Shaunna's ING Miami Marathon race report (Read 598 times)

I have been so excited to write this race report for the last 6 months (so this is just a warning that it will be really long)! I never would have thought I could run a marathon, and I am so thankful to the community at RA for inspiring me to attempt it. I had a 3-tier goal system for this: 1.Finish 2.Sub- 5:00 3.Sub- 4:30 (stretch goal) I followed Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 1 plan for this race. I felt pretty solidly trained with the mileage (peaking at 44 mpw) and 2 20 milers. That 3 week taper felt like it lasted months though- I really missed running. I actually slept decently last night. Managed to fall asleep at 9:30 (except for a good luck wake-up call by a well meaning friend at 10:15). Compared to my sleepless night before the half, I wasn’t that nervous. Of course, I was trying not to think about it, but I do feel like I was emotionally ready for this race. Woke up at 3:30, out of bed at 3:45. I usually only eat a granola bar if I eat before a long run, but I felt like I needed more for this, so I had a plain bagel right away. Got dressed and Body-glided up, checked the weather, and grabbed my Garmin. It wouldn’t turn on. I freaked. Luckily, Eric put in this great search function and I was able to easily find this thread. The soft reset didn’t work, but the hard reset did, and I just answered no at the reset screen without having to put in my info again (Jeff, I am indebted to you forever for that post!). Off we go: I asked a friend who was running this for the 3rd time if I could get a ride with them. I figured I’d be less stressed, and my husband could sleep in and catch me on the course, because him standing around bored at the start for an hour is something neither of us wanted to deal with. So I slowly jogged the mile to my friend’s place (a nice warm up) and rode with them. We got to the course around 5:20 am. I went into the American Airlines Arena to use the bathrooms since there was time and it’s always nicer to use a real bathroom. After that I got in my corral and ate my pre-race granola bar. The wheelchair marathoners started at 6:10. That part always tears me up. I still wasn’t nervous though, I think the statement that the marathon is run during your training really stuck with me and I knew if I could keep my pace easy that I’d be able to accomplish goal #1. Weather was 63 degrees and clear though I knew it would cloud up later and not warm up too much—pretty ideal for South Florida! At 6:15 we were off. It only took about 3 minutes for me to cross the start. It seemed like people were flying out of the gate. I was glad I had the Garmin to keep me from going too fast while it felt easy. We turned onto the MacArthur Causeway (less then .3 mile) and I was surprised to see people walking already. Maybe they were following Galloway, but they must have sprinted from the start! On the causeway is the worst hill. I was surprised at how steep it actually was, it doesn’t feel like that in the car. I was really trying to keep myself to 10:00 min miles, and it seemed like everyone was flying by me. The causeway lasts the first 3 miles, and it felt pretty long. We ran east watching the sun rise ahead with the cruise ships beside us. We reached South Beach and turned right into the Art Deco District. I was clocking 9:45 pace and no matter how much I tried to slow down it just felt so easy. We turned onto Ocean Drive (famous for clubs/bars). The sun was up and still pretty clear, but you could tell the clouds were about to roll in. There weren’t many spectators out, mostly just guests at hotels who had friends or family running. They were really only cheering for them, but hey it was early. At least they were out there. I was worried about nutrition. I didn’t really think about cramping until I saw the intro to “Spirit of the Marathon” so I wanted to get enough nutrients to try and avoid it the last 6 miles. I decided to do what I did in training and stop to take a GU and drink a cup of water instead of trying to do it while running. I figured I should do it more frequently during the race, so I opted to do it at the 5/10/15/20 mile water stations. I wore my Fuel Belt with 2 water bottles and 2 Gatorade bottles. Not many runners were carrying water, but since I like to sip and was used to training with it I decided to do it. Plus I’ve trained with GU and they were using Clif shots on the course, so I wanted to bring my own gels along. This was nice as I got to skip all the crowded aid stations in the first half except for miles 5 and 10 where I wanted a whole cup of water. Continuing: We ran around South Beach some more heading north, then turned onto the Venetian Causeway, a toll road with some VERY expensive property along it. I was still running just under 10:00 miles at mile 8, and I started to think I had a shot of breaking 4:30. It all just felt so good. Now I know that even though it felt like I was going out slow I still fell into the trap. At mile 10.5 we reached mainland Miami again. There was a huge “Cheer Zone” and for the first time I felt energy from the crowds. It was like running a quarter mile tunnel of cheering fans on both sides and gave me a boost of energy. From here the course goes through some really sketchy areas of downtown (which I try to avoid and I can’t believe we showed to all the tourists!). The skies were overcast by now and while it felt great running, it didn’t do anything to make downtown look more appealing. There were a lot of suffering half marathoners at this point and I tried to encourage them that they only had a mile left. My upper back was getting tight and I realized that even though I had been shaking my arms out frequently that I needed to stretch that more, so concentrated on that for the next few miles. The half marathoners broke off to finish and we were on our own. I immediately noticed that the pace dropped and people were walking. Up until this point I hadn’t walked at all (except for the 2 GU complete stops), but I started walking through the water stops from mile 14 up to mile 23. At 14 I needed a bathroom and jumped into a porta potty to pee. It had toilet paper (YES!!!). Lost about a minute there. I was starting to feel a little fatigue but pushed on knowing that my husband would be waiting at mile 15. I got there, had my GU and stretched my calves (I had some cramping in them after my last 20 miler so I wanted to make sure they’d be OK). No sign of DH. I got a little discouraged and walked a little during this mile. At this point we were in Coconut Grove and there were residents in front of their houses. I was really glad for my name on the race bib, as many said “you’re looking strong Shaunna”. Even though I didn’t feel it, I choose to believe them. I had a couple of bites of a banana at an aid station around here. We ran into the Cocowalk, a popular shopping/restaurant area and there were lots of people out cheering and groups providing entertainment. I decided to take 2 Endurolyte tablets here. I never use them for just running, but have used them in tri’s before and they’ve helped prevent nausea in the heat. It wasn’t all the warm, but I figured it couldn't hurt if it would help hold off the wall. I hopped into another porta potty at mile 18 for a minute, feeling like I had to pee again, though I don’t know if it was that urgent. Ah well, another minute lost. After the Cocowalk, we hit Bayshore, where I had been training, so I felt pretty confident. Lots of people were taking walk breaks, but I kept telling myself I could walk at the water stops as long as I ran the rest. One of my friends found me on her bike around mile 20 and rode alongside for about half a mile, which was a great distraction. After she went up ahead, I started talking to the girl next to me since we were both running about 10:45 pace. She was a high school senior doing her first marathon and it was so great to have something to focus on other than running. We both wanted to go under 5 hours and at our pace knew we’d make it, so decided to stick together (Sara, if you see this- you are awesome!!). I nursed my last GU from mile 21-23 while we were talking. We were excited not to hit the wall at mile 20 and were chugging along pretty well. I wasn’t even that upset not to see DH at our planned mile 22 rendezvous point (he had gone ahead to the finish line since he didn’t know how long it would take with the closed roads). We turned east onto the Rickenbacker Causeway and saw the big bridge up ahead. We knew we only had to reach it and turn around, but it’s farther away then it looks! Right before mile 23, I knew I’d need to let Sara go ahead and spend a few minutes in the bathroom (all the sugar was catching up to me). I think I lost about 5 minutes with that which really bummed me out. When I started running again it was tough to get back into it. I ran/walked for about .75 miles and figured I was about to hit the wall. I had a few bites of an orange slice and forced myself to keep jogging. I knew more friends would be at mile 24. By the time I got to them I was feeling pretty good. I think I had a new burst of energy and decided I could run the rest of the way. We ran north through the financial district and there were lots of cheering spectators yelling my name. I tried to thank everyone and keep a smile on my face. At mile 25.9 there is another little hill/bridge and almost everyone was walking up it. I refused to give in, and pushed through. Just down the hill, around the corner, and there is the finish! I dug in and picked up the pace. I heard people screaming my name and saw my husband (finally!) and his best friend, and I knew I had finally done it. I was a marathoner. I thought I’d cry when I crossed the finish line, but I wasn’t emotional at all, just proud of my accomplishment. I felt good after finishing. I have had some problems with nausea after my long runs in training, but nothing today. I think my nutrition was really good, plus I had GU’s with caffeine which helped. Official time was 4:45:58. Goal #1 and #2 solidly met. I knew #3 was a reach so I’m not that upset. I had time to get used to the fact that wasn’t going to happen when the 4:30 pace group passed me around mile 17-18 and I knew I couldn’t keep up a 10:18 pace at that point. Some thoughts: I never hit a wall. My quads started burning around mile 20, and my right knee was hurting around 24. I don’t know if the quads were from doing a quick 3 mile tempo run on Wednesday (a dumb move) or just the additional distance on a mostly flat course. I know I ran under my potential, but I really wanted to finish feeling good and have fun, which I did. I was great to have the company of Sara for those 3 miles. I was getting lonely by myself, and it was the perfect time to be distracted. On marathonguide, I had read a lot of complaints about the metal grating on the drawbridges being slippery, and many people were walking over them, but I just made sure to watch my footing, and it wasn’t bad at all. There wasn’t all that much spectator support until the end of this race, which was surprising to me. The Palm Beach half marathon had a lot more cheering fans. This race did have some incredible volunteers though, which helped a lot. And I think having my name on the bib was provided a huge pick-me-up towards the end when people were cheering for me. The weather couldn’t have been better. It got cloudy before the sun could warm the temperatures too much. There was a light northerly breeze. We got rained on lightly from miles 20-24 which felt really good. The temperature started in the mid 60 and maxed out around 71. Right after I finished the sun started to come out again and warm up. I met a really inspiring guy around mile 14 who had on a 50th shirt- today was his 50th birthday AND 50th marathon. Impressive. When my quads were on fire, I thought about that video that Rick posted, and knew that if Ben and others could overcome huge obstacles then there was no excuse for me not to run through the pain. I will definitely do another marathon someday. Not sure when, but it’ll happen. And it’ll be sub-4:30. (and if you read through that whole thing, you deserve a Spinning Palm Tree finishers medal too!)

Shaunna - Great report and sounds like you had a fantastic marathon. 27.2 miles of awesomeness!

Wow Shaunna!!! Great race and beautiful report! Enjoy your recovery and your super cool medal.

Thanks for the detailed report! It really is helpful to read. You did great! Maybe I will try it in a couple of years.

Congratulations, marathoner! Good race, nice report.

Excellent job! Congratulations! Sounds like you had a great race. Thanks for the report. I, for one, love really long, detailed race reports. They're so inspiring!

Great race report - thanks for posting!

GREAT REPORT Shaunna!!! WTG on not only finishing your first marathon but doing it in such a great time!! SO glad to hear how much you enjoyed it!!