Miami Marathon & Half weekend – Recap of it all!

Signed up for the Tropical 5k to run it slow with Phoebe in the stroller. Also for the nice looking gender specific shirt (but didn’t get the right one 😦  )  Unfortunately a week before she got a bad cold and could not do the race with me. Derrick & I ran the race, I was going to try to run it slow so that my legs would be fresh for the half marathon the next day. The last half marathon I had done was at the beginning of December and I felt like it was a complete failure, due to coming in at 2:06. But like every time that I try to restrain myself from going fast, I went fast. My first mile was 7:52 (way too fast) and from there I got slower and slower. Finish time: 25:18 – So much for resting the legs! I did this race back in 2013 and came in at 26:11. Back then I felt super fast lol. Anyhow the race ended, we grabbed our cold hard bagels & dropped my Nuun tab into my water. The medal is way prettier than it was back in 2013.

Checked the results & then jumped on a school bus and went back to Watson Island where we picked up our car and went home. Around 10:30 am headed to Wynwood to the Miami Marathon & Half Health Expo to pick up our packets. It looked like a daytime artwalk there was so much traffic down there. Brought Phoebe with us to check out the madness, and madness it was, very very crowded in the expo location compared to the previous years expos in the Miami Beach Convention Center. Picked up our packets and went over to Freshii for lunch.

Quick run down of how Sunday morning went:

3:15 am – Wake up Feed Phoebe

3:30-3:50 am – Pump 7 ounces of milk

3:50-4:15 am – Get dressed & ready for the race

4:15 am – Leave for the race

4:30 am – Get to AAA, find parking, hang out in the car for awhile, then venture out to use the toilets at the AAA. Except the AAA wasn’t open this year!! The only year that it was locked up tight, also the coldest year I’ve done this race. Last year was cold and we all ended up staying inside till 15 minutes before start time to stay warm. Major fail. Find a nearby port-a-potty and head back into the garage to stay warm in the car.

5:45 am – Head to Corral E (Moving on up from F last 2 years!)

6:14 am – Our corral gets to start line!

I have to say I wasn’t a big fan of the new course this year, I prefer the Venetian over the MacArthur. I haven’t ran over any bridges in quite a long time so this was very harsh on my legs. While running through South Beach we spotted CoatMan and Dr. Dribble. I was feeling fairly strong till we got back to running over the MacArthur, my brain was telling me I should just walk up the bridge instead of trying to run it but I didn’t. Sometimes you just have to override those thoughts and keep pushing through. This reminded me a bit of my first half marathon where I did not drink anything the whole race but in this race I didn’t eat my usual Honey Stinger chews either but I had them on me for post race at least. I guess the freezing cold weather didn’t mess with my hydration or nutrition needs or I’m evolving somehow to not require as many calories for a half marathon distance. I guess I will have to test it out on another day since I have just signed up for 2017 full marathon. It will be my 3rd full marathon & 3rd Miami Marathon.

This year I ran as part of team Every Mother Counts/Oiselle Volee, I will post about that soon!

Finished the half in 1:58:25. My 2nd fastest half marathon. Hopefully 2016 brings a new half marathon PR and only sub 2 hr halfs. Overall I had a fun time, despite those bridges and now a few days later the soreness in my quads and hamstrings has gone away. Ready for another half!