Catalina Marathon by Jacqui Steinberg Physiotherapist North Shore orthopaedic and Sports Clinic

Catalina Marathon

I am sitting on a ferry from Catalina Island to Long Beach, California. We have just seen a huge pod of dolphins swim next to the boat. Thought I would share my latest marathon experience with you.

I joined the clinic this fall in preparation for running the London marathon on April 17. Unfortunately, things did not line up well and I had to defer my entry till next year. My husband looked for a marathon closer to home during spring break and came up with the Catalina Marathon. He sold it to me as one of the best rated trail marathons, not to be missed, with spectacular views of the Pacific. That should have been a warning. Once signed up, with air tickets bought, I went on the site and saw the route, elevation charts and you tube videos. Every shot showed runners going uphill. Despite being 5 weeks earlier than my target marathon I started to prepare myself mentally for the challenge by doing some hills on our local trails (and of course all the hill runs Laura planned).

We flew to LA, took a ferry from Long Beach, California to Avalon on Catalina Island. Avalon is the main town on the island. The race begins in Two Harbours which can be reached by ferry on race day from Avalon or one can camp in Two Harbours. We stayed in Avalon as that is where the race ends. Everything was so easy and laid back pre race. Package pick up was the day before the race. We took a shuttle up to the Country Club/ Resort to pick up our race package, even though it was only about a 10 minute walk but uphill! Had to rest our legs. Registration was simple. One got a race number and timing chip (no expo). One only gets your T-shirt if/when you finish. The participants were so friendly. It was interesting to hear all the stories of racers who have done the marathon year after year. Each finisher gets a year pin and the veterans wear them hanging off their caps. The record is about 34 years of participation.

On race day we had to be at the ferry at 5am sharp (if you miss it you can’t get out to the race). The dock was a few minutes walk from our hotel. The sun came out while we were on the 1 hour ferry ride. It was so beautiful. It was a fairly smooth ride but there were still quite a few people throwing up overboard! The field of runners is small, about 600 this year. For the first time ever there was a longer line up for the men’s washrooms pre race! We put our bag check items on the back of a flatbed truck and were ready to start. Two Harbours has literally two harbours. At the start we could see the sea on both sides of the island.

The race started with a ¼ mile flattish warm up and then hit the first 2-3 miles of uphill with a climb to 800ft. We ran along a path with sweeping views of Two harbours and the Pacific. From there throughout the first 8 miles we kept going down a short bit to climb again to get to 1200ft. We then ran back down to sea level and then started to climb again. The breathtaking view of the sea, the sound of waves crashing and the birds kept one feeling very powerful.

For the first 13 miles we were either running steeply uphill or downhill. At the half way mark we were running inland and ran past a ranch. From mile 13-18 it felt fairly flat although we were constantly climbing. At mile 18 we hit the pumphouse hill where one looked up and saw the aid station so high above that I took the advice of the runner next to me and hiked up chatting to her. At mile 19 I was lucky to see buffalo right at the side of the path.

The highest point of the run was at about 1800ft. The view of Avalon far down below was fantastic and welcome. The sense of achievement at that point was incredible. It was a real highpoint of my running journey. It was a very steep 3 miles downhill from there to the finish. We finished on the waterfront in Avalon a block from our hotel.

This definitely was the most challenging marathon course I have experienced but the most amazing. I would recommend it to anyone. It was the first time that instead of wishing the miles away I wanted to savour every moment.