Only Koo-Koo people pay money to wake up at 2:45am and run 26.2 miles. So that’s what I did on Sunday morning along with about 1,500 other wonderfully nutty runners. Since the race was so early, and nearby, I left my husband at home with our kids this time and drove to the race with two of my running friends, Wendy and Michelle. I parked my car at the finish (the “beach”) and Michelle drove us and parked at the start (the “mountains”). We waited in her warm car and only snuck out once to pee in the bushes and check our bags. The line for the porta-potty was undoable, so we opted to find a bush along with several other runners.
As the sun was just coming up, we casually lined up near Ojai High School for the 6am start of the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. Almost before we knew it, the gun sounded and it was time to get running.
I decided to do this race about 10 months ago as my back-up, thinking I might not make it into Boston. But when I did make it in, ran it and endured the infamous outcome, running this marathon took on a whole new meaning. Wendy and I ran Boston together and decided that we needed to run a re-do race that we could actually celebrate at the finish line. Even though we tried to celebrate Boston, it just never felt right. Plus, even though we both re-qualified it couldn’t hurt if we could earn a better qual time. So off we went.
Two weeks earlier we had done a long run on the course and knew exactly what to expect. There is a 10K loop around Ojai before turning onto the trail leading you to the beach. The 10K had a few little hills, so we used those as opportunity to slow us down and conserve some energy. We both told each other that we would take it easy, running around a 8:30 pace for the first 6 miles and pick up later on. We kind of stuck to that plan… well at least on mile 4 we stuck to it.
Mile 1-7 splits
mile 1 – 8:10
mile 2 – 8:12
mile 3 – 8:16
mile 4 – 8:30
mile 5 – 8:25
mile 6 – 8:15
mile 7 – 8:20
We then turned onto the lovely wooded bike path that connects Ojai to Ventura. This is my favorite part of the course. It’s shaded with lovely gardens and Sycamore groves along the way, the smells and sites brought me back to my childhood growing up in the mountains behind Santa Barbara. I learned to swim in the rivers there and grew up spending weekends in the Santa Ynez Valley when my Mom and Dad were still married. It was a small window of my life, but some of my fondest memories, so smelling the cottonwood trees and the sage brush brought a smile to my face as I ran those next 13 glorious miles.
Mile 8-20 Splits
mile 8 – 8:04
mile 9 – 8:13
mile 10 – 8:05
mile 11 – 8:00
mile 12 – 8:03
mile 13 – 8:08
mile 14 – 8:04
mile 15 – 8:02
mile 16 – 8:06
mile 17 – 8:15
mile 18 – 8:14
mile 19 – 8:17
mile 20 – 8:19
At around mile 20, the course becomes very exposed as you approach the beach. I do not do well in sun. Because I have Vitiligo and my body has lost about 99% of its skin pigment, when the sun hits my skin it is like pure radiation sapping my system. I feel like the sun is frying my organs and I loose my zip! Well, with all of that exposure, my zip was zapped and I started to slow down. I was dumping water on my head, but around mile 23 my wheels completely fell off.
Mile 21- 26.2 Splits
mile 21 – 8:22
mile 22 – 8:35
mile 23 – 9:11
mile 24 – 9:54
mile 25 – 8:57
mile 26 – 8:45
It was tough those last few miles, I’m not going to lie. I felt like I was shuffling for about 3 long miles. The last section of this course you run past the finish line and do a turn around at about mile 25. You can see from my splits that as soon as I made the loop I was able to pick up the pace a bit. I gave it my all that last mile and finished with a new PR of 3:40:42, which is a Boston Qualification for me with 15 minutes to spare (I need a 3:55 to qualify at my age). It was not a perfect race, but I am happy with it and I’m confident this time will get me into Boston next year.
At the finish line I was able to quickly meet Mason who PR’ed in the full at a unreal speed of 2:45:06, and met Mason’s beautiful wife. A huge Congratulations to Bobbie from In Her Shoes who ran 3:30:49 and Nicole from Haute Running Mama who clocked 3:30:15! Both PR’ed and qualified for Boston. Congrats to my running buddies Polina and Tauna, who both PR’ed in the half, as well as Sarah (1:39:23) and Gia (1:39:42).
But, of course, the very best part was seeing my husband and three children at the finish line. I never expect my husband to drag them to the finish line and they are always there, cheering me on those last few painful moments. Nothing could be more motivating then seeing their smiles and hearing their sweet voices!
On a separate, but very exciting note, this video was part of my interview at the 2013 Boston Marathon expo with Hyland’s Active. I love their products and have used them for years, so I was thrilled when they contacted me!
