This was a windy and memorable race. The Colavita Team dinner on Friday night was nice. We had a significant wait for the servers to take orders and bring food, maybe next year we should begin this an hour earlier. My race bib (101) and shirt were at the dinner for me, as was the bib for Walter Seltzer — thanks to Linda Meyer doing that favor for me.
Race morning saw Walter meet at my house at 3:00 am and Maureen come to pick us up at 3:15 am for the drive to the finish line. We avoided a blown out tire accident that happened right before us at the Woolbright Rd exit. Right behind us we saw police cars and emergency lights – that would have been a delay on top of the 1 hour drive south. We drove down Sunrise Blvd to A1A and down to the Bahia Mar VIP parking. It was very windy and 71 degrees, everything was affected by the string southerly wind. I could have had a throw away long sleeve shirt for this one, it felt cold even as the temps were warm. We made it to the shuttle bus and it departed quickly after our boarding. The bus driver went at a normal speed (last year she was SLOW) but she didn’t know where the drop off was. She wandered past Broward Blvd, made a few turns and lined up behind all of the traffic looking to park near the Start line. Walter, Maureen and I got off in traffic and walked the rest of the way, beating the bus that slowly crept ahead in traffic.
I went to the restroom twice before the race began. I had eaten salmon and rice dinner at 4:30 pm Sat afternoon and really put in the effort to relax and stay off my feet before the race. I wanted to treat this like a race I traveled to. I drank Pedialyte and slept earl for the 2:45 am wake up. My clothes and equipment wee ready for a quick exit. So I was ready for the race!
I waited at the Start line and this year we all made it on time for a Colavita Team photo. That was good. I looked for Kerry, Justina and Maura at the start line. Maura was borrowing a visor, so I didn’t want to miss her and have to carry or engineer what to do with a second one. I wore a new lululemon visor, a vented black Colavita singlet, Flip Belt stretch shorts, and a leather pouch belt. I took a Maurten Caffeine gel at the start before the race began. There were 5500 starters with 1000 in the marathon and 4500 in the half. I had several SIS Beta Nootropic gels, a Maurten regular gel and salt pills in the pouch.
The race start went well, I was at Mile 1 in 7:53. I fugured I’d stay around 8 minute pace until exposed to the head wind on the way back for Lap #1. The course ran straight down Las Olas Blvd, crosses over the intercoastal, then it makes a right turn onto A1A. this little switchback section allows you to see friends and folks that you know before North on A1A.
Everything felt good and I made sure to take gels at mile three and before mile six. Entering the park, I was in the dark, but running at good pace. Coming out of the park I saw Walter and used the last of my hand, carried a bottle of water before heading north. We saw the 1/2 marathon leader very early heading south already this year. I ran through the two popular and crowded Water Stops before the half marathon turnaround. All of this was done while running with the wind. We ran up past Galt Ocean Mile and on to Palm Avenue. There’s a good aid station and only a short jog of the road to the tournament for Lap number one.
Turning around and heading south gave me my first exposure to the wind. It seemed to be swirling around among the tall condo and office buildings. Once we are clear of those, it became a headline when we ran just along the beach. I was concentrating on heart rate keeping it below 160 for the first 11 miles. Then once it went over 160 my goal was to keep it low as long as possible. Running the run against the wind heading south had me still on pace just below eight minutes per mile. I made it to the turnaround near the Finish line park and spun around to finally run with the wind. I took off my visor in hopes that the breeze were cool my hair and the back of my head which were sweating. I ran well for mile 16, 17 and 18 which put me back among the tall buildings and off the ocean. The two Water Stops that have all one share before half marathon turnaround were now having problems. Wind was blowing cups off the tables, and they didn’t seem to have enough volunteers. I saw runners filling cups or their own bottles by themselves at coolers. I skipped one and headed north, knowing I could get drinks twice near the marathon turn around. I kept seeing Justina and Maura ahead of me, they were both doing very well. At the turnaround, I knew I had a little more than 5 miles left. I was still keeping pace at Mile 21 and 22 coming back to the 2 overrun water stops had me skip drinks and luckily get a small bottle of water from a neighborhood person. I kept going south into an even stronger wind for the second lap. Once I was clear of the large buildings I started to feel cramps and a high heart rate. I mixed in some short walks and stretches to keep moving forward, but my body and heart rate catch up. Mile 23 to 24 was a little slower, and after that, I even incorporate more walks in with running.
In the final mile I saw Jim Crist pacing with one other runner, I’m ensure I tapped him, said “Hi,” and ran in to the finish line from there. I saw a bike rider near the finish line chute, once I got behind him and close he veered towards his left which is where I was running! I yelled, as did people lining the course, he went to the side and I ran around him.
I finished in 3:34 which was ok and good for a marathon in the center of Boston Marathon training. Missing a few water stops wasn’t ideal later in the race. I did well fueling and keeping things in check with the salt pills.
Another A1A race done with a prize for 2nd place in my age group – catching first place wasn’t close – he finished in 3:11.
-dm
drun4fun 