Leave it to me to decide that my first marathons will be one of the hardest ones out there. Not that I knew that before. I chose it because it was close to home, beautiful scenery, and about a year away.
I think maybe I’ll go with a different race first though, and save Big Sur when I can, I dunno, run some big ass hills. Seriously. Very big hills. I’m still debating whether or not I think I could do it, and there are some areas around here where I think I could train, but I would hate to not finish.
The L.A. Marathon is in February, and while it is huge with tons of people, it’s also “flat and fast”. The streets are pretty even and there’s no big jump in elevation. Unlike Big Sur, where you peak at 560 ft. You’re lowest point is 40 ft, so that quite a climb. For a virtual tour of the course, try this http://www.bsim.org/frame.html . Here’s the map. You can’t see the elevations very well, but check out that link and read the descriptions of the course. It has me a bit worried!
Anyway, the L.A. Marathon looks really cool. Lots of people, entertainment, and I guess it’s a great way to see the city. Kind of like a tour of the area, which could prove to be a great distraction.
This link shows the elevation profile of the L.A. course, and it seems tons easier than Big Sur. It does have a few hills, but there seems to bean equal number of down hill sections.
http://www.lamarathon.com/elevation.pdf
But there’s that tiny voice inside of me, wondering if I could do the Big Sur run with the proper training. I know I’ve never run a marathon before, but other beginners have done this one as their first. And as Trishie said, the thing about picking a hard one to do first is you know it can’t get any worse.
I just don’t know. I have until August to decide, when registration for Big Sur opens.
