ING Miami

ING Miami marathon weekend. Yes, this time I remained at 'home' down here in Miami to compete, instead of travelling, to fulful my desire & destiny of being an athlete for life.

Saturday agenda-5k

I stuck to my tradition of using the tropical 5k as a tune-up for the main event the following day. That means I had to pass on other races. If I were back in form, I could've won the William boynton 5k, since the overall winner didnt even break 19 (Jeff P)! My buddy (& rival) Mike K got 2nd overall. The top master 's time was a minute slower than my training run today (I was a pacer for fellow runner Gene) which yielded a 3rd in my age group (83) & I was 22nd overall. In fact, I could've walked this one as a runner and still get the same position in that race! The Omega XL 5k was more serious. The winner of this race was faster than the one I was involved with; both were in the 16's. My race topped all with attendance (1400 finishers) but that race had about 250 vs only around 60 in the aforementioned event. George chose the wrong event but still won his age group. My time today would've been 2nd in my age group there. The other race was on the west coast, named run for the paws, which I wouldve skipped due to the distance. Afterwards, I went to the expo to pick up my packet & met up with lots of fellow athletes, most of whom were planning on running tomorrow. Big treat was meeting Ryan Hall, the American Olympian & getting an autograph, in a addition to an interview at the 5k post race with coach GP; I later sat in on a lecture by him at the expo.

Sunday agenda-the main event

I dub it as such because #1, the marathon and half are the feature events and #2, we're talking about distance, which requires endurance. I am on par to get the ten year jacket so the other 2 distance races (Ocala marathon & Key west half) have to wait. It started off rainy & remained cloudy throughout. Although not hot, it was very humid. This is my 3rd half of the year (& month), and coupled with the fact that this course is not exactly flat & forgiving, I didn't expect a great race. However, I did not account for a wardrobe malfunction. No, not my clothes, but rather my running shoes. I set a personal goal of 1:34 (1 minute better than the best this year) & was on pace to do so until after 7-8 miles in, when on the grating of a bridge in Miami beach, a portion of the mid foot tread started flapping, much like a flat. I was forced to slow down various times as eventually 2 pieces tore off of my left sneaker. Once completely gone after 11 miles, the friction built up heat & my foot felt like it was on fire by the conclusion of run. Someone I knew was looking to take advantage of my misfortune in the sprint zone (.1). God willing, in that area, I WILL NOT BE DENIED! I sprinted with all I had left & edged him out. While he beat me by virtue of chip time, I was d***ed sure not gonna let him actually pass me & win by the clock time as well, if I could help it. I immediately went to medical to cool down that foot. I wound up 6 minutes off the goal; the greatest injury was to my ego. Fortunately, I escaped without any serious physical harm. The post race refreshments were average at best. For repeat finishers, there was nothing to write home about in regards to the finishers medal. No official mylar blankets were given out. I had to literally jump the fence to get a generic one to keep warm after some idiot officials hassled me about going back in to get what I needed.

Congrats to all my runners depot teammates who finished. Allan, we missed ya; get well soon!