This turned out nicely!
Although problems arose for many when the course measured out long for both half & full marathoners, I had a good race 3 weeks after Miami Marathon. This was my “long run” for the Tokyo Marathon
First up – the Colavita Team dinner. It was held again at Luigi DiRoma in Pompano. I drove down with Maria, with some added adventure before the meal. Maria was set to be a pacer for the first 14 miles of the 3:50 finish group. So she had to visit the Expo to get that shirt & pacer stick. We drove down in moderate traffic, leaving Northlake Blvd at 3:30pm. We drove on I-95 to Davie Blvd then east. The small Intracoastal bridge was in the down position but the gates were jammed in the half up setting. Cars and larger vehicles took turns coming into the center lane to go around the semi-lowered gates and cross the span. When it wa sour turn, we saw a Broward County bus on the other side of the bridge emptying its passengers who opted to walk instead. The bus was too tall to pass under the broken gates.
On our side, a vehicle earlier than ours must have crashed through the stuck gates! Pieces were on the floor and the half broken gate hung over the rightmost lane which no one could pass under. We had easy passage to the Convention Center after that delay. Maria ran in to grab her things, I drove around in a circle til she texted me saying she was outside again. I picked her up & we saw plenty of northbound traffic nonsense on I-95. I suggested we take A1A all the way up to Pompano instead. I could show Maria the “old A1A” course and we’d likely beat the GPS estimate for arrival at the restaurant.
That worked, we arrived well in time for the cocktail hour and a great meal. The Colavita folks come down for the Florida “fam” trip each year, they spent plenty of time chatting and all. We were served our meals at 8:30 pm and got our race day shirts, shorts and packets. It’s a good piece of this weekend each year, a big thanks to Jerry Helm & the Colavita crew for hosting me/us each year!
Race morning had me meeting Maureen at 3:30 am at Carvel for the drive down. This year we would approach the VIP Bahia Mar parking lot from the north, not using the 17th St causeway southern route. We stopped on Las Olas Blvd to give a parking Pass to Kerry at the Riverside Hotel. By arriving before 4:30 am, it was EASY to come down A1A past the Swimming Hall of Fame and into the Bahia lot. Remember this for next year!
We met with Kerry and hit the restrooms a few times before the race started. A new start line a few feet north of the finish line meant we’d see a course change somewhere to make up the difference. Matt, the race director explained my marathon course would be extended further south on the first lap turn around, which I expected and saw to be true. Other things would affect the course distance on race day, I think I have discovered how that happened.
I told Maureen and Kerry I’d look to run between 8:00-8:10 pace and base my speed on my heart rate. We left the start at 6:00 and spun south onto A1A. Kerry quickly got into the mix of people, zigzagging thru slower folks to keep her pace. I wasn’t going to keep up with her for that. I saw my pace was 7:50, sometimes faster, so I settled in to get it right around 8:10 for the first mile. I didn’t see the first mile marker, but my watch showed me a pace of 8:16 for Mile #1. I didn’t see any mile markers for the first 5 miles, but I know the course and how far north I had to run (twice) so I wasn’t concerned with my pace per mile. For the first one, I was under 150 beats per minute, that’s what was important.
I ran through the dark neighborhood and saw the Caribbean Princess coming in to port, very cool to see. We ran through the narrow roads and popped up in an odd place, needing to go 270 degrees around a small raised traffic circle to be sent out to A1A next to the Speedway gas station.
Hmmm, we never did that before, I remember thinking!
Here’s a view of where we ran last year in 2023 according to my Strava map… It’s exactly like the course map from the race website shown above.
I believe we ran too far west in the dark neighborhood. That had us come back eastward before finsing the correct road to get us back on the big and wide A1A lanes for the return to the starting area. My marked up diagram from THIS YEAR’S Strava map shows the differnece.
If I’m correct, this is why BOTH marathon and half marathoners had incorrect measurements for their courses. The error had to be in a place that both courses used – which was on the early “neighborhood” segment of the run.
My run north was good, I saw my HR hop into the low 150s. I wasn’t exerting hard, so this was a good pace for me. 72 degrees and 95% humidity. I ate a SIS Beta gel near Mile 5 and took 2 salt pills before that at Mile 4. It was a slight breeze coming from the northwest, as has happened a few previous times at this race. I made it to the turnaround, seeing Eric Kalina and Christin Sustar ahead of me. This was Christin’s first marathon. I wanted to feel this strong at this very same place when I was at Mile 20 + 21 I remember thinking.
I came back down from Mile 10 and ate another gel, plus more salt pills. If cardiac drift can be attributed to dehydration, I was sure I could fend some of that off by being in a state where I retained the fluids. I ran next to many of the half marathoners that were in the last 4miles of their race. I drank water only at every aid station. I took another SIS gel and felt good. I wasn’t concentrating on pace, each glance at my watch was to check HR. I stayed under 160 for the first half. I saw a few “8:03″ and ‘8:09” miles check in, but that wasn’t really a concern. I wanted this long run before Tokyo in very humid conditions to show I could balance good exertion and keep the HR in control.
I ran down A1A past the hotels and got a nice surprise near Las Olas Blvd. I knew where I was but must have forgotten the traffic lights address only northbound cars, so I didn’t see the back of the light at Las Olas Blvd. I saw the Marriott Courtyard Hotel and Bahia Mar. This meant I was closer to the southern turnaround that I thought! I ran to that, placed a bit further than previous years to the entrance to the beach park and finish line area. I made the turn and had another SIS Beta gel while coming north, now into a more significant wind. I ran behind a string of runners, now all confirmed as marathoners, with no particular athlete to aim at or catch. I wanted to stay in sight of the folks ahead of me, run the tangent around the mild curves, and get to the Mile 20-ish turnaround at Washingtonia St again still feeling good. My HR went into the mid 160s, it was in a good range. I took more salt pills and water at all stops. The road was less crowded, but still had walkers in the half marathon around. I passed their turnaround and went onto Palm Ave and into the Lauderdale by the Sea neighborhood. I took water and passed a few people running north, no one passed me or had for a long while.
I made the turnaround and headed thankfully back south. I ran up on a tall girl who recognized me as someone that had met me at Miami Marathon pacing a few years ago. She knew Richard Jankus and remembered me, too.
I came back on to A1A for the last 5+ miles home. I saw my HR in the high 160s, but I felt good and knew I wasn’t in HR trouble. I sped up and ran through each water stop confident and always taking a drink. Once on the segment south of the condo building, a spot on the course I know well, I concentrated on not looking at pace but running faster than I had been. It’s a long straightaway with no shade, but ok for today, the sun was behind clouds. I was fortunate that there wasn’t any rain yet and here I was more than 3 hours into the race. It was predicted to be raining all morning.
I kept going, Mile 23, Mile 24 then saw Christin and her boyfriend. He was encouraging her to speed up now if she could, I think she was happy running at that pace the remaining two miles. A small guy who looked like he could have been in my age group passed me with less that 1.75 miles to go, I wasn’t thinking I should chase him. This race had a purpose, and it wasn’t to win a prize. I ran well for the remaining mile plus – taking the water wherever it was offered. I passed a few photographers – They are wisely positioned here to catch the last gasp finish line push of the athletes.
I came into the park feeling good, ran down the last straightaway and finished in 3:33:35.
This was a good day and a run well executed!
I found Carl & Maureen, got my results and finished 3rd in my AG for the day. I found Christin and her boyfriend and congratulated her on her race. She ran 3:35:xx for a 2nd place in her AG.
Kerry was back at the hotel gathering her family and getting Alex to the start of the Kid’s Mile race.
We watched the Kid’s Mile race and I got a nice video of Alex finishing. Since the weather was now changing to rain, many of the vendors were packing up and leaving. There wasn’t a band, I got a Michelob Ultra can of beer, and received the AG award from Jerry of Colavita.
The course being measured long was an issue of discussion among many, that and people scrambling to gather their things to get out of the rain. The usual boisterous A1A post race was doused by wind and rain. I was cold and we retreated to Maureen’s car to change and begin the drive north. We met Anne Carroll at Flanigan’s/Big Daddy’s on Southern Blvd for beer and burgers.
Once home I went quickly into a hot epsom salt filled tub to soak and warm the chill that I had the whole way home.
A1A for 19 years in a row – This was a good one and served it’s purpose to line me up physically and mentally for Tokyo in two weeks.
-dm
drun4fun 