Well friends, this was my second full Miami marathon and again a lot of fun combined with hardship.
It was soooo good to see Nicole, Keith, Batshe and my daughter Valerie who now works in Haiti, again. Also the prep. has now its traditional elements such as walking/jogging across the Venetian Causeway toward the Convention centre to pick up the bib. And then cruising on the boardwalk along the sea with a quick peek at the South Beach clientele. Always staying at that friendly Hampton Inn in Dadeland and eating / shopping at the Asia Lan resto, Target boutique, JC Penney, and Sports Authority. Miami is getting a comfortable place. And we all enjoy the brunch at Senora Sandra/Tia's apartment with mimosas and good Costa Rican cuisine. A marathon in the sun when the European winter is full on, what can beat that feeling?!
I recall last year that the less than 1 mile on the Rickenbacker Causeway caused me to slow down big time...because no shade there and only 3 miles away from the finish. Although mentally better prepared for it this year it still hit me...the heat, sun, and the shimmering sea. I have now analysed for myself why this marathon is slow compared to the ones I ran in Europe....we start at around 6.30 hrs early morning with a temp. of about 19 degrees. The first 8 miles are always good...cool and without sun / but when the golden ball starts pounding the blacktop of the Venetian Causeway the temp. shoots up in about half an hour minutes to about 30 degrees in the sun. That steep change in such a short period is hard on the body...and indeed once I got onto the Tiger Trail Av. after Mile 15, I simply had to slow down and fall back to full speedwalking mode. Before that I altered jogging (70%) with speedwalking (30%) and I was on track for a time under 5 hours. C'est la vie. It was great to pass Coconut Grove again, where I lived for 4 months in the Commodore Plaza last year. And hey, this is what happened on the Main Highway in the Grove: the field of runners was broken..in front of me and after me...no one within 25 metres. Slowly driving up on the other side of the road a red Ferrari and when this Italian beauty was close, the window rolled down and a young guy smiled and waved me on...I stuck up my hand to let him now 'thanks and I'll do my best' and increased my speed momentarily. Then I realised that I knew this guy with his bobbed hair from internet pics......'course this was that idol Justin Bieber. Really a possibility? I checked with Nicole later and indeed this Bieber boy was spotted that weekend in Miami. Nice of him to encourage me; nice of me to thank him for it. Somehow he must have felt I did not recognize him. Haha. So with my Antonius 5155 bib I sped on and I decided to eat my wheatbread with salami when I passed the Grove yacht harbor. Interestingly, there is no food for the participants, not even a banana..just water with Gatorade galore, and at only two stations the (in)famous Gatorade Endurance Carb Energy Chews..not really my thing! I also should mention that just as last year (and I do not have this feeling during other marathons) the last 6 miles I feel that my stomach is not in perfect shape; no vomiting yet but it does slow me down as well. And yes...plenty of fellow runners puking in the bushes. A good thing also that I managed my bio household well, no need to pee...
So I managed to even run the last 200 metres with a smile for the picture op. when Batshe took her shots. Pretty exhausted after the 26.2 miles enjoying a bottle of cold Coke. And a slightly better time this year over the past year: 5.32.27 against 5.35.00. Lesson to be applied in consideration of the heat: start in corral E or F instead of H and depart about 15 minutes earlier.
This year's medal is bling bling big size and shiny again...but incredible that the organisers ran out of medals for Keith and Nicole. Nissan as a sponsor is definitely a few marks down from the ING Bank.
And we decided to run also next year ...special occasion for the 5th anniversary of the Haiti/Port au Prince earthquake. Keith, Nicole and myself already registered as three of the 30,000 expected participants. The traditional Sunday night eat and booze party at Larios had to be moved to the more formal Cheesecake factory at the Dadeland Mall...because of the Super Bowl event...even the Cubans then close shop! Unfortunately our waiter took no interest in serving us but had the info about the Broncos against who again in Seattle ....? on his fingertips.
To all who may read this and who were there before....Jenafir, Yara, Kesso, Harry, Steve, Annette, Rachel, and perhaps Neel, Ashraf, Nina, Sabrina, Dwayne, others...let us try to do it next year 25th Jan.
Some stats:
I ran on brand new Brooks Racer S 7, decked out in orange with Zensah compression socks, and my German patella wrapped around my left knee (this really makes a difference!).
In this strong field of mainly Latino runners I came in # 42 out of 52 participants in my age group (60-65). And of all the marathon runners # 2892 out of # 3593. Do note that the vast majority run the half marathon and that there are more female than male runners!
Victor of the men's elite was Samuel Malakuen (Kenya) @ 2.19.46 and women's elite was Mariska Kramer (the Netherlands) @ 2.49.27. Indeed confirming this to be a slow marathon..over 15 minutes slower than the Berlin marathon in 2013.
See my split time at 10 kms is 1.11. then 21.1 kms at 2.36 / at 30 kms 3.47.end is 5.32.27. So I already was slowing down at the half split!
Valerie @ 2.44.21 / half marathon
Keith @ 3.20.10
Nicole @ 4.06.42
see also www.ingmiamimarathon.com
Friends....doesn't this all encourage you to put your racing shoes straps on? So, prepare mentally because it is all in the head...the legs are a tool only / training does help of course.
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