The Race That Wasn't Intended To Be

Miami Marathon - Sunday January 30, 2011
Time: 4 hours 57 minutes

I am aboard the flight from Atlanta to JFK, on my way from  Miami, Florida.

This is Monday January 31st.

I ran the Miami Marathon yesterday, and yes, it was the race that wasn’t meant to be.  

I arrived in Miami on Friday evening.  This was my first visit to Miami, a city I have avoided despite its promise of glorious weather.  Somehow, none of Florida has ever enticed me to travel down there.

About eight months ago, I was planning my 2011 race itinerary and stumbled upon the Miami Half Marathon.  I looked past it and scanned for other Half Marathons in and out of the US.  None seemed to fit well enough into my schedule and budgets.  Eight months ago, it was still nice and warm in New York but I shivered at the thought of the NYC winter and wondered how much worse it could be this time around.  Miami Half Marathon continued to pop in and out of my peripheral vision and then I stared at it right in the face.  I decided to do it.  Then began my search for a cheap flight and hotel, both were as tough as anticipated.  Nothing can be cheap about visiting Miami smack in the middle of winter when snow laden blizzards wail and howl outside our tremulous windows in the northeast.  I decided to use my miles for the flight and opted for a relatively inexpensive hotel in a neighborhood of Miami not too popular with the tourists.  

Winter came early for us in the northeast and as feared, it has been brutally cold.  A week without a storm has been a rarity thus far.  My last race of the 2010 season was the Amsterdam Marathon in October.  I took a well-deserved break from training and, at the advice of my chiropractor, took a couple of months off from running so that my body could heal.  I focussed on swimming and biking but, the 2011 season was upon me.  I had to commence my training and the relentless inclement weather was giving me enough reason to hibernate.  I had begun to worry about my training for my first Marathon of 2011 in March.  I had scheduled two Half Marathons before the Full Marathon with deliberate intent to serve as forced training runs.  

Over the past several weeks, leading up to the Miami Half Marathon, I had hardly managed to accumulate any miles in my training bank.  My longest run was a 10-miler about 4 weeks ago in windy and frigid sub-zero conditions.  The Miami Half was a week away and I began to monitor the weather in Miami as I battled icy winds and snow of NYC, hopped over large puddles of slush and skidded over black ice everyday.

Miami weather was everything I had dreamed of.  Bright sun, no winds, the temperature in the mid to upper 70s, considered warmer by most athletes but I was in Heaven.  On Saturday morning I visited the Race Expo to retrieve my Race Packet and on my way, a thought crawled into my mind - the weather is beautiful, how about attempting the Full Marathon, instead of the Half Marathon.  It won’t be my first Full, my body is familiar with the distance and even if something were to go awry physically, I could stop and abandon the race and consider it my first long training run.  Nothing to lose, I figured.  I marched up to the Registration Desk, and enquired about upgrading to the Full M.  I was told it was possible and 25 additional Dollars later, I walked out with the Race Bib number for a Full M.  

There is something profound about visiting the Race Expos.  For me it is like a Toy Store and I am the wide-eyed child.  It excites me and the company of other like-minded people with similar athletic aspirations, is most invigorating.  Suddenly my body is alive, heart is racing and the mind is overwhelmed with the desire to get out there and run.  

A Full M requires a very different pre-race preparation than a Half M.  A Full M is an endurance event and requires adequate training and proper nutrition leading up to the race.  After the “race upgrade”, I was scrambling for food.  I gobbled everything vegan in sight to consume the extra carbs and calories necessary before the race.  

I was up at 3:30AM on Sunday, the Race Day.  The Hotel had provided a Shuttle Service for the guests participating in the event.  The Shuttle Bus ferried us to the Race Start.  The Race began at 6:15AM.  A very comfortable 58 degrees welcomed us at the start.  There were 21,000 runners at the Starting Line.  We began running, the sun broke through the skies and it grew progressively warmer as the hours floated by.  Extra bright sun, no winds, a perfect day.  Simply glorious!  As I ran, I was getting baked and loved every moment of it.  

The route of the Miami Marathon is visually stunning!!  It is one of the best courses I have ever ran before.  A great way to see and experience the City on foot, which is otherwise not possible in Miami.  Miami is not a walkable city and its mass transportation system is quite inadequate.  A wait for the bus could easily extend up to 45 minutes to an hour.  A train might arrive anywhere within 20 minutes to 45 minutes.  It can be a real test of patience.  I don’t drive and therefore, had to depend upon the City’s trains and buses.  Its taxi service is scattered and that too can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to get to you (happened to me more than once during my stay).  We started the race at the American Airlines Arena and then passed through Port of Miami, Miami Beach, Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue, Venetian Islands, Downtown Miami, Bay Heights, Coconut Grove, Brickell, ran over Miami River and finished the race at Bayfront Park.  Here is a really cool video to watch which takes you through the entire 26.2 mile course in about 4 minutes or less.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg3kFEWmmgY&feature=player_embedded

The first 15 miles went by without much to ponder about, but soon followed what could be deemed as my body’s revolt against my sudden, impromptu decision to run the Full M.  Running a marathon is never without discomfort.  No matter the countless number of hours of training, race day always brings surprises that were not anticipated.  Pain and discomfort can erupt anywhere at anytime without warning, however, after running nine marathons, I can almost predict what might happen and where.  The knees, the hips, the ankles - they protest solo or often, in unison.  This race was no different.  My mind was feverishly at work preparing for the battle.  There were moments when the mental fortitude began to lose the tug-of-war against my body but eventually, it won.  

26.2 miles were over.  I went past the finish line.  A huge sigh of relief escaped my body as the finisher’s medal rested on my heaving chest.  It was over.  I had logged in my first race of the year - a Full M.  I was happy.  I hadn’t planned this one.  This one came as a surprise to me, the one that wasn’t intended to be......