It's February and time to run another marathon. This is my third marathon. I spent four months training to get ready for this crazy thing. Many a day and evening of two and three hour runs, track workouts, rest, studying, and sleep made up my training schedule.
The day before the race was spent picking up race materials at the expo in downtown Miami, cruising around the expo for new ideas (including gathering information on future races), resting, and eating lots and lots of carbs for race day energy.
Finally the day arrived and I was incredibly NERVOUS ! More so than any other race. I had a specific plan that I was going to follow. The goal was to run 26.2 miles under four hours. That would require me to average 8:45 per mile for the entire length of the course.
Rain was to be expected. And oh boy did it rain! A light drizzle started at the sound of the gun, tapered off around mile 13, turned into a torrential downpour at mile 18, then sprinkled for the remainder of the race.
The first half of the race had a mob of runners. Fortunately I was near the head of the line at the start. Three quarters of the runners were doing the half marathon. I was feeling good and waved and did high fives with some of the spectators along the course. I was amazed there were so many people along the way. It was really a crummy day to watch a race.
At the 12 mile mark I was drenched. I stopped and got a change of socks and a fresh top. That was a very welcome change. I was on target for under 4 hours till I hit the 22 mile mark. At that point I suffered the marathon runners worst enemy-- "hitting the wall". Only it was more like a fly swatter and I was the fly. Lactic acid had built to extreme levels and I was reduced to moosh. I struggled through the remaining 4 miles, not sure whether I should cry or jump for joy at the finish line. I wasn't smiling like I was during the first half. I was really glad to get the race over with.
I wore a Polar heart rate monitor during the race. It was kind of uncomfortable to wear, but I'm a data freak and I wanted to know what my heart rate was during the race. I managed to average 159 beats/minute for the entire 4:10:56 race. Average pace during the race was 9:35/mile. I even managed to throw in a 7:19 mile through the third mile.
Running a marathon, I found, is one of the biggest physical and mental challenges that I could endure. It's a learning experience every time and having the added surprise of bad weather made me more resilient and open to change than ever before.
Enjoy the pictures.....
