The gun goes at 6:45am. You are in the dark, or close to it, under coastal redwoods in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Some of these trees were saplings in the 13th century. The air is in the low 40s. The crowd noise from the start area falls away almost immediately once you are under the canopy. No cell service. No spectators. Just the sound of several thousand runners and the Big Sur River somewhere off to the side.

The first 0.31 miles drop 83 feet at -5.1% grade. It levels, but the net through mile 3 is still downhill, 225 feet of net descent over the opening stretch, 65% shade, and NW wind completely blocked by the trees. The official course guide calls this section "fast and furious." Runners say "it was easy to just let the legs go." That is the trap. The course is 800-year-old trees watching you go out too fast, and they have seen it before.

Add 5 seconds per mile in here. Every time.

Aid stations: Mile 2.5 (Big Sur Village: water, electrolyte, porta-potty, medical)

The redwoods thin around mile 3. By mile 4 you are in open meadow, Andrew Molera State Park to your right, 4,800 acres, largest on the Big Sur coast. The Pacific makes its first appearance, glinting at the horizon.

Shade drops from 65% to 30% as the canopy gives way to scattered oaks. The NW wind, blocked for the past three miles, arrives from your left-front, 15 to 25 mph, persistent through almost the entire coast section. The hills here are gentle and rolling. If you ran the redwoods right, you feel good. If you went out hot, you do not know it yet.

Aid stations: Mile 4.8 (Andrew Molera: water, electrolyte, porta-potty, medical)

At mile 5, the race reveals its character. No trees, no protection, nothing between you and the ocean except a guardrail and a shoulder. Point Sur Lighthouse appears in the distance, 361 feet of volcanic rock, in continuous operation since 1889. The runners around you have spread out by now. The noise is gone.

These miles are described by runners as "pastoral," and that's accurate for most of them. "Hills awash with vibrant, colorful wildflowers," one runner's description, not a tourism brochure. Cattle on the hillsides watch your splits. Point Sur Hill at mile 8.32 is the first genuine wake-up call: 79 feet of gain over 0.41 miles at 3.68% grade. Sharp. Brief. A preview. The road then drops 174 feet into the pre-Hurricane valley, and in the distance, the headland rises.

One critical note: the aid station at mile 7.8 is the last fully-stocked stop before Hurricane Point. After it, there is a 3-mile gap to mile 10.4, which has water and electrolyte only. Take what you need at 7.8. This detail matters more than it sounds.

5% shade. Persistent NW headwind from the left-front.

Aid stations: Mile 7.8 (Point Sur Climb: water, electrolyte, porta-potty, medical)

513 feet of gain over 2.15 miles. Average grade 4.52%. Steeper and longer than Heartbreak Hill at Boston, which averages 3.5%. The difference is that you are also running into wind that has been clocked above 100 mph on this exact piece of land.

Hurricane Point is a headland, land jutting into the Pacific at 570 feet. The prevailing NW coastal wind compresses as it wraps around the point. NOAA identifies Point Sur as a major wind acceleration headland. Speeds here can hit 2-3x the wind speed of nearby areas. The combination of elevation, full exposure on three sides, and bare ocean wind hitting bare cliff face with nothing to slow it produces conditions unlike anything else on the course.

"My arms became numb from the windchill. The sound of the wind was deafening."

"The combination of steep climb plus 50mph gusts made it feel like we were running in place at times."

Run by effort. Don't look at your watch. Expect to lose 30-45 seconds per mile. This is priced into the plan.

Here is something no one is prepared for: there are Taiko drummers at the base of the climb, at mile 11. Every year, volunteer drummers perform synchronized Japanese percussion at the foot of the hardest section of the course. You hear them before you see them. They are thunderously loud and widely considered the best moment of spectator support on the entire route. Just get to the drums.

Gel station at the summit (mile 12.2). Take it. Then the road drops 298 feet in a single mile at -5.5% grade. "As soon as we rounded the point, the wind started to drop miraculously." Almost everyone says a version of this.

Aid stations: Mile 10.4 (Hurricane Point Base: water, electrolyte), Mile 12.2 (Summit: water, electrolyte, GU Gel)

You descend 298 feet from the summit and, around mile 13.0, the bridge appears.

714 feet long. 260 feet above the canyon floor. Built in 1932 using locally-sourced concrete and open-spandrel arch construction that was, at the time, among the longest of its kind in the world. It is the most photographed bridge in California. When Apple needed a default wallpaper for one of its major operating systems, one image, out of anywhere on the planet, they chose this spot.

At mile 13, a man in a tuxedo is seated at a Yamaha grand piano on the bridge deck. He has been doing this since 1987. The concert pianist plays while thousands of runners cross 260 feet above the ocean. Runners call it "the most rewarding vista of the race" and it arrives at the halfway point, exactly when you need something.

Cross it. Look at the ocean. This is why you are here.

Aid stations: Mile 14.7 (Rocky Creek: water, electrolyte)

This is where it starts. Not dramatically. Just steadily, then all at once.

Miles 14 through 17 contain seven climbs and five descents. The biggest is the Rocky Creek Roller at mile 15.18: 92 feet over 0.41 miles at 4.21% grade. None of them are Hurricane Point. All of them cost something. 10% average shade. NW wind still arriving from the left. No spectators since mile 3.

"Hills after Bixby were much harder than I would have thought." This is the most common phrase in Big Sur race reports, and it appears because Bixby feels like an arrival. It is not an arrival. It is a checkpoint. The race continues. Runners who went out conservatively feel this section. Runners who didn't feel it considerably more.

Run 5 seconds per mile faster on the descents if you have it. Don't pound them, your quads are going to be asked for more later.

Aid stations: Mile 14.7 (Rocky Creek: water, electrolyte), Mile 16.9 (Palo Colorado Canyon: water, electrolyte)

This is the section the course is named for when runners call it "the loneliest marathon in the US." Highway 1 is closed. No spectators between miles 3 and 21. Just open ranch country, cattle on the hillsides above you, and a NW headwind that has now shifted to a more direct head position. The nature that once caught the pre-dawn light now coldly watches you work through miles 19 and 20.

Run 10 seconds per mile slower than goal pace through here. Not because you want to. Because you will anyway. The question is whether you make the choice or the course makes it for you.

The Wall appears at mile 20. A towering dirt embankment on the side of the road. Purely psychological, and that is exactly what makes it work. The Garrapata Climb at mile 19.57, 49 feet at 4.46% grade, is small on paper and significant in reality. "My legs felt completely trashed... I sank into a rhythm that felt sustainable." Find that rhythm. It is available. It just requires having saved something to find it with.

One GU Gel station at mile 19.0. Take it.

Aid stations: Mile 19.0 (Coastal Station: water, electrolyte, GU Gel, fruit), Mile 21.2 (South Carmel Highlands: water, electrolyte, fruit)

The crowd returns at mile 21. After 18 miles of silence, this is significant in a way that is hard to explain until you experience it. Residents of Carmel Highlands line the road. At mile 23.2, Strawberry Station appears: fresh local strawberries, live music, real human beings who are genuinely happy to see you. It hits harder than it should, and it should hit very hard.

One thing to know before it: the Carmel Highlands Kicker at mile 22.02 is the steepest uphill grade on the entire course. 60 feet at 5.59% grade over 0.21 miles. At mile 22, after everything, this is unpleasant. You now know to expect it. After mile 22.23, the road drops 117 feet at -5.39% grade. Go.

At mile 24, there are belly dancers. Just so you know.

Aid stations: Mile 21.2, Mile 23.0 (Highlands Inn: water, electrolyte, fruit), Mile 23.2 (Strawberry Station: fresh strawberries), Mile 24.5 (Point Lobos Approach: water, electrolyte, fruit)

D-Minor Hill. Mile 24.98 to 25.29. 84 feet at 5.12% grade. Named, according to course lore, for its ability to bring you down.

"D-Minor Hill at D-Major Time."

It is the last real obstacle. After it, Monterey pines and eucalyptus provide the most shade since the redwoods, 24 miles ago. The wind drops, Carmel Bay headlands shelter the final stretch. Point Lobos State Reserve, the crown jewel of the California state park system since 1933, is to the right. The Carmel River Beach lagoon appears in the final half mile.

Then: the finish.

If you ran this correctly, conservative through the redwoods, disciplined through Hurricane Point, patient through the isolation, the final 2 miles feel different from what they could have been. Not easy. Different.

Aid stations: Mile 24.5 (Point Lobos Approach: water, electrolyte, fruit)