You may remember that I had a blast at last year’s Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. Ken and I loved it so much that we signed up to run it again. Our friends saw our enthusiasm and our running party of two grew to six marathoners, 2 half marathoners and 2 half marathon walkers. With our fans, we went from nine last year to seventeen this year. Pretty cool!
Stacy signed up for the half marathon instead of being my Sherpa this year. We met Friday in LA and visited my FIL and step-MIL. They treated us to a lovely dinner in Beverly Hills and then Elaine made us a delicious breakfast to fuel up. It was a lovely and relaxing way to start the weekend.
We hit the road at around 11 to go to Ventura to get our race packets. We hit traffic heading to the beach but there was no stress. We arrived and met Melissa (high school friend who lives in PA) and Grace (NYC running friend) and her friends at the Expo. We got our numbers and some hats because there was rain in the forecast. Then we made plans for our post race rendezvous at Marie’s cousin Jill’s beautiful home in Santa Paula.
We headed up to Ojai, checked into our hotel and met Ken and his crew. Our hotel from last year was booked so we booked The Capri Hotel on the other side of town. We had dinner at the same restaurant as last year and got ready for the race.
I laid out my Flat Erica and we got ready for bed. Stacy had a 4:20 alarm set to meet friends to carpool to the half start. Erin texted at 3:47 that she was on the shuttle to Ojai from Ventura. I thought I might have screwed up my alarm, but nope, she arrived at 4:15 AM for a 6:00 AM start. I told her to come to the hotel to meet us. She did and we met Melissa and Ken to head to the start.
We walked a half mile to the start and chatted about race goals. The weather was overcast and about 50 degrees. It wasn’t raining but rain was in the forecast. We put our bags in the bag check, visited the porta-potties and found Grace and Marie. We took some pics, wished Ken well and went off to the start. I wanted to start with the 3:45 pace group like last year. Grace, Marie and Melissa wanted to start with 3:55 so we hugged and high fived and split up.
Like last year, the pace group was friendly and helpful. The pacers, Hanuch and Oksana, had a bunch of experience with the course and were very calm, friendly and fun to run with. There were local folks, a gal from Austin, one from Laguna Beach and a few others. We chatted and passed the first few miles comfortably. The first three miles are an uphill loop into Ojai and then it’s three downhill.
Christy, Tom, Al, Lake and Sam cheered us on at our hotel. It was at 1/2 mile and mile 4. They snapped this great pic! You can see my 3:45 group right behind. We ran comfortably at around 8:30 pace through the halfway mark. One of the pacers was “banking” time for the hills at Mile 18 and 24. He was pulling ahead but stopping at the water stops. I felt like he was pushing the pace too much so I went with the female pacer who was running a bit slower with even splits. The overcast weather made the run comfortable and the miles clicked by with pleasant conversation.
Like last year, I fell a bit off the pace around the hill at Mile 18. I tried to stay positive and reminded myself that this was “my kind of race and my kind of day.” I pushed myself to keep the group in view and caught up some at the water stop. I got to Mile 20 just under 2:50 so I reminded myself that even if the last 10K took an hour I’d still be under 3:50 (my Boston qualifying time).
I rode the struggle bus a bit until mile 22 and then I started to feel better. I tried to push myself to stay with anyone who passed or to pass people who were slowing down. Before I knew it, I was in Ventura with about 5K to go. I remembered how overheated I was last year at this point and was grateful that it was cooler. I kept pushing up the big hill (which I had completely forgotten about!) I missed the mile 24 marker. Suddenly, people were telling me I had one mile to go. I smiled and pushed to stay with the young man in front of me. We helped each other through the very long stretch along the beach before the final turn.
Before I knew it, I was in the home stretch! Ken, Stacy, Christy, Tom, Al, Lake and Sam were cheering me in. I stopped my watch and was excited to see 3:46 and change. I was excited that I didn’t lose much time after I left the group.
I got my medal and water and turned around to see Marie. She actually came in ahead of me on net time and loved the run. A few minutes later, Grace and Melissa came through. They both have not run a full marathon in the last few years so they were excited with their times, too!
We grabbed a photo and Ken and Stacy found us. Ken ran 9 minutes faster than last year at 3:10 with a 5 minute negative split! Stacy ran her first half in a long while and was very pleased with the run and her time, too! Meredith, Jeanette and Dave were happy with their half efforts and Erin had a good run in the full despite a few pit stops!
We skipped the Boston Qualifier Gong (because the line was so long). It’s a fast race and conditions were great for BQs. Ken, Stacy and I grabbed a picture and my bag. We met up with everyone and headed to a lovely celebration at Marie’s cousin Jill’s beautiful home.
My final time was 3:46.45 (8:39/mile). It’s a BQ under the new lower standard for my age and gender. I was 862/1723 overall, 312/826 females and 34/123 of females 45-49. I’m proud of the effort and my number of smiles per mile. I’m so grateful to have my health, the means to travel to run and my awesome group to share the experience!
Who else wants to join us next year?