Miami Race Recap

I am home after a week in the heat and I am sick of the cold already.  On Jan 25th I ran the Miami half marathon in a tank dress and yesterday I ran in Ottawa in lots of layers and -29C temps. It was so cold I had to wear my water belt under my jacket so it did not freeze.  Calgon, take me away again...please! 

Leanne in the foreground and me in the red hat had a great chat as we ran

I headed to Miami on Jan 23rd and I was looking forward to a fun run in South Beach, I love the Art Deco style and that was one of the reason the race appealed to me.  The other was the ability to hop on a cruise ship after the race...which I did :-)  The Saturday was overcast, muggy and windy but Sunday started out cold, well cold for Miami anyway.  At 6:15 when the race was suppose to start it was 10C and I was glad to have my long sleeve t-shirt on.  The race puts your flag on your bib and in the starting corral, I was flashed by another runner showing me her maple leaf on her bib.  It turned out she was from Ottawa as well and was doing the same thing I was, running the half and hopping on a cruise.  I saw her a few time during the race which was nice for me but not for her as she planned on running a sub 2 hour time and I was not.  

The run was great for the first 15ish km/9 miles, I had a few hiccups like compression shorts that would not stay in place but I was enjoying the run.  I managed to stay with the 4:15 marathon pace bunny until the 9 mile marker and then I had to slow my pace.  I had a sharp pain on my toe, like someone was sticking a pin under the nail and the start of a blister on the bottom of the same foot.  I knew at that point a PB was not in the cards but I was determined to keep running, just keep moving forward and I would eventually finish.  I pulled out all the mental tricks I knew, I though of those who could not run, I thought of the athletes in wheelchairs I had passed, I thought of my mother-in-law and I though of my coach and all the time she just kept running regardless of the pain she was in and she has some great stories to tell.  At one point I started walking up a canal bridge, I was fed up and frustrated and so ready to stop but I did not give up, I got mad.  I got mad that I was giving in to the dark side, I had no reason to stop, it was a beautiful sunny day and I was running in a beautiful city, I was healthy, I was happy and I was alive.  I started to run again and I was not going to stop until the finish line, that was the only time I walked the whole race.  

I did finish in 2:09:30, 32 seconds slower then my Las Vegas time and  I was happy with that.  I knew that without the foot issue, I could have met my 2:07 goal time or been real close and I can live with that.  I will not show you a picture of my toe but lets just say it is a nice shade of black and I will be losing the nail any day now.  I finished in the top 22% for my AG, 24% of all Masters women and 26% of all women.  I have worked hard on my running and the results are starting to show, soon I will be going for a sub 2:05 half marathon time and maybe next year I will crack the sub 2 hour mark, I will not stop trying until I do.

After the run, I went back to the hotel to shower and change and then I headed to the cruise port to board our ship, it was a great reward for a year of hard work and helped me re-focus for this year. IMMT is in 6.5 months and this is about to get really real...fast.