With 60 marathons on the schedule for this year, there’s no question I’m going to have challenging days that aren’t a whole lot of fun. Today was definitely one of those days. Running a marathon in Miami today seemed like a job, although I’m not complaining. It’s a pretty good job.
I knew heading into this race that it was going to be a challenging day. I didn’t sleep much Friday night (5 1/2 hours), flew cross country Saturday, didn’t sleep a whole lot Saturday night (4 1/2 hours) and woke up at 3:30 a.m. for the 6:15 start. That’s 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning my body time with 10 hours of sleep the two nights before!
I actually felt decent, but the weather was not at all conducive to running a marathon. It was about 70 degrees with 96 percent humidity at the start. It was really muggy and people around me were sweating before the start. I was convinced it would be a long, miserable day, but I didn’t fear it. My plan was to run by heart rate, keep my body under control.
I got rolling and I felt OK to start, but I felt really warm. There was nothing at comfortable about the run, but my legs were moving OK. I started to warm up pretty quickly and knew my suspicions were coming true. It was quickly turning into a difficult day and I knew I would have to take really good care of myself to not wreck myself.
I feel like I did a fairly good job of that. I knew I wouldn’t run a 3:07 like I did last week, but I wanted to at least get as much out of myself as I could. I was consistently running in about the 7:30 range. That’s all I had. I was feeling really warm and didn’t want to blow up.
The course was pretty nice. It started going through busier parts of Miami. We ran past a row of 8-10 cruise ships in port, then went through South Beach, and I think we hit downtown before the half. I’m not certain on my Miami geography, but it’s always fun to take a foot tour of a new city and see things I wouldn’t ordinarily see. I hit the half in 1:38, but didn’t feel bad. I wasn’t fatiguing too bad and I was maintaining pretty well.
The second half of the race went mostly through more residential areas, which I enjoyed. I like seeing neighborhoods in new cities. I started to slow a tiny bit in the high teens. 7:28s were turning into 7:34s. I thought I was looking at a 3:17 or 3:18, but I really started to struggle starting at about 22. My miles were pretty close to 8 minutes or so and I was giving it all I had.
Me and my friend/host Tim McDuffee after the race. He went 2:53 in that humidity … now that’s fast!
I could feel a sub-3:20 slipping away, but I had nothing. By 24, I knew I was cooked and I was going to be close to that 3:20. I pushed and pushed, and felt very confident that I was giving it everything I had. It’s very important to me to give 100 percent in all of my races.
I tried to go a little harder at 25, but my body had nothing for me. I kept pushing and pushing and knew I’d be close. I saw the finish line about 1/4 mile in advance and gave it another try, and didn’t have much of an answer. I crossed the line 3:20:03 after I went through the start.
I don’t like the time a whole lot, but I’m completely comfortable with my effort. I stayed with a friend of mine who went 2:45 on the same course last year, but went 2:53 today and thinks he ran better. I know it was a tough day and I know I gave it my all. I think I finished about 145th and there were somewhere around 5,000 starters in the marathon. Not horrible, I guess. But the weather was.
So, that’s 6 out of 60 for Operation Jack. Next up, Diamond Valley and Surf City next weekend.
Woot!! Sounds like a rough day out there, Sam, but I’m impressed you that you pushed yourself 100% despite the heat and humidity! I’ve been thinking… you’re going to all sorts of cool, different cities that lots of us haven’t been to before. Do you have a small camera or camera phone that you could carry in a pouch and take pictures before/during/or after the race? That way you could document this years journey through pictures and us readers could get a cool idea of where you’ve been racing! I love pictures. What can I say… Anyways, congrats again and I hope you have a safe journey home!
That weather sounds awful!! Between that and the lack of sleep, no wonder you were pushing so hard! But, hey, you were in Miami–that sounds pretty nice. Even if really hot and humid. In January. Crazy!
Between weather, travel and lack of sleep you still did great Sam! Way to go! I was thinking of you yesterday on my recovery run and hoping the weather may have cooled off for you since it was pretty chilly in O-town but no such luck. At least you had great scenery! Congrats on 6 down, bring on Feb and Gasparilla!!!