Run on a winding course along a scenic stretch of California coastline whose beauty is not to be believed, the Big Sur International Marathon is one of those marathons you simply have to run before you die for that reason alone! Now if you also happen to win the race, well, that’s a nice bonus.

Those who awarded themselves with just that at this year’s Big Sur International Marathon, Sun., April 27, were the remarkable endurance athlete Michael Wardian, 40, of Arlington, Va., who finally broke through to win the men’s race on this spectacular yet demanding course in 2:27:45, and Nuta Olaru, 43, former Olympian from Romania now living in Longmont, Colo., who ran 2:53:15 to win the women’s race for the third year in a row!

Finishing second in the men’s race at Big Sur was Adam Roach, 30, of nearby Monterey, Calif., who ran 2:29:31. Jeremy Judge, 26, of Menlo Park, Calif., was third in 2:38:00.

Following Olaru to the finish line in the women’s race was Kristi Rossi, 46, of Hillsborough, Calif., who finished second in 3:09:30. Katie Ross, 27, of Lincoln, Calif., was third in 3:10:34.

Michael Wardian is the amazing runner who actually ran two marathons on the same day last November 17 when he won the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon in 2:31:19 in the morning, then flew to Las Vegas where he finished 10^th that evening in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon, running 2:57:56. And this was hardly the first time he had demonstrated a propensity for such ironman feats of racing and endurance. In 2007, for example, he had run seven marathons in nine weeks, winning three of them. So he not only has the will and inclination to take on extraordinary challenges like this, he’s also good enough to win a lot of the time!

He was an impressive winner Sunday on the windy, hilly course from Big Sur, Calif., to Carmel-by-the-Sea, a little town that’s even more beautiful than its name is quaint. In the process he set a new Masters (40 and over) record as he finally emerged victorious at Big Sur after finishing second in this race a couple of times.

He also set another noteworthy record on Sunday, in the so-called Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge, which encourages those with the moxie to do so to run the Boston and Big Sur Marathons back to back. This is right up Michael Wardian’s alley, of course, and having run the Boston Marathon six days earlier, his 2:27:45 at Big Sur gave him a combined time of 4:51:17 for the two races. This broke the previous record of 4:53, which just happened to be the record he had set!

Following his victory on Sunday, Wardian said, “This is super special. It’s one of the premier events in the country. To walk away with a win here is a great thing. When you go somewhere you want to be in the mix for the win. I’ve been in second a couple of times (here), so it’s nice to get on that top step.”

Wardian had finished second to Daniel Tapia of nearby Castroville in 2010, and his win on Sunday snapped a four-year winning streak by Monterey County runners. Jesus Campos of King City had won in 2011 and Adam Roach, the runner-up Sunday, was the race winner in both 2012 and 2013.

Roach actually had a shot at winning his third consecutive title this year, but he elected to back off the pace early in hopes Wardian would come back to him later in the race. It never happened, and probably was not the best strategy to use in running against an endurance machine like Wardian – again, two marathons in one day!

“I stayed right on him for the first two or three miles,” Roach said afterwards, “and then I was checking my splits and (realized) I was going faster then I wanted to go. I decided I had to hold back a little bit and just hope he would fall back to me. I kept him close for as long as I could. I figured I was gaining on him (at the end), but he had too much of a lead.”

Having been a bridegroom but never the groom in this race twice before, Michael Wardian’s strategy on Sunday was simple: “I wanted to get out ahead early … and stay in front, and I was able to do that.”

Wardian, who had finished fourth last year at Big Sur (2:31:54), commented Sunday after his victory on the scenic grandeur of the course. “There’s not many races in the U.S. that have such scenery. If you start to feel a little bad, all you have to do is look over to the left and you get a little bit of ocean. You look to the right and you get some mountains. You have tons of people out on the course. It’s just a big party and it’s fun to be a part of it.”

The weather, which can be a factor in this race, was nothing but favorable this year. Wardian said,  “It was perfect. Usually there’s a headwind, but (today) there wasn’t much wind and my legs felt pretty good.”

Nuta Olaru, the women’s winner on Sunday at Big Sur, became the first woman to win this race three years in a row – and like Michael Wardian, she did it only six days after running the Boston Marathon.

“I feel great because I won again,” she said, “but it was tough to compete six days after Boston. I didn’t recover well, but I feel great (now).”

She added, in somewhat less than perfect English, “I wanted to run more fast, but my legs were so tired.”

Although this race is particularly demanding because of the many hills, Olaru actually found the downhills tougher than the uphills. ”On the uphills, I felt great. But on the downhills, my legs were tired.”

Her winning time Sunday – 2:53:15 – was slightly slower than her remarkably similar times -- 2:50:08 and 2:50:02 – in winning this race the previous two years. But each year she’s finished well ahead of the pack. On Sunday she led from the start and finished more than 16 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher Kristi Ross, who edged the third-place finisher Katie Ross by just over a minute.

Rossi, who also ran this year’s Boston Marathon, said after the Big Sur race, “The Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge was really appealing to me. I knew I could go the distance (today), but I went out conservatively to get a feel for how I was doing.”

Running Big Sur for the first time, she also chose to play it safe on the hills.

“I focused on form, you know, cadence, and using the arms on the uphills. I kind of eased into the race and I was feeling good. I love the cold temperature (we had today), it was a lot cooler than Boston.”

Olaru also said the weather – cloudy skies, temperatures in the 50s and 60s – was ideal.

“I’ve run everywhere in the world, but this (marathon) is so nice. Today was great. The weather, it was perfect.”

A much traveled, seasoned competitor, Olaru has a personal best of 2:24:33 in the marathon, set at the Chicago Marathon in 2004. That same year she finished 13th, running 2:34:45, in the Olympic Marathon in Athens, Greece, representing her native Romania. Her time at Boston this year was 2:37:29. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2012.

This was the first time Olaru had run marathons back to back and she admitted, “It was tough.” She ought to talk to Michael Wardian about running back-to-back marathons. She’s now going to take a break to recover and plans to return next year to defend her Big Sur title. []

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