Catalina Island Marathon

Last week, I ran the Catalina Island Marathon. It is race I have wanted to do for several years – I grew up spending summers on the island, and this trail race happens every year near my birthday.

Overall summary: the race was a ton of fun. Dad and I sailed over on Friday, I ran on Saturday, and we sailed back on Sunday. It was so great to see the island again – some parts I was familiar with and some new parts – and at a different time of year. A beautiful place, spending time with family, and a nostalgia sucker punch made it a special weekend.

I finished second in my age group in 5:02, which I was proud of. Total mileage this week (incl race) was 75 miles – this race was planned to be my long training run for the week, so the speed was a nice surprise, especially after no taper and a pretty high mileage week.

Before the race

Dad and I, plus a couple of his friends, chartered a sail boat to sail over to the island. We left from Newport Beach, sailed part of the way before realizing that it would take us forever to get there due to the wind angle and the fact that the boat couldn’t point, then turned on the motor to get the rest of the way. We saw some grey whales pretty close to the boat, which was awesome.

We got to Avalon and grabbed dinner, then I slept on the boat. Sleeping on a boat is one of my favorite things – it’s very calming.

The race starts in Two Harbors, so the morning-of-race logistics were a bit tricky. To get there, I had to swim to Avalon from the sail boat, because the water taxis (which typically ferry people from their boats to shore) didn’t start until 8am. The swim was a solid 3 minutes, so not that bad. Dad met me at the beach and I changed clothes, before getting on a ferry that took runners from Avalon to Two Harbors. So, some logistics, but not the worst. I got to talk to a lot of runners on the ferry, which was fun. A lot of folks were running their first marathon on this course on this day.

We saw a bison on the hill at the start line. Catalina bison are not native to the area – they were brought to the island for a movie that was never made, and they never left.

The race

The race itself was absolutely wonderful. It was the most fun I’ve had running a race in a while. Even though it was at the end of a very hard training block with no taper, I put down some relatively fast miles and enjoyed every minute. Seeing the island this way was really special.

The start line was a perfect representation of local running at its finest. The start line itself was some flour on a fire road. There was an option to start up to a half an hour early, and the way they logged if you did this was by having runners self-report on a clip board. Folks would just write down their time (e.g. 6:42am) and their bib number, and start running.

When the race started, I was about in the middle of the pack. The entire course is just two enormous hills, and we immediately started up the first one. I was getting passed left and right, and I was pretty confused, because I knew the hill was pretty long (about 3-4 miles) and this was tricky terrain. In my mind, I explained this: either I was wrecked from not tapering and going slow, or everyone else was super well-trained and going fast today. It turned out that it was neither of those – and most folks just went out way too strong. After the top of the first hill, I spent the rest of the race catching up to and passing folks.

The views going up the first hill were incredible. Seeing Two Harbors as the sun came up as stunning. The hills were vibrant and green – the greenest I had ever seen them on the island.

Going down the first hill was also a lot of fun – we had to do a couple of water crossings, which I just blasted right through. There were about 10-12 water crossings in total – the deepest was about mid-calf, and I think you could get around all of them and stay dry, but it didn’t seem worth tiptoeing.

At mile 8 or 9 we started some rolling climbs again. Around mile 10 I saw the Whale Tail, a rock formation on the back side of the island that is shaped like a whale’s tail – and was really excited – we spent some time there over the summer for a couple of years.

Around this time, I hit an aid station – the woman behind it said to me, “The women are doing so great today!” It was so awesome to see women celebrating women – I live for it.

Around mile 14, the course gets to Middle Ranch, and a pretty relentless but shallow hill commences. It’s just flat enough that it’s runnable for me, but not comfortably, and a lot of other people seemed to be in the same boat. I passed a number of runners on this stretch.

At mile 18, we reached the ridge, and there was a great aid station. They had frozen margaritas, so for the first time ever, I tried alcohol during a race. I only had a sup, but my stomach didn’t love it, so I’m glad I didn’t do more than that. I took a picture to commemorate the occasion, and some other random runner decided he didn’t like that (he wasn’t even in the photo), and made snide comments. So I was EXTRA nice and friendly to him … as I passed him and left him in the dust.

Just after this, I saw Toyon Bay – where I spent summers – off to the west. It was small and far away, but very cool to see from above.

Immediately after that, a large Land-Rover-esque vehicle was coming our way – and it turned out Dad’s friends were in the car, on the way to see the bison! It was fun to see them on the course.

At about 21.5 miles, we reached the highest part of the course, and it was all downhill after that. The downhill wasn’t the most comfortable – legs were sore from the relentless two uphills we had just done – but it was nice to finally be going downhill after the 13-mile climb.

The last mile or so into Avalon goes from the Botanic Garden down to the ocean – net downhill on pavement. I was absolutely flying. There were some segments where I had a 7:10, 7:15 pace. It felt really good. I saw Dad at the finish line right as I crossed in 5:02:14.

Some technical stuff

Some people find this blog looking for technical info about races. Here’s some info:

• Course: two big hills (~4,000 feet of climbing). The second hill is 13 miles, and it is a slog. Treat this like a trail ultra.
• Trail: wide fire road the entire time. Very runnable if you are used to trails. It is NOT comparable to road terrain.
• Aid stations: early and often. There are like 12 aid stations. They are pretty well-stocked. It’s cupless, so BYO cup.
• Course markings: excellent. Signs everywhere. Also, some fun informational signs along the way, e.g. about the bison herds and island history. They also put up signs with maps of the island, the course in red, and arrows saying “you are here.”
• Gear: I wore trail shoes and that was the right choice. I carried an Amphipod handheld water bottle, with my phone in an arm band, and this was not the right choice – would have much preferred a vest, although refilling liquid at aid stations was much easier with the handheld. Poles are really not needed.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10925677453/segments

Splits:

After the race

I showered and changed clothes, then Dad and I sat on the beach on some beach chairs for a few hours. After dinner, I headed back to the boat to sleep. The next morning, we motored up to Toyon Bay to see it from a different angle, then set the sails and headed home. Leaving Toyon Bay to stern still brings up so many feelings and good memories.

We had much more favorable wind conditions for the boat this time – we sailed most of the way. We saw so many dolphins, including a couple of groups that played in our bow wake. We also saw two possible mola molas.

Why I run

I was recently in a conversation with someone who couldn’t – or didn’t want to – understand the reason why people (or I, in particular) run. Because they didn’t understand it themselves, they didn’t think it could be important.

Everyone has different reasons for running, and running is important to people for different reasons. Part of what makes the world special is that everyone has different, unique passions, and I really enjoy getting under the hood with people about what makes them excited about the things they get excited about. At the end of the day, that should be enough. Caring about a person means caring about what they care about.

It is impossible to capture why I run in a couple of pithy paragraphs. When people ask me, I give different answers based on their interest level, their familiarity with the sport, and how I’m feeling that day. Some things that come up (including some science to back it up):

• I was the second-slowest kid in middle school. I finished second-to-last in the mile – every time – in front of a girl who had a medical excuse to walk. Participating in this sport, for me, is the ultimate proof that people can change and grow, and that working hard yields results.
• I truly believe anyone can do this sport – our bodies were built for this. Humanity evolved to be able to move quickly over long distances. It is a joy to be able to use my body for what it was made to do.
• I see more sunrises in a month than most people do in a year. It’s hard to overstate how amazing it is to get out in nature. There are so many reasons to spend time outside – it improves working memory, cognitive flexibility, and attentional control – and it makes us happy. As someone who has experienced doctor-diagnosed severe anxiety and depression, these benefits are important to me.
• Running is just about me. A lot of things in life are about other people, and making other people happy. This is especially true for women, who take the brunt of emotional labor in most spheres of life, and, measurably, non-promotable labor in the workforce (seriously, read this article – it is so good). Sometimes it’s nice to not have to answer the phone.
• I suffered from disordered eating for a lot of years in my late teens and early 20s. At the time, I didn’t recognize it for what it was, but binge eating, dramatic weight fluctuations, and aggressive control of diet were all part of it. About 1 in 10 Americans will suffer from an eating disorder in their life, and women are 3x more likely to face this than men. That number rises to 1 in 4 (25%) for women who run more than 30 miles week. I’m not sure what the implications of this are for my story, but these statistics are me.
• Strength comes in many forms, and I feel strong when I run, and when I finish races like this.
• I love getting to see new places. I get to know a city faster because I get to run it. It’s the ultimate way to explore.
• It’s getting to the point where even I can admit I have a pretty amazing running resume, and I’m really proud of it. That sort of accomplishment doesn’t happen overnight.
• Having a strong community of friends is really important to me. So many of my friends are people I have met through this or other sports. I love these people – they are all so strong, so interesting, and so driven. I am inspired every time I talk to them. You all are amazing.

I’m going to hit some really awesome running milestones over the next few months, so a lot of this reflection is top of mind. 15 years is a long time to dedicate to something, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I question it sometimes. But I always end up coming back – maybe not for all the reasons at the same time, but something always brings me back.

I remember reading a running anthology in 2008-2009; a number of runners wrote short pieces about why they run ultramarathons. It was a deeply dissatisfying read, because nobody was really able to do explain their rationale convincingly. At the end of the day, there’s always some unknowable leap between the reasons we say and our resulting actions. I’ve never been able to articulate my reasons in a way that I’ve felt satisfied with, but this is as good an attempt as any.