"Those who sign-up will receive:
Ultimately 4 members of the Flyers couldn't resist the challenge: Iris Chen, Tim Decker, Joe Jones and Sungwon Hwang. Since there was a limit of 400 participants, this means that 1% of these were members of the New York Flyers, which I think you'll agree, is pretty darn impressive.
Then as the New York City Marathon approached, the unthinkable happened: Boston was filling up and almost certainly would fill up once those who qualified in NYC (always the biggest fraction of qualifyers) registered. Boston registration would close 5 1/2 months before the race. That means that all those who hoped to qualify for Boston in races after Nov. 1st, or otherwise were slow to get around to registering for Boston, were out of luck.
Unintended Side Affect: a number of those who were shut out of Boston had hoped to do the B2B. Sorry, tough luck, so much for the B2B.
2nd Unintended Side Affect: those who DID register for Boston and who wanted to do the B2B, but were shut out when that event also closed, had a second chance to enter it by getting one of the slots that opened up. Tim and Iris were in that group.
They got some good Press and started attracting a small but deternmined bunch of runners.
Runers World: "Last November, Mike Tammaro was shocked when registration had closed for April's Boston Marathon. He had qualified five months earlier but hadn't been in a rush to secure his spot for the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boylston Street. The historic race – with its challenging standards – had never sold out so quickly before. While thousands of other Boston shutouts went in search of another spring marathon, Tammaro decided to start his own. And not just any marathon – one with stricter qualifying standards, to be run two days before the Boston Marathon, 70 miles south in Exeter, Rhode Island."
Here's their web site: The Exeter Marathon
3nd Unintended Side Affect: Although the Exeter Marathon was intended for unhappy runners who were closed out of Boston, another, much smaller
group who DID get into Boston had another thought: "I'm in Boston, but why not do Exeter too? It's 2 days befor Boston so that sounds like a lot
of fun! "
Yes, it would be a lot of fun, so Tim and Iris
joined Flyers Deana Culbreath and Janet Hanson
in Exeter and ran Boston 2 days later, and of course ran
Big Sur 6 days after that. If one is good, 2 must be better, and 3 ...
It was a rainy Saturday morning on April 17th but a very happy 54 runners finished this race including our 4 Flyers (which was 7.4% of the total).
Iris Chen:
felt privileged to be part of this inaugural race, among a small group of 50+ other runners including three fellow flyers (Janet, Deanne, and Tim) who were enticed by what the race could become. One of the benefits of being part of the first ever, with such a tiny field, was that the race director Mike knew everyone by name, provided personalized support in way of quick response emails, local transportation to start etc., and coralled local runners to prepare us a wonderful post-race spread that included a heavenly home-cooked piping hot sausage and pasta stew. In what other race could you drop off a hat at a water station and have it personally returned to you at the post race party?
The race itself was run in a constant cold drizzle with overcast sky, and included some long lonely stretches on the shoulder of major roads. They said there'd be cows, but I didn't see any. But the overall course was manageable and made cozier with small but committed clusters of volunteers waiting at key points and making sure we didn't take the wrong turn. As an out and back, the course allowed us the opportunity to pass (or rather be passed by) the sub 2:30 front runners, who were all very nice and encouraging.
I started out in the back and took it conservatively, as I had some niggling injuries from the NYRR race and yoga the weekend before, which acted up right when I started running. I also wanted to conserve my energy for Boston. Still, my legs felt shot by the end of the race so I was ecstatic to cross the finish and crawl into the ski lodge for the post race gathering. There, in addition to eating a lot, I got to spend some time with Deanne, Janet and Tim – and meet the winners, who were fast!
All in all a special race and one I will remember. Keep in mind Boston started with only 15 or so runners (in 1897), and just look at what it has become today!
I spent the rest of Saturday after the race in Rhode Island with my little brother and his family. I tried to imbibe as
much protein as I could before switching to carbohydrates the next day in preparation for Boston, as per Tim Decker's advice. My protein consumption
culminated Sataturday night with Newport Creamery's one pound "Holy Cow Burger", which they call the best, biggest, and beefiest burger on the block,
complete with bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato – but I ordered it on whole wheat toast to keep it healthy
[Editor: ROTLOL!] – and I ate the whole thing!
Iris Chen:
ig Sur, six days after Boston, 8 days after Exeter: one word – spectacular! Not just the Pacific Ocean views and the music floating off the grand piano at the top of Hurricane Point at mile 13.1 – but the challenges presented by the course and the will power and strength it brings out in you. I need to go back to conquer it one day.
Joe Jones:
oston was great but Big Sur was even better ... However, Big Sur makes Boston feel flat.
Sungwon Hwang:
oston 2 Big Sur was truly the most memorable and special marathon event that I've experienced. Not only did I have the "privilege" to run two very tough courses back to back but also enjoyed immensely running through two very distinct and historic courses. Boston, without having to explain, is one of the most prestigious and historic race in the world. Big Sur, on the other hand, celebrated its 25th anniversary set on the breathtaking scenic Highway One along the Pacific coastline. I really didn't know what to expect other than a few tough hills and the scenic route that I saw on the BSIM website and photos. Boy, those pictures and DVD clips didn't do the justice of sheer beauty of Mother Nature! The vistas from every mile post was so spectacular that we could hardly run without stopping & snapping at our cameras. Between my iPhone and Joe's camera, we took over 100 pictures during the race (not to mention taking our potter john breaks :) And it showed in our race times but was well worth taking our time! At some of the vista points, we even had to wait for our turns while others are taking their shots.
Big Sur course made Newton and Heartbreak Hills of Boston look like speed bumps. I would say at least 80% of the course was either uphill or downhill. The 2 miles of continuous hills up to Hurricane Point (rather Hurricane Pain) was challenging. But for me, it was the Mile 21 through 24, also known as Carmel Highland (both up and down hills) which I found toughest part of the course. The real kicker was, when you think it was just about done, a sharp hill at Mile 25 for 1/3 mile straight up before flattening out to the finish. To add the matters to worse the course pavement was SLANTED throughout. Because the course was slanted from the beginning to the end, I found myself constantly zigzagging left to right, trying to find some flat parts and ended up running extra 1/4 mile!
Overall logistics were great. Given limited accessible roads and challenging the course, for the most part spectators were awesome and very supportive wherever they could come out and cheered us on. It was no comparison to the massive and fabulous crowd support we received in Boston, but the gorgeous scenery coupled with incredible musicians (such as Japanese Kudo drummers, A Hippie Harpist, a Baby Grand Pianist in Tux and all) made up for it. At the finish, BSIM organized a special "B2B" finish tent for us where we could rest up and drank obscene amount of draft beer while other Big Sur finishers were left to do with water, Gatorade and apple juice :) They sure did make us feel special by handing us two medals (Big Sur 25th anniversary and Boston 2 Big Sur medals). As you can see from my pictures, those medals are all hand-carved ceramic with leather strap/hanger.
Surprisingly, my legs recovered much faster after Big Sur than Boston – primarily due to much slower pace. I would highly recommend that all other Flyers try a back to back marathon running even if it's not a B2B or within 6 days apart. I found it to be very doable and great way to leverage the training momentum especially for ultra marathoners. At the post-race party, I was approached and nearly conscripted (!) into running yet another marathon, New Jersey a week later, by Iris, our super duper ultra marathoner, so she has a running buddy. Unfortunately (rather fortunately) I am working that Sunday – THANK GOD.
Lastly, I wanted to thank for every one of you for great moral support and encouragements throughout our B2B journey. I am truly grateful and honored that I am part of the greatest running team with all of you! GO FLYERS!!!
So the following idyll doesn't surprise me one bit.
Tim Decker:
his will be my 15th consecutive Boston Marathon. That and the Midnight Run on New Year's Eve are the only two real "streaks" I have preserved over the years. I had planned to qualify at the NCR Trail Marathon over Thanksgiving weekend, but panicked when I received the "we're-filling-up-in-record-time" e-mail from the BAA on Thursday 10/29.
A curious fall racing season was already unfolding: I had won races on each of the three previous weekends and had just identified two options that I thought gave me as reasonable a shot as could be at making it four weeks in a row. (The mere thought of such planning is very foreign to me. Overall race wins have come perhaps once every two or three years, at best.) One of those options also required skipping my favorite race of the year, the After the Leaves Have Fallen 20K, which is held on the beautiful carriage roads of Minnewaska State Park on the same morning as the NYC Marathon.
Suddenly, following that out-of-the-blue e-mail, none of those other considerations mattered. I called the BAA office on Friday: were they going to fill up that very day? The answer: Philly, the weekend before Thanksgiving, would likely be too late to qualify, but no one running the weekend of NYC probably needed to worry. But after that, all bets were off!
I needed a marathon – and a qualifying-friendly one – on the weekend where NYC artificially limits the number of other options because it absorbs so many marathoners in one event. Plus, I wasn't quite ready yet! I was in good half-marathon shape and figured I could probably extend that well into the teens, but anything after 20 miles was questionable, speed-wise.
NYC was out of the question even if I knew of some back door way to get in – which I don't and probably doesn't exist anyway. The Manchester City course looked about as challenging as NYC and the forecasted winds also looked troublesome. I don't recall exactly why now, whether it was too many turns or something else about the course, but the one in Springfield, MO didn't strike me as a compelling choice at the time. But Road2Hope in Hamilton, ON caught my eye. It had been rated by Marathonguide.com as the fourth best race for qualifying for Boston and the fastest in Canada. The course profile sealed it. That was where I would make my stand.
Saturday's locally damaging winds and rain had passed well to the east by Sunday morning and temps behind the front were on the chilly side, with a cross-breeze. The weather was cooperating – and my race number was eerily appropriate for this emergency marathon effort: 9-1-1. (You just can't make this stuff up.)
My race strategy centered on steadily building a small cushion in the first half, then riding the long downhill into the late teens and hoping the last few flat miles along the lakeshore leading to the finish line would pass before I had faded too much. Shortly before the start, I quickly recalculated my pace to adjust for the kilometer splits. I enjoyed some remarkably consistent splits in the first half and the more frequent kilometer splits were a huge blessing. I was even able to back off a bit the last several kilometers and still finished in 3:14, well ahead of the 3:20 I needed for Boston.
I entered Boston from the nearest hotel lobby upon leaving the finish area. Everyone in NYC was still running due to the earlier start in Hamilton and at this point I was taking no chances! I know that must sound over-the-top, but there have been more and more instances of high-demand races closing within hours in recent years – all without an e-mail blast as an additional prompt to would-be runners.
As an interesting footnote of sorts, I unexpectedly also qualified for the new marathon – with faster qualifying standards than Boston itself – created out of frustration by those who missed entering Boston when the race filled months earlier than ever before. Similarly, I was also able to enter the Boston to Big Sur Challenge when some registrants had to back out because they, too, did not get into Boston before it closed. What had initially appeared to be a daunting challenge had instead yielded unexpected opportunities.
I will probably run the new Boston alternative two days before Boston, if only because it may be a one-time thing. Then the hills of Big Sur loom six days later. It should make for a very memorable week. Spring will be arriving with quite a bang this year, and I'm already looking forward to it!