I was on a relay team for the Big Sur Marathon. I ran the last leg, which was officially "about" 9.4 miles. Runkeeper gave me credit for 9.5 miles. However, sometimes Runkeeper looks at GPS satellites, shrugs, and says, "Eh, close enough." I had two teammates; our fourth team member was injured and not able to run. One team member ran the first 4.8 miles, while the second ran legs 2 and 3.

Logistics for this race were complicated, but fortunately the BSIM team has been doing this for over three decades and have it figured out. The logistics were complicated not just because this is a relay, but also because BSIM is a point-to-point race along a two lane road. We had to take buses to the exchange points, and all relay runners were at their exchange points by the 6:45 am start of the marathon--even those of us who were running the last leg. I was up at 4:30 am for my 6 am bus to the exchange point. Marathoners and earlier leg runners were expected to show up at 3:45 am, so I got to sleep in.

On the way to the bus stop, I realized I had forgotten my earbud. This was going to be a race with no music. I was not happy.

We boarded the buses and drove about 30 minutes down the coast. It was too dark to see much; being a local, that didn't really bother me. Around 6:30 am, I ate my usual breakfast.

The first non-relay runner passed our exchange point, around mile 16.8, MUCH sooner than we had expected. Most of the relay runners were still on the buses, which had been thoughtfully parked at the exchange point so we didn't have to wait in the cold. It turned out, however, that people running the 11 miler got to begin around marathon mile 15 at 7 am, so they showed up at our exchange point quickly. Leg 4 runners, who were already running over 9 miles, all agreed that next year we were going to run the 11 miler and be done a lot sooner.

The first marathoner wasn't far behind, however. We had only been waiting a little over an hour when he came flying by, and everyone on the buses jumped up to watch. He lead the entire marathon and finished 7 minutes ahead of the second place finisher.

After that, there was a steady stream of runners, and I spent a couple hours reading a book on my phone. Around 9 am, I got off the bus to warm up. I did an easy jog down a trail to the coast, and walked laps up and down the road by the exchange point. I was very concerned about warming up and testing out my right leg, which has an old patellar tendon injury that had been bothering me since my Monday long run. I had taped the knee on Sunday night, and pre-race it felt slightly swollen, but stable and not painful.

My teammate, having conquered two legs of the race (including Hurricane Point, the big, steep hill on leg 3), showed up at 10:12 am. She handed off the relay timing chip--a scrunchie that was by this point pretty drenched with sweat--and I congratulated her and took off.

There were a lot of walkers at this point on the course. Since I had not already run 17 miles, I flew past them. I did not have my earbud, so I just let Runkeeper announce my stats through the phone speaker. I wound up not missing my music very much; the race day adrenaline and focus took over pretty quickly.

The scenery was very pleasant, but not as amazing as the earlier legs of the race, since much of leg 4 moved inland instead of following the coast. Leg 4 has been described as "rolling hills," which were not difficult, though the last hill was steep but short. I'm certain those hills felt much more difficult to people who ran a longer distance. The weather was an ideal 50 degrees with a light breeze.

Other highlights of the course were the musicians, including a harpist on the outskirts of Carmel, and the strawberry station around marathon mile 23.

I maintained relatively even splits, with miles 2-4 all in the 8:48-8:55 range, but I was not able to keep up that pace on the later hills and finished with an overall pace of 9:08. That was still my best mile pace of any run thus far, beating last fall's 10k pace of 9:15. I finished in a total time of 1:26:48. (All stats from Runkeeper, so they are likely a little off.)

The right knee held up perfectly well, possibly helped by the KT tape. It was a bit sore immediately after the race, but felt better later in the afternoon.

At the finish line, I received all three team members' medals. Like the Monterey Bay Half, they were handmade ceramic ocean-themed medallions; this year's relay medals have an octopus on them. The relay director did not want the sweaty scrunchie back. The food tent was out of chocolate chip cookies

I would be willing to run this leg of the relay again, but next year I may do the 11 miler instead, depending on my HM schedule. This would probably also increase my chances of getting a post-race chocolate chip cookie.

Next up: Capitola Half Marathon on May 19! Based on my pace today, I feel like a sub-2 hour HM is going to happen this year, either at Capitola or at the Monterey Bay Half in November.