Some nervous waiting, and a couple of trips to the Port-a-Potties later, and we were standing at the front of the crowd of maybe 600 listening to a spirited rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, then a short briefing, and countdown and we were off!
Down the road beside Bull Creek and within a minute we were running through stands of majestic Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), most over 300 feet tall and 1000 years old. The day before we had admired them up close, but now we were concentrating on running and the trees were somehow less substantial, although still a unique and powerful presence. Our goal was to run each mile of the race in 6:50. On many training runs this winter and spring, that would have seemed like a tough pace, but on this day it felt absolutely effortless, at least for the first few miles of the race.
Lin's was happy to let me set the pace, despite two younger women starting off ahead of us, and opening up a lead of over a hundred yards. They were either really fast, or had gone off too fast, and it would do no good to race them at this stage.
The course consists of two out and back sections in the woods of a half-marathon each. Soon we had reached the first turn-around point and met the leader on his way back, followed by a few other men, then the first lady, possibly ahead of us by a minute at this stage. We had already passed the other woman and Lin was second place in the ladies race, and we were about 20th overall. We were exactly 5 seconds behind our target pace, which was very good, since we were now at the highest point on the course.
The return half of the first leg was slightly downhill, so we regained that 5 seconds, and without meaning or trying to, about another 45 seconds more so we were 40 seconds up on our schedule by the half-way mark which we reached in 1:28:50. Support from the other runners was great, many calling out "Go Maiden Newton" as we passed them. Then we were on the second half, and the second out-and-back, with runners coming in the opposite direction doing the Half-marathon and some finishing the 10k race. They also gave us great support, with calls of "well done, second lady" to Lin. We had caught up and were running with a guy from local Six Rivers Running Club who was a great help because his pace was really even, and he also called out ahead to the many walkers strewn across the course to make way for the marathon runners. A feature of American races seems to be that many walkers take part along with the runners, which is great, but it can make it a little tricky when you are overtaking walkers doing less than half your pace, and also walking 2, 3 , 4 or even 5 abreast!
But we carried on, still on schedule, though I sensed that Lin was getting tired now. The sight of the first lady up ahead spurred her on though, and we were definitely gaining on her. About the 18 mile mark we caught her up, and lurked behind her for a minute or so until a shout of "go-ladies" tipped her off, and we overtook - Lin trying to appear fresh and strong to provide maximum demoralisation effect on the opposition. We needn't have worried, though, because after a brief attempt to stay in touch the early leader soon fell back, and by the 19.5 mile turn-around point was over a 100 yards back and clearly struggling. Unfortunately, by now Lin was also finding it really hard, and we gradually fell off pace until with 5k to go needed to run a sub-20 minute 5k to finish under 3 hours. That was not going to happen, but we managed to hang on to a respectable 7:30 pace and reached the finish line to cheers from our friends Sherry and Rich in a new PB for Lin of 3:03:17.
The race had been designated the Road Runners Club of America Championship race for California so Lin was now the 2011 RRCA California State Champion! I got a nice medal engraved beer glass and bottle of Lost Coast Brewery beer for first in 55-59 age-group. A very satisfying result, but even without the awards, it would have been well worth doing. An outstandingly scenic race, with superb organisation, and a friendly atmosphere - what more could you ask?
Well maybe to finish in under 3 hours. We'll have to do that next time...
Lin said: What an awesome experience (I've only been in the US for 4 days and I'm already speaking American, awesome indeed!) the Avenue of Giants marathon was. Naturally I'm very disappointed not to have broken the 3 hour mark but a new marathon PB (my first post broken hip "proper" PB) and being Californian State Champion was a pretty good consolation prize. Mainly I'm just so grateful that Martin stayed with me from the 20 mile mark, when I really began to struggle, and patiently coaxed me every step of the way. He was still feeling strong and would undoubtedly have got under 3 hours if he had gone on without me so a big thank you to him.
So now we have to keep our fingers crossed that we get into Abingdon and do all that training again, but harder...........................................but first there's the small matter of a holiday to enjoy.
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Well done Lin & Martin - a great result. just goes to prove what a couple of old cider drinkers from Dorset can do. Certainly showed those californian fitness freaks a thing or two. Hope you lose the "A" word before you come home - "not too bad" sounds so much better.
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