After a disappointing NYC Marathon last fall, I was coaxed into signing up for the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. My friend, Ken, suggested that I would like the downhill course and he was planning to run. I hedged for a while and then I signed up with a disclaimer that I might not do it in the end.
If you’ve been paying attention to my running posts, you’ll know that I ran the race. The race starts in Ojai, CA and runs a loop and then heads down to the beach in Ventura, CA. The net drop is about 900 ft and there are nearly 500 ft of uphill climbs. The last few miles are mostly flat except for hills in mile 24. The one wildcard is the weather. It can be cool in the morning and rise quickly – or be hot from the start.
The forecast was for a very warm day but it improved the week of the race. The final temps were about 52 degrees at the 6:00 AM start and mid 70s by 10:00.
I invited my friend Stacy and my MIL, Libbie, to join me and Ken’s family in Ojai for the race. We flew out early on Saturday and headed directly to Ventura for the race expo. We got caught in some traffic – because LA. We made it to the Expo around 1 and met Ken. After grabbing my number, T-shirt and a few GUs, we grabbed lunch at Harvest Café, a delicious vegetarian restaurant. We then headed up the mountain to Ojai. We stayed at the Ojai Rancho Inn which is a very cool converted motel. My MIL stayed at the Ojai Inn and Spa which was right across the road.
We enjoyed a sunny afternoon and a delicious Italian meal in Ojai. The restaurant was right where the race start was – a ½ mile walk from our hotel. Score! We had an early night and planned to meet up at 5:15 AM to walk over for the 6:00 AM start. I laid out my gear and went to bed by 10:00 with a 4:30 AM alarm set.
Ken and I met as planned and walked over. The temps were perfect and we were in high spirits. We grabbed a spot on the porta-potty line and chatted with other runners. The vibe was very chill and even though it was getting close to race time, no one was too stressed. Ah, California!
Ken wished me luck and went to find his friend Tom in the 3:25 pace group. I went over to the 3:45 group and chatted with the pacer. I liked his strategy and decided to start with the group. I met two lovely women – Tracy and Claire and we realized our goals were similar and we started together. Tracy reminded us to look around at the beautiful scenery instead of our feet. She made that mistake last year!
The first few miles are uphill but not too dramatically. They clicked by fast and I chatted with various people in the group. The road was crowded but it wasn’t bad. The scenery was beautiful and the temps were perfect. I felt like the 8:25- 30 pace was easy and I remembered that it was “my kind of race and my kind of day.”
I cheered for Erin’s teammate, Janet, at the turn around and looked for Ken. After mile 3, there was a nice downhill back into downtown Ojai. At this point, Tracy and I found ourselves right ahead of the pace group and started working together. The race went right by the hotel at mile 6.5. Stacy and Libbie were out cheering and taking pics. I was pleased with the pace and was excited for some of the downhill stretches.
Tracy and I chatted with each other and a few other runners as we clicked off the miles. She had two-minute pace reminders in her ear. “She” kept us on target. We had a few fast miles and kept working together to reign it in. We heard some people explaining that Mile 11 had some tough uphill so we got ready for that. (It wasn’t so bad!) We made it to halfway at just before 1:50 on my watch.
Most of the first half is on the road, but much of the second half is on bike paths. The bike paths were nice and shady. It was still starting to heat up so I took Fluid (electrolyte drink) when it was offered as well as water at most stops.
Tracy and I clicked along together until Mile 18. I’d accidentally dropped both of my salt tabs, so I stopped to ask a club if they had salt. They had pretzels, but that was not what I had in mind! I grabbed some more electrolyte drink and hoped for the best. At that point, Tracy got ahead of me and I didn’t want to slow her down. I kept her in view and kept moving.
Stacy jumped in to run with me at Mile 20.5. Libbie took some pictures and then went to the finish. It was getting very warm and sunny by mile 20. Stacy chatted happily and offered encouragement and kept me moving. I knew that I had slowed down but that I could still finish well under 4 hours if I just kept at it. There were some runners passing but we passed many people, too.
Before we knew it, we were in Ventura with a few miles to go. We encouraged another woman who was walking and she joined us all the way to the finish. (She thanked me and Stacy on Instagram!) With about 1.2 miles to go, I asked Stacy to run in front of me so I could just watch her back and pull myself along. It was one of the longer last miles I’ve run – or at least it felt that way.
As I approached the finish area, I heard an awesome scream – it was Erin! And then there were more cheers from Ken. As I crossed the line, I looked at my watch. It said 3:48.48. The last 5 miles were quite a bit slower than the first 21, but I was super excited. My last marathon was one of my slowest and this was more than 20 minutes faster! It was my fastest marathon since NYC in 2015. It was also one of the most fun ones I’ve done in a long time!
My number one goal is always to have fun. I loved the course, the vibe, the first 3 hours of weather and the great people in the race. My “A” time goal based on recent runs was 3:45 and “B” was 4:00. I came in about an A-/B+ but I’m calling this a “win” all around.
We met Ken who’d paced a friend and then flew in the last 10K to hit 3:19. He was so pumped. He looked like he could run the race again! Erin’s friend Janet ran a 3:26 for her first marathon which was awesome. We met super-fan Libbie, took pics and grabbed some beers. Then, we took off our shoes and put our feet in the Pacific.
I loved this race and the relaxing weekend in Ojai. I would highly recommend this run if you like running a net downhill course in a scenic location. It was indeed “my kind of race and my kind of day.”
Who wants to run it with me again next year?!