| At some point in the not too distant past our friend and colleague
Mark Parsons sends an email to his co-workers checking for interest to
run the Big Sur International Marathon (BSIM). Fast forward to April 26,
2008 - after many weeks of training and here we are sitting around a
dinner table in Big Sur on the evening before the event. |
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| "Team Diablo" from left to right - Mark, Travis, David, Jim, Jason,
Shawn (not pictured Rich and Dave P.). |
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| After an early rise and not much sleep, we board a bus and are soon
deposited near the BSIM start line. (L to R - Mark, Jim, Dave, David,
Jason, Shawn, Travis). As the story goes, most of us have never run a
marathon and by all accounts the BSIM is the "whopper" of marathons. |
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| The sun has risen and we're queued up for our 6:45AM start. A few
thousand others just happen to be joining us. Soon after this picture
was taken the national anthem was sung and we were on our way up Highway
1 from Big Sur enroute to Carmel, a mere 26.2 miles away. |
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| I think we all knew the course had many "features", little did we
know how many and of what variety. Lets just say there is lots of
entertainment along the way. |
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| Soon enough we have run beyond the trees of Big Sur and the views of
the ocean are upon us. Early in the event we mostly hung together and
were all smiles. |
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| The weather was a bit warm, particularly in Big Sur before sunrise.
Thankfully the temps cooled as we proceeded north along the coast with
the ocean breezes. |
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| The views along the course are magnificent, and as you can see
behind Travis, the Big Sur lighthouse stands watch over the coastline. |
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| Still feeling strong around mile 6 or 7, we knew the "ominous"
Hurricane Point was still in front of us. |
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| As the sun got a little higher in the sky we continued at a good
pace as Hurricane Point comes into view (upper left of photo). It's
about 600 feet above sea level and approximately two miles to the top. |
