If you want a breathtakingly beautiful marathon course, and have set aside your PR, this is the marathon for you! The race course is absolutely stunning as you run along Pacific Highway One from Big Sur to Carmel, CA.

The starting line was at Big Sur, which requires those staying in Monterey, to get to the buses at 4:45am for a 7am start. (This was the worst part for me!). Departing in the wee hours of the morning, the entertainment began. Along the route, there were frame throwers performing as sleepy marathons rode by! Their antics were impressive in the dark night. Once to the race start, a feast of food was available, although the coffee was drained by the person ahead of me in line. We had to move only a few hundred feet to line up at the start. There was a separate area for sub 3:30 marathoners, and they let me in.

Daybreak came just before the start. At the a cappella singing of the star-spangled banner, they released a flock of white doves into the early morning sky when it reached 'let freedom ring'. A moving and gorgeous sight. Racers spent the first four miles running through the redwood forest before breaking into open fields. The endless Pacific Ocean was lapping at the rocks just to your left. The coast is stunningly picturesque.