RR - Miami 2010

Race Report
Sun, Jan 31/10
Miami Marathon
Marathon # 324
3:58:07 – 4AG

This will be a short and quick report. I wasn’t supposed to run this race and I was very disappointed and frustrated with my time and performance.

I had promised myself during the final 5K of the race last year (see RR Miami 01-09) that I wouldn’t run the race again in 2010. However when the Sports Manager and I decided to take a cruise that started in Miami on race day it only made sense to run this race rather than run in another city/state and fly into Miami on Sun for the cruise.

I had trained hard the whole month of Jan and even went on the wagon (no booze) in an effort to lose an extra 5 lbs and get down to competitive race weight. I had high expectations – to run a sub 3:45 or better – if the weather was good!

Unfortunately it didn’t happen as planned/hoped! On sat we drove down to Miami to pick up my race package and join Joe and Brenda Treige for pasta dinner. The Treige’s are old friends going back to our early career days in Ottawa, Canada and were joining us for a one-week cruise of the Western Caribbean after the race.

The weather was hot on Sat and forecast to be warm again on Sun. Not good news! Sadly the weather was warm (72 F) and humid at the 6 am start on Sun. The only good news was that it was overcast and cloudy so the temps never warmed up much above the mid 70s. I was assigned to the 3rd coral with about 1000 runners in front of me (a total of 18,000 runners in the marathon and half). It took 2 min just to reach the start line and I was boxed in for the 1st mile across the Macarthur Causeway. I passed mile 1 in a slow 9:06 (chip time) and mile 3 in 26:33. I was already behind my target pace for a sub 3:45 – and my legs were not moving smooth and easy? When I passed mile 10 in 1:26:46 and a split time of 8:45 I knew that I would not achieve my target! I passed the Half in 1:54:38. I naively thought that I might be able to hold that ‘slow’ pace to finish with a sub 3:50 but that dream/fantasy also disappeared when I passed mile 20 in 2:57:47 and a split of 9:50. I was fading and now it became a struggle and took lots of willpower just to hold a sub 10-min pace so I could cross the finish line in 3:58:07.

I was very disappointed/unhappy/frustrated with my time and performance. I had tried to key on this race and felt that I was in good shape and ready to run sub-3:45 and maybe even close to 3:30? I can’t explain why I fell apart except for the weather? I was even more discouraged when I researched the ‘unofficial’ results online to learn the top three in my Age Group finished under 3:15. Damn – the weather never affected them!!! However the ‘official’ results later indicated that the winner finished in 3:48 – I would have won my AG if I could have achieved my target!

No sense crying over spilt milk – it was time to begin our one-week cruise to celebrate the Sport Manager’s birthday – and also begin a special training program called “Gluttony & Sloth”. Since I trained so hard all month and sacrificed booze for the whole month I felt I deserved a week of “Gluttony and Sloth” – not caring about what I ate or drank or if I exercised!

We met the Treige’s on the ship – the Carnival Valor – and enjoyed a wonderful week exploring Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. And we ate and drank and partied without concern.

It was a fun week. And as I mentioned in a pre-race report I sacrificed my body for the betterment of all my readers. After one week of “Gluttony and Sloth” I returned home with an additional 7 lbs and a head cold thanks to some butthead on the cruise. And I have to run another (international) marathon next weekend!

This race will definitely be a test of the “Gluttony & Sloth” program. If I finish the race successfully – and alive – it will be Good News for many of my readers who are quite familiar with the program because it will mean that they are pre-eminently qualified to run a marathon?

Stay tuned!