Catalina Island Marathon

I estimate we climbed 4300 vertical feet in today's Catalina Island Marathon. Climbing was one thing, going downhill was another. This is the first race in many that I have suffered. And it was all on the downhill. I kicked a rock so badly (did I mention it is a trail race), I think I lost a toenail to it. I have my first race-induced blister ever on my left heel, It's about the size of a toonie if you put it on a rail track and let a train run over it (kind of how my legs feel right now). And I wrenched my right knee.

But, what a beautiful race. We left on a boat at 5am, in the dark, to follow the eastern coast of Catalina Island up to Two Harbours. It is called Two Harbours because there are literally two harbours, each on either side of an isthmus. We landed at one harbour and walked over to the other harbour for the start. (I look pretty happy before we started!)

After that it was all about uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, more uphill, more downhill, one giant uphill until the final gruelling downhill that dropped almost 1600 feet over two miles.

The race went through the interior of the island making tracks on dirt road and trails to Avalon harbour from where the boat left in the early morning. I include a few photos to give you a sense of the incredible beauty.

P.S. they had a walkers start, but I was encouraged to start with the runners considering my expected finish time and because results for walkers were not "official". When a race has a walking start, I'd really like to see it offer a proper walking division.