There cannot be many more beautiful HM courses than the Miami Half. Running by a dozen or more cruise ships, seeing tug boats tooting horns and spouting water, and seeing the Art Deco Skyline of Miami and Miami Beach at Sunrise is inspiring. I ran fairly well today with 17,000 of my closest friends. 1:46:35 officially. Not a PR but solid enough. 22 out of 208 in my AG. 900 out of 9318 Gender. Avg HR 162, 89.5% of max. That's pretty high. 8:07 average pace. A little warm at 60F at the start (6:15 AM) but not bad. Early on I was running sub-8's and feeling good with them. That ended up costing me a little in the later miles as they caught up to me. I tried to keep the sub-8's going but the body didn't want to listen. But a great day, an outstanding course, and a very solid race! I'll get that sub-8 HM eventually! I ran for awhile with a friend - a local girl who won her 40-45 AG last year in the A1A Full. She was running the full and did her half time exactly what my HM final was. Amazing, strong and beautiful runner. I love running with her - when I can keep up! At about mile 10 or so she yells to me "Go for it, Bill. Push it!" I turned around and said "This is pushing it for me!" I saw the Coatman too who was wearing his trademark Coat with Orange and Blue stremers all over it. I said hello to him and he grunted something back. I left him alone. Afterward a bunch of us went to a Ft. Lauderdale landmark Lester's Diner for Breakfast. Good times and good food. Here are my splits for those data-geeks among you. Mile 1 - 8:22 quite crowded and over the biggest bridge Mile 2 - 7:55 Cruise Ships everywhere! Mile 3 - 8:00 2nd bridge, the 2nd highest Mile 4 - 7:56 Groovin' Mile 5 - 8:00 Onto Miami Beach and the S. Beach Hotels Mile 6 - 7:56 Starting to groove Mile 7 - 7:52 Groovin' Mile 8 - 7:56 Groovin' some more. Heading off Miami Beach Mile 9 - 8:03 Little bump bridges. Slowing Mile 10 - 8:10 More little bump bridges. Grrrr. Slowest mile Mile 11 - 8:04 Trying to kick it in (Nope!) Mile 12 - 8:04 Still trying to kick it in (still Nope!) Finish - 8:13 average last 1.1 miles. 1:46:35 total. Happy with it. Time to start putting in some longer runs ... If anyone is thinking of doing this GREAT race, do it. A 50-stater could do no better that chalking up Florida in Miami. They have a Registration Blitz for next year starting Tuesday morning. Super rates if you register during the Blitz. See the ING Miami Marathon website if interested. I'll be online early. And you get one of the coolest medals ever - a double spinner with a palm tree in the middle. (Picture below) Thanks for reading and for all the (never-ending) support! Bill

Good job Bill! Sorry it was not a PR, but it sounds like you are fairly pleased with your race and like it was a good time.

Bill well done, very good time & enjoyable day 60F sounds pretty good for a Northern Ohioan right now That is a beautiful medal Smile all day you deserve it, Congrats

It's been a lot of fun hearing about your training and how much more excited you have been on some of your stronger runs. You seem to be learning more about what works for you, and I have no doubt this is just the beginning of more fast races for you. I hope you will see it this way too because this could be an exciting year for you of great possibility. You are also right up there at around top 10% of all runners in AG and gender, and older than most I would say. A lot to be happy about. Great to read this. Spareribs

Well done, Bill. Surely a confidence builder.

Thanks for the report and recommendation. Sounds like a fine day and a great race! So sorry that when you tried to "turn it on" there was no cooperation from the bod on those last couple miles. I've been there, and it is always shocking and humorous to me at the same time. From the sound of things, you are setting up for a great year racing.

Although it wasn't the PR you might have been looking for, you still ran a great race Bill. I am confident that you will hit that PR soon enough. That really is a nice medal isn't it, I sure wouldn't mind running that one someday vs. what I normally run this time of year, although the warmer temps this time of year could bite me pretty hard! As Ribs said it's been a pleasure watching your progression and I look forward to seeing more;. Congrats on a great run!

"One of my goals is to eventually be as fast as you......"

Holly, your Marathon PR is still better than mine ... Bill