Amid spectacular ocean views, Edwards conquers Big Sur run

Amy Edwards has run her last marathon. With eight of the long-distance runs to her credit, she saved maybe the best for last.

Or at least one of the most beautiful.

“It was beautiful. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful,” the Sallisaw mother of three boys says of the picturesque Big Sur International Marathon she ran on April 30 along California’s iconic coast-hugging Pacific Coast Highway. “It was like mountains on the right side and the ocean on the left. The ocean just went on forever. It was beautiful. I will totally do it again. I had so much fun.”

But if she repeats the 26.2-mile distance of the most spectacular portion of the PCH, it will be as Amy Pace — she is marrying Jordan Pace on Friday in Costa Rica.

While she’s understandably excited about the Central American nuptials — “I’m really lucky. He’s great.” — she’s still California dreamin’ about what has been dubbed “the most beautiful marathon in the USA,” where participants run along the sweeping coastline with constant views of the ocean, rocky cliffs, redwoods and sprawling ranches.

Overshadowing the breath-taking spectacle of pounding surf is the distinctive Bixby Creek Bridge — “It’s gorgeous” — which is the centerpiece for the largest rural marathon in the world.

Offsetting the grueling course was, believe it or not, a variety of live music played along the route, including tunes from a grand piano. “There was a guy they call the Piano Man,” Edwards recalls. “He was sitting at the end of Bixby Bridge in a tuxedo playing the piano. It was really neat.”

But the rugged California coast was a reminder to Edwards that she wasn’t in Oklahoma anymore.

“Miles 10 through 12 was a 2,300-foot elevation gain, so that was like the super tough area,” she says of the terrain. “I was kinda worried about the elevation, but the wind was really crazy that day. People’s hats were blowing off, so the wind on top of the elevation was pretty tough. I just tried to keep my feet moving the whole time. But it was awesome. I enjoyed it.”

And Edwards took the opportunity to capture for posterity what she saw.

“I would just take pictures along the course. People would stop at different places, and I would have somebody take my picture and I would take theirs, and we would just start running again. It was stop for a second, take one, and then keep on running. It was really cool.”

For ultra-serious marathoners, Big Sur takes its toll on runners’ times.

“Everything I read had me terrified because the elevation and the spike it shows on the map for the 10 through 12 miles. I was really terrified of that,” Edwards admits. “And everything I read said that really experienced marathoners are usually 20 to 30 minutes slower than their normal times, so I set a goal of 4:20, 4:25. My best time is 4:06, and then 4:11, 4:12.”

She ran the 2018 New York City Marathon in four hours and 26 minutes, and recorded her slowest time at 5:22 for the Chicago Marathon in October 2021. But she competed in the Windy City run when she was seven months pregnant.

“So I was like, ‘I’ll just kind of set it for 4:20’.” Edwards conquered Big Sur in 4:14.39. “I didn’t let myself start walking, ’cause once you do … There were a few spots where I’d stop and take pictures. But even on the inclines, I just tried to stay moving, even if it was little steps.”

But the views made the race seem to go by faster.

“Some races, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, when’s the next mile marker’,” Edwards explains. “But this one, I felt like I just passed [a mile marker] and there was another one, because it was just the waves, and the weather was perfect. I had the best time.”

For Edwards, as with many runners, just finishing the marathon is the goal. She finished 332nd of 2,530 females (the top 13%), 58th of 390 in her age group of 35-39 (top 15%) and, overall, 1,070th of 5,089 runners (top 21%). “So not too bad,” she decides.

Edwards, who is prevention services director for Sallisaw NOW Coalition, was encouraged to participate at Big Sur by her friend, Nicci Briggs of Broken Arrow, who also competed.

“I love to run, and it definitely makes it worth it when you have something to look forward to like that. It was just so pretty,” Edwards says. “The training was kinda rough. My friend, who lives in Broken Arrow, we’d keep each other accountable, and there was like two weekends we did our long run together. But there were days I really didn’t want [to train]. Right now, it’s nice to run just four or five days a week, three to five miles, nothing crazy. I’ll start training in mid-July for New York,” her next marathon run in November, in which Briggs is also planning to participate.

And Edwards is looking ahead to her next Big Sur International Marathon, but as Amy Pace.

“It was great. I was excited. It was totally worth it. It sets the bar high for any other marathon. New York will probably always be my favorite, in a sense, but Big Sur is just hard to beat.”

And the Left Coast may have spoiled things for Edwards in her hometown.

“The next week I came back and ran the half marathon [at Diamond Daze], and I was like, ‘This is not Big Sur, it’s not California. This is not the same. Sequoyah County is not Big Sur by the sea’,” she observes.

“It was a really neat experience, I’m really glad I ran it. It was awesome.”

Posing in front of a huge Big Sur International Marathon banner highlighting the grandeur of the Pacific Coast Highway and the landmark Bixby Creek Bridge are friends Nicci Briggs of Broken Arrow and Amy Edwards of Sallisaw.