muted from Carmel and Monterey), shuttle buses from Marathon Village back to Big Sur run until 1:00 p.m.

The course has a five and onehalf hour cutoff, which is strictly enforced. Highway | reopens to vehicular traffic in both directions at 12:45, and it doesn’t have sidewalks for late finishers. Since the scaffolding for the finish area is built directly on and across Highway 1, the 15-minute interval between the official end of the race and the start of traffic is taken up with disassembling the entire finish area, which is a ballet of volunteer workers functioning like worker ants to reopen the highway. Backing up a few miles, many runners comment very favorably on the fresh strawberries provided at the mile-23 aid station and at the finish area.

The awards ceremony is held precisely at 11:30 a.m. for the relay and at noon for the marathon and is done quickly and efficiently. Division winners receive Asics running shoes.

THE LEAD-IN

The marathon weekend begins with the race packet pickup at the Health and Fitness Expo at the Monterey Conference Center, which is conveniently located across the street from the Marriott race headquarters hotel. The expo is pleasantly medium sized, and packet pickup is efficient and well organized, though some runners were confused when they tried to change from one event to the other at the registration tables.

November/December 2002

Asics, the marathon’s shoe/clothing sponsor, has a large display that takes up the middle of the expo hall and features the official Big Sur merchandise. Plenty is available to eat and drink as Gatorade handed out energy bars all day and a local organic farm company (Earthbound Farm) served tasty and nutritious salads. The expo was open from noon to 7:00 p.m. on Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

In conjunction with the expo, the marathon presented a series of race clinics in the Steinbeck Forum upstairs in the conference center. Jeff Galloway did three clinics; sports psychologist JoAnn Dahlkoetter presented a clinic based on her book Your Performing Edge; Hugo Ferlito (chairman of the marathon board) gave a humorous slide presentation that traced the history of the marathon; and Susan Love presented a clinic on mind games and motivation for first-time marathoners.

PEDESTRIAN PATHWAYS

For those who feel the need to get in one last tension-relieving jog before the big race, the Conference Center and Marriott are a great anchor to Monterey’s famous bike/pedestrian Recreation Trail, on which you can jog on over for a tour of Cannery Row, made famous in John Steinbeck’s books. California was celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth during

BIG SUR INTERNATIONAL MARATHON Hi 157

Runner’s Highs/Runner’s Lows

HIGHS

Outrageously scenic course

Extremely good restaurants

Area experienced in paying attention to tourists’ needs

_ Plenty of hotel/motel accommodations for all pocketbooks

Some of the best race organization in the world

Wonderful on-course entertainment :

Marathon Village

Easy to extend your stay to enjoy the multitude of attractions

2002 by encouraging every Californian to read at least one of his books. You can also jog by the even-morefamous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Breathtaking views are always just around the next corner.

The Saturday night pasta dinner was presented in two seatings (5:00 and 6:00 p.m.) at the Marriott for $20. The pasta was average: one vegetarian and the other meat based. A jazz trio entertained during the pasta feeds. Dole provided pineapple juice and caesar salads. Some runners found the pasta feed registration confusing and several runners felt that the $20 price was extremely high for what was provided, especially in an area “where there are such good restaurants available.”

Those who didn’t take advantage of the official pasta feed and headed out on their own faced a formidable

Earthy clay medals Location, location, location

Tough course—especially that climb to Hurricane Point

Occasionally horrible weather

Monterey isn’t easy to get to, but you don’t want to leave once you make the trek

Meeting bus at 4:00 a.m. for ride to start and then standing shivering in the dark

Radically cambered road surface

challenge: deciding which of a rich variety of restaurants would best serve their needs and their pocketbooks. The Monterey/Carmel area is saturated with good restaurants, many of them reasonably priced and within walking distance of the Marriott in downtown Monterey. At the other extreme, dozens of upscale restaurants are available in trendy Carmel. Ifyou go hungry in Monterey/Carmel, it’s by choice.

Of course one of the things that makes the race so enjoyable is the setting: a spectacular meeting of sea, sand, and mountain scenery. On a bright-sun day the contrasts among the turquoise of the sea, the blondes of the sand, and the greens of the steep hillsides that reach to the electric blue skies nearly remove subtleties from the colors and turn them into what are, for the Big Sur area, primary colors.

November/December 2002

z § g

VACATION PARADISE

The fact that it is extremely easy to tack vacation days on following the marathon weekend adds to the charm. If you’ re going to travel from Minnesota to Monterey, it would be foolish not to stay an extra two or three days to take in the Aquarium and Cannery Row and drive the rental car to its limit along the Pacific Coast Highway. The Monterey area is, of course, eager to accommodate since tourism is its lifeblood.

But what makes Big Sur extra special to marathoners is the attention to detail and the attention to the runners paid by the board of direcNovember/December 2002

BIG SUR INTERNATIONAL MARATHON @&

tors, and Big Sur’s board is HUGE. All weekend, board members circulate while wearing their signature blazers, each sporting a nametag so that runners know exactly to whom they are talking when they stop one of the board members with a question. A board member who doesn’t have the answer will lead you to someone who does. “The race directors and volunteers made me feel welcome and happy to have me there,” one Maryland runner stated.

For a race sporting a half dozen simultaneous events (Marathon, Marathon Relay, 21-Mile Power Walk, 10.6-Mile Walk, 9-Mile Walk, SK) and more than 10,000 participants, Big Sur manages to exhibit a charming split personality: extremely efficient but with down-home friendliness.

On the negative side, if you have failed to sign up to run the race within a day or two of the September | opening of on-line registration, you’re pretty much out of luck unless you take part in the race’s lottery (see its Web site).

Nothing’s perfect. But the Big Sur International Marathon

does its best to come Pe,

close.

wi ina ] oe scoricle, two dozen runners at the race _ é (BSIM M = ig Sur international

Isthe race entry form clear, co tractive, complete, andeasyto fillout? [Possible points: 20 BSIM score: 19]

3. ENTRY COST For most races, the entry fee covers between 30 and 50 percent of the cost of putting ¢ on the oven Rate the value of your dollar relative to this race.

– quate f food and housing services [Possible points: 50. BSIM

5 REGISTRATION —

te into consideration the follov

tioned, quality of road or trail

markers, aid stations, medical coverage, race communications, accesblty to course for friends and family, typical oe andsoon. [Possible points: 400 BSIM score: 372] _ |

9. RACE AMENITIES

This category includes race T-shirt, finisher’s medal, finisher’s certificate, adequate and efficient finish area, ease of sweatbag retrieval, showers, postrace refreshments, awards ceremony, raffles, results postcard, results book, and so on.

[Possible points: 250 BSIM score: 243]

10. VOLUNTEERS Are the volunteers experienced and adequate in number? [Possible points: 100 BSIM score: 98]

TOTAL SCORE FOR BIG SUR INTERNATIONAL MARATHON 937 points

The Rest of the Pack

Below, listed alphabetically, are other marathons profiled in Marathon & Beyond, the volume and issue number in which each race’s profile appeared, and the overall score each race received. If there is an asterisk (*) behind the score, it indicates that a member of the M&B staff has revisited that race and rescored it—either up or down—based on changes that have been made; the changes are briefly detailed at the bottom of the following list.

Adirondack Marathon (vol. 5, issue 2) 845 points Aspen Fila Skymarathon (vol. 4, issue 1) 863 points Atlanta Marathon (vol. 4, issue 5) 840 points Calgary Marathon (vol. 3, issue 2) 876 points Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (vol. 3, issue 6) 901 points

Dallas White Rock Marathon (vol. 4, issue 6) 856 points Detroit Free Press Marathon (vol. 5, issue 3) 892 points Edmonton Marathon (vol. 2, issue 2) 814 points Fox Cities Marathon (vol. 3, issue 4) 865 points Glass City Marathon (vol. 6, issue 1) 862 points God’s Country Marathon (vol. 6, issue 2) 695 points Governor’s Cup Ghost Town Marathon (vol. 2, issue 1) 795 points Grandma’s Marathon (vol. 3, issue 1) 968 points Greater Hartford Marathon (vol. 6, issue 3) 898 points Honolulu Marathon (vol. 2, issue 4) 906 points Humboldt Redwoods Marathon (vol. 2, issue 3) 809 points Key Bank Vermont City Marathon (vol. 4, issue 2) 888 points

November/December 2002 BIG SUR INTERNATIONAL MARATHON 161

Kiawah Island Marathon (vol. 6, issue 5) 825 points Lake Tahoe Marathon (vol. 6, issue 4) 867 points Las Vegas International Marathon (vol. 1, issue 5) 831 points* Motorola Marathon (vol. 5, issue 6) 876 points Napa Valley Marathon (vol. 2, issue 5) 913 points Ocean State Marathon (vol. 5, issue 5) 886 points Philadelphia Marathon (vol. 1, issue 4) 838 points Pittsburgh Marathon (vol. 1, issue 6) 904 points Portland Marathon (vol. 3, issue 3) 943 points Quad Cities Marathon (vol. 4, issue 3) 885 points Royal Victoria Marathon (vol. 5, issue 4) 918 points San Francisco Marathon (vol. 1, issue 2) 804 points Santa Clarita Marathon (vol. 4, issue 4) 866 points Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon (vol. 2, issue 6) 866 points

Steamtown Marathon (vol. 3, issue 5) 892 points Vancouver International Marathon (vol. 1, issue 1) 851 points* Wineglass Marathon (vol. 1, issue 3) 839 points Yukon River Trail Marathon (vol. 5, issue 1) 870 points

The Las Vegas score went up due to the race moving its expo from tents at Vacation Village to one of the major downtown hotels and expanding the expo. The finish line area has also been improved: with the new finish line area, the 90-degree turn into the final 70 yards is now a thing of the past.

At Vancouver, the score has gone up based on several factors: many of the bridges (major uphills) have been removed from the course, as has the industrial area on the far end of the Lions Gate Bridge. In addition, the entire event has been consolidated into one area (the BC Place complex, which is one of the few remaining structures from Expo ‘86), which contains the Vancouver Marathon offices, fitness and health expo, seminars, and the start/finish areas.

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Letters

RUNNERS AND DOGS

I wanted to comment on Ellen McCurtin’s great column in yourJuly/ Augustissue about the dog versus runner issue. Like Ellen, I too was fortunate to grow up surrounded by dogs as well as horses, cats, rabbits—you name it. When I was a child, my parents taught me to have the utmost respect for animals. We were shown what a giant responsibility and privilege itis to be a pet owner. Now, at the age of 32, Iam the proud owner of my own giant breed dog, a 10-year-old Great Dane named Scarlet. I will never forget the day my husband and I picked up Scarlet, all eight weeks and 12 pounds of her. Nothing but legs and feet! Scarlet has logged an unbelievable number of miles with me. True and loyal to the end.

She has always been more than social toward every human and animal we have encountered. Most Great Dane owners will tell you that the biggest and only problem they have with their dog is that it is oblivious to its size. That said, I have never lost sight of the fact that just because I find animals, large or small, to be wonderful, does not mean that the remainder of the population shares my opinion.

As a pet owner, it is my responsibility to watch out for my animal. Whether I am expecting a visitor or

not, I should always be aware of my dog’s presence. Where is she? She’s awfully quiet, what has her so preoccupied? Is she putting anyone in danger? Is she putting herself in danger? She is always on a leash, which helps eliminate risk. This is how I function on a day-to-day basis with all of my pets. It’s done with kids, why not pets? Itis nota nuisance ora hassle to function this way. It is simply my responsibility and I do it with a smile. It was my choice to have a dog.

It is crushing to lose a pet because of something that could have been prevented. I’m still beating myself up over the loss of my cat two years ago. I let him outside and he was hit by a car. As much as that hurt my heart, I cannot even begin to fathom the irreparable damage of being responsible for the loss of a human life because I was not watching my dog. So much can happen in an instant. If you never allow your dog to be in such a place initially, the opportunity for disaster is eliminated. It is as simple as that. Animals act on their natural instincts as animals. It is in a dog’s instinct to protect. Loyal to the end. Isn’t that part of the reason we have dogs anyway? If your dog is off his leash and roaming around your yard, aren’t you already aware that in his mind he is “on duty’”? He is doing his job to serve and protect.

November/December 2002

Thope I am not the only dog owner touched by Ellen’s energy. What’s that saying? “Runners, yeah, we’ re different.” This mantra has never hit home more for anything than it did for Ellen’s article. These days, Scarlet no longer runs with me. A 10-year-old Great Dane is practically Guinness Book of World Records kind of info! She is restricted to long walks— long, fast walks if she gets her way. Most days are spent asking her to get off the leather sofa and to please stop barking at the mailman. My thanks to Ellen and her effort in writing such a heartfelt article.

Kelly Bailey Williamsburg, VA

I don’t think being “breed specific” is wrong. The dogs I have personally had the most problems with have always been Rottweilers. There is something wrong with the breed and many owners are not prepared to own that breed of dog. Personally, I think there is a lot of breeding of unstable Rottweilers going on.

Here is a suggestion that I was given by a professional dog trainer. If you sense trouble, get something ready in your hands. For example, holdajacket, sweatshirt, or large stick and be ready. If the dog should lunge and try to bite at you, offer up whatever you are holding. Let the dog bite that. This can buy you some time or prevent another bite.

Runners, especially women, need to be prepared for attacks from animals and from people, too. Everyone

November/December 2002

needs to plan how to protect oneself from animals and people. This is something that you should be prepared for, and not just figure that you’ Il just deal with it when and if the time comes.

As for dogs that are just annoying, that’s just part of being in the real world—life happens. It’s up to us whether we decide to have these little things ruin our day and our mood. We can hardly expect the world to stop turning on its axis because we’ve decided to go for a run.

Ann Dahlin Via e-mail

MORE INFO, PLEASE!

I enjoyed the September/October issue of M&B, as usual. My style of reading is not from front to back, so I jump aroundalot and haven’t yetcompleted the entire issue but won’t let that stop me from commenting. I enjoyed the 1978 reprint about Walt Stack, areal runner’s runner. It would be interesting to read a more recent account of Walt, especially given his take on mortality and running (last page of the article).

On another note, my running circle has generated a good bit of discussion on the fat-burning phenomenon (see Deborah Schulman’s article in the September/October issue). What an appropriate article for this time of year, when everyone is training for a target marathon. It sounds like Ineed to put the heart rate monitor on and hit 70 percent of maximum as often as

possible to learn to use fat as an energy source. Is this true? It would be interesting to geta more applied treatment of the data in Schulman’s article, for us everyday runners trying to tweak the machine. Keep up the good work. I love the content of the magazine. Gary Spilman Lake in the Hills, IL

Rich Benyo responds:

Thanks for your nice comments on our latest issue of M&B. Regarding Walt Stack, unfortunately, he died in 1995. You might be able to get more recent info on Walt by contacting Kevin Lee at dse.pekingduck @juno.com. Kevin is involved in the Dolphin South End Running Club, the club Walt started many moons ago. He may have some Walt clippings lying around that he could photocopy and send to you. remember attending Walt’s 75th birthday party back in the early 1980s. It was held on the Liberty ship Jeremiah O’Brien, which is docked in San Francisco Harbor. They put ona special 10K race, and Walt was accompanied throughout the race by adozenwomen wearing togas and fanning him with palm fronds. Walt had lured all of these women into running over the years, and they were all very professional, feminist-type women; but where Walt was concerned, nothing was ever allowed to approach politically correct. At the party on the boat, Walt made a speech in which he cited whata great country this was. He pointed to Alcatraz, told the story of how he’d been imprisoned there, and now here he was, the mayor of San Francisco had declared this Walt Stack Day. He was a real character.

Deborah Schulman responds:

Here are my thoughts in response to Gary’s query about applying enhanced fat metabolism techniques. Ido recommend training with a heart rate monitor. Remember to use it as a tool and not as an absolute guide. Observe and learn to correlate effort level with your

heart rate. Take mental notes about how you feel, your perceived exertion, your cadence, and how hard you are breathing. During your base phase of training, which should be a minimum of 12 weeks, most of your training should be in the 65 to 70 percent effort range. Frequency and consistency are very important. Run five to six days per week. Weekly target workouts should include two moderate distance runs lasting between 75 and 90 minutes and one long run of two or more hours. One fartlek workout will keep your leg turnover high. By the end of the base phase, experienced athletes should be putting in 8 to 10 hours of running each week. Remember, each workout should have a defined purpose—be it endurance, speed, power, leg turnover, or recovery.

CHICAGO MARATHON ADDENDUMS

After we went to press with Hal Higdon’s terrific article on the Chicago Marathon in our September/ October 2002 issue, Hal learned the following information that he wanted to tell our readers: “During a casual conversation the other day, Carey Pinkowski mentioned that he placed second in the race in 1987, the year we ran the half-marathon. I didn’t realize this! And, I suspect, a lot of others also don’t know it. Why are we hiding Carey’s light under a barrel? I was printing out the race history from our Web site while doing a T-shirt design today and no mention is made of Carey. Only of Steve Jones winning.” Hal Higdon

Via e-mail

Greetings. Ienjoyed reading “Chicago Turns 25” in the recent issue of MaraNovember/December 2002

thon & Beyond. Note the following, however. On page 22, including the caption, it reads that Joan Benoit set the women’s world record (2:21:21) at Chicago in 1985. Joan set the stillstanding U.S. record, not the world record. In April 1985 at London, Ingrid Kristiansen ran 2:21:06 (verified) to set the world record. Also note the spelling of Ingrid’s “married” last name (interestingly, her maiden name was Christensen). Also, on page 26, Catherine Ndereba’s world record time is listed as 2: 18:54 when it should be 2:18:47. Ryan Lamppa USATF Road Running Information Center

M&B MISSES THE MARK

I recently received my first issue of Marathon & Beyond (July/August 2002) and am sorry to say that I was very disappointed.

It was full of personal reminiscences that were of little practical value and of dubious insight. Not a single article provided “practical advice on running” or “easy-to-apply, cuttingedge scientific information.” If] want to read amemoir, I’1l buy an autobiography, thank you. On the positive side, I found the column “On the Mark” to be of interest; however, it was not enough to prevent me from putting the issue in File 13. I sincerely hope the July/August issue isn’t a harbinger of whatI can expect in subsequentissues.

Mary Olsen Palmer, AK

November/December 2002

MARATHON TRAINING PLANS

TY’ manM&B subscriber, and I’m writing to you following your three excellentarticles regarding training programs for the marathon.

A few biographical details. I’m a 40-year-old male runner from Israel. I started running in the summer of 1999, three years ago. I ran my first marathon in Tiberias, Israel, in January 2001 at 3:44:40. Iran my second marathon in Portland, Oregon, in October 2001 at 3:32:43, and I will be running Chicago this year.

Two and a half years ago I bet a friend that I would run a sub-3-hour marathon by December 31, 2003. Had I known then how difficult it would be, perhaps I would not have made that bet, but as I made it I want to win it! Should that happen, I promise you a good article for M&B.

Iread your article “Basic Training for a3:00 Marathon” in the May/June issue of M&B and realized there was no way I could handle the training for Chicago (I got married on May 23, 2002, and my training in May and June suffered as aresult). Anyway, Ijoined ateam trained by Israel’s former 10K to marathon female record holder, and she has forced me to increase my mileage to an extent I’ve never run before. So I did 58 miles this week and 57 miles the week before (this week included a 22-mile long run at 8:48 per mile, a 10-mile tempo run at 7:26 per mile, interval training consisting of 6 x 1K at 3:48 with three to

four minutes in between, and three easy runs). I’m finding that as my mileage increases I have more strength for the latter part of the long run, where I actually increase my speed. I forgot to mention that in the long run I walk one minute after each nine minutes of running.

My questions to you are as follows:

1. Is it necessary to run your long runs at marathon pace? Why is it wrong to run the long runs at a pace that is slower than marathon pace and do the tempo runs at marathon pace?

2. Is it realistic of me to expect to run a marathon in seven weeks in 3:15?

3. What do I need to do regarding training in order to bring myself to the base level of your 3:00 program by January, if I want to use it for the London Marathon next April?

Jan Teutsch Tel Aviv, Israel

Rich Benyo responds:

Your new coach seems to be doing a good job with you, especially in increasing your weekly mileage, which typically serves to make arunner stronger in the latter stages of a long run. I will attempt to answer your questions.

1. Itisnecessary to run long runs at or near race pace if you are to go into the maraSend your letters to

thon confident that you can run the race at the necessary pace. My programis set up to be somewhat more difficult than the typical program because I want the runner who has trained with it to line up at the starting line with everything going for him. Other programs will attempt to bring speed from shorter/faster training runs together with long training runs on race day. I would rather get rid of as many iffy factors as possible in advance and have the runner line up with complete confidence. And one of the things he has going for him is that—several weeks before—he has been running at the pace he will need on race day.

2. Is it realistic to expect to run a 3:15 in seven weeks? I dunno. I don’t know how your workouts have been going. What is your best 10K time in the past eight weeks? You would certainly need to be breaking 40 minutes with ease. (For the sub-3:00 you should be doing 10Ks in about 37:20.)

3. What you need to do to bring yourself to the base training by January is to back off for a month after Chicago, then rebuild to the base week level with 16 weeks to go to London. I think your new coach is pushing you in the right direction. Add more mileage and runmore 10K and 15K and 20K races at faster speeds. And be patient. It may take another year to get ready to break 3:00. Remember that there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to running marathons faster. The faster you go, the more work you need to put in to go a little faster.

Good luck at Chicago. You certainly picked a flat, fast course to shoot for your 3:15.

November/December 2002

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On THE Mark

BYPASSING HEART PROBLEMS

TWO MONTHS AGO I had a bicuspid valve replaced, at age 58, and Iam now wishing to return to normalaerobic functioning. Ihave been a recreational runner for many years, but for the past three to five years had suffered gradual degradation of capacity and finally had the aortic valve problem diagnosed.

I now sport a tissue valve and have begun gentle jogging as part of my recovery program.

Are you able to refer me to studies or exercise programs that are designed to get someone back into serious recreational running? (If that is not an oxymoron.) Specifically, I would like to run another marathon and want to gradually build so that I can do so when I am 60 years of age—20 months or so from now.

Anything I have been able to find locally has been too cautious for my liking and ends with a return to normal functioning that is well below the degraded state I enjoyed when I went into the hospital.

—L. Geddes Victoria,

British Columbia, Canada

IAM not a cardiologist or a cardiovascular surgeon, so my first suggestionis to consult with your physicians. I would be concerned about the stress on the valve and the increased demands of long-distance running or, more specifically, prolonged running. It is probably an irrational fear, but I would want to know the life expectancy of the valve and whether training at the marathon level would fatigue the valve in my expected lifetime. If the risk to the valve is acceptable, I would gradually increase the training as outlined and go for it. Dr. Bill Roberts practices medicine with the MinnHealth Family Physicians in White Bear Lake,

Minnesota, and is medical director of the Twin Cities Marathon.

[AMnota great fan of repetitive stress on valve replacements. If Mr. Geddes has his heart set on it, well, there’s no strong contraindication, but I am not a fan. Since he has a tissue valve, I wonder whether the repetitive stress might cause it to deteriorate quicker, but that is based on no great science. He can try it, but I would prefer he did not. On the other hand, I do try to help people live their lives as opposed to what I think is medically best.

Dr. Paul Thompson

is a professor of medicine at the University of Connecticut and a many-time finisher of the Boston Marathon, where he placed 34th

in 1968.

November/December 2002