Female-Focused Race Clinics Featured at Monterey Bay Half Marathon

Olympian Deena Kastor and NY Times Journalist Gretchen Reynolds among featured speakers

The Monterey Bay Half Marathon will feature a series of free race clinics by outstanding female athletes and personalities. From strength training, to learning how to condition your mind, to science surrounding women-specific running, four individual talks will take place between 12 and 3pm on Saturday, November 11 at the Half Marathon Health and Fitness Expo at the Portola Hotel and Spa in downtown Monterey, Calif.

Deena Kastor, American record holder for both the full and half marathon distances and a bronze medalist in the 2004 Olympic Marathon, is a guest of this year’s Monterey Bay Half Marathon. At her 3 p.m.talk, Kastor will share how she has learned to condition her mind and body to cultivate the positivity that helped lead to incredible performance gains. Her book, Let Your Mind Run, is due out next April.

“Blood, Sweat, Bosoms and Babies” is the catchy title for Gretchen Reynold’s talk at 2 p.m. Reynolds, the “Phys Ed” columnist for The New York Times and an award-winner writer and authority on separating fact from fiction in sports research, will discuss the latest science about what makes women runners unique.         Fitz Koehler, a fitness expert, race announcer and TV personality from Gainesville, Florida, will teach how to up your pace while preventing common injuries like shin splints, plantar fasciitis, IT Band Syndrome, sciatica and more. Koehler will kick off the talks at noon after returning from announcing the Pacific Grove Lighthouse 5K and 3K races earlier that morning.

“Is Your Story Limiting You?” is the topic of the Jaymee Marty’s clinic, scheduled for 1 p.m. After 37 years of hating running, Marty ran her first half marathon on a dare from her brother and thereafter set some lofty goals. At the age of 43, she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. Still running strong, Marty was the runner-up at the 2017 Big Sur International Marathon.

With a gender split of 65% female to 35% male at this year’s Monterey Bay Half Marathon, race organizers felt that the topics presented would be of great interest to the female field.

“These four speakers will be entertaining and informative,” said race director Doug Thurston. “We are proud to present these talks that fit so well into our goal of providing the best environment for individual success at our events.”

The new clinics are part of the Health and Fitness Expo that is free and open to the public on Friday, November 10 from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday, November 11, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Expo offers opportunities to shop for race gear and apparel, Monterey Bay Half Marathon souvenir items, and to learn about other races.

For more information on the Monterey Bay Half Marathon weekend of events, including race registration for the Sunday, November 12^th Half Marathon and the Saturday, November 11th 5K and 3K races, visit montereybayhalfmarathon.org.

About Monterey Bay Half Marathon
The Monterey Bay Half Marathon, formerly called the Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay, is presented by the Big Sur Marathon Foundation, a non-profit organization that creates beautiful running events that promote fitness and benefit the community. 2017 marks the 15^th year of the coastal half marathon which takes place along the shores of Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean in the communities of Monterey and Pacific Grove.