A dash through goldrush country
The California International Marathon (CIM) is an annual road marathon in the Sacramento region of Northern California.
Starting at the Folsom Dam and finishing at the State Capitol in Sacramento, the course is characterized by rolling hills and a flat, fast finish. The California International is reknowned for being pacey, with more runners time-qualifying for the Boston Marathon in the CIM than in any other U.S. marathon.
Marathon yappery
This will be my fourth marathon of all time, and my second marathon this year. It will also be my second attempt to time-qualify for Boston ("BQ" in runner's jargon). My best marathon performance to date is 4 minutes shy of Boston-qualifying time.
Here I am (red shorts, Dodgers cap), passing a supportive friend at mile fourteen of the Los Angeles Marathon 2025.
In my first attempt to "BQ" during the 2025 Los Angeles Marathon, I quite literally busted my butt. Specifically, at mile nineteen in Beverly Hills, I experienced a gluteal tear, and was forced to walk-run the rest of the way. I was disappointed with my overall time.
After a comprehensive restructuring of my training program this summer, I'm hoping that the better runner I'm very sure I am actually shows up this time. (I shall limit my marathon analysis to that, as long-suffering friends have threatened to put rattlesnakes in my gym bag if I don't shut up about running. If more marathon yap is, in fact, what you crave? Read here about my Los Angeles Marathon in 2024, which I ran in honor of, like Rebecca, a brilliant and driven woman: my mother.)
The prospect of 26.2 miles will always be daunting, but this time I'm running in gratitude. I'm grateful to have learned about Captain Rebecca Marie Lobach's too-brief life, and the values she embodied and championed to all those she protected and cared for. I was a teenager when Rebecca was born, and I should have left this world before her. And yet I look to her now, every bit as much as I do to an elder, as an example of a life well-lived. This run is for you, ma'am.
Post-marathon update
I'm thrilled to report that, in my determination to do Rebecca proud, I put in the run of my life. I smashed my Personal Record, and I qualified for the Boston Marathon.
This was despite Sacramento being so cold (41 degrees Fahrenheit, exactly half the temperature of Los Angeles) that I spent most of the wait at the start line debating which running shoe I'd be tossing into my impromptu burn barrel first. The course was hauntingly scenic. Undulating hills. Stoplights suspended high in the fog over the runners, OCD-rotating through their stop-go for nothing and no-one. Locals somehow not in the fetal position amid the cold, but rocking witty signs and the state flag as they hollered loving sass and motivation. Those three and a half hours were one of the best experiences of my life.
The finisher's medal for the CIM 2025.
In her lifetime, Rebecca helped so many people connect with their true potential or calling. In the running brought out in me in her honor, I have joined that long list of names. As I write this update two weeks after race day, I know this: I'm not done remembering Rebecca. I will continue to find ways in the future to celebrate and honor her - and I hope very much that you'll join me.
– Zoe Marie Bel, writer (and runner)