Miami Marathon 2014

okay. i know this is crazy. I ran Houston Marathon 2 weeks ago. But my friend, Rodney, on the Lockheed Martin coporate marathon team said 'hey you want to come run the Miami Marathon for the Lockheed Team?' They could cover pretty much all my expenses. So how could I say, "No". A marathon in Miami? i love to run, i love to run in new places, and i really love marathons. But to get there I had to fly. I don't like flying. And couldn't take family due to it costing too much and my whole no-spare-money situation. I thought of driving, but it was determined to be too tough, too quick of a turnaround. Our Washington DC trip was rough and we took a week and half to drive the roundtrip. A four day trip with 32 hrs of driving and a marathon was deemed to be too much in a family vote.

So i had to fly. Alone. I never really leave my family, we do everything together. So before i left i finished my 'If-I-die' Letter and Instructions. Seriously. Geez Man!! I must not like flying at all. But my worst fear and i'm sure any parent's worst fear, is dying and not being there for your family. If it was just me, i could die, that'd be okay. I've had a great life, more than i could ask for, everyone has been great to me. I know i need to have more faith. God is ultimatley in control. If i have total faith in Him, i have no worries, i just play my part. I'm really in control of nothing. I could die any second. All the biking and running i do out on busy roadways, plus just driving, especially in Houston, plus health issues can get you anytime. Yeah there are statistics, but what side are you on? What do we really know? There's no guarantees. But flying makes me nervous, especially for something as frivilous as going to a race. Yeah i got issues. But as I worked through all this though, plans were made, tickets were bought. It was time to go before i knew it. It was tough leaving, especially with my youngest crying the night before. I know this is crazy. People fly all the time, it's safe as anything. Just control/faith issues i have... Wake up Sat morn 4am. Drive to friends house which is close to Hobby airport. Park in their yard, as they had said was ok- just don't wake them up, then run about 2 miles to hobby airport with back pack- i got some yells from some late bar flys- i didn't stop to see what they wanted- i'm sure i looked like a dude who just stole something. I get to airport and fly from Houston to Dallas, not a bad flight, small plane. Lump in my throat most of the way. I get to Dallas and meet my friend Rodney, who I used to work with about 16 yrs ago, but we've kept in touch through our continued running through the years. It was good to see him, he tells me we haven't seen each other in 14 yrs, weird cuz we're always emailing and stuff. Wow, i didn't realize that. Still the same Rock. Good to seem him and meet back up. Also i meet Jordan, another runner on the LM team- nice fellow. We fly out from Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale. Longer flight this time, but smooth. Touchdown landing is bumpy. Schwew!! we made through- i'm gonna get to run a marathon in Miami.

We get off the plane and damn the humidity/heat hits ya in the face, i can't breathe for a second! It's like changing seasons!! Coming from a cool houston and cold dallas, it's a shock. We're sweating as we wait for the rental car shuttle. In the airport everyone is tanned, in shorts, sunned out hair, and flip flops... i may have underestimated this marathon?? Rodney gets a rental car. We drive start the drive to Miami which is 30min away, i never knew Ft. Lauderdale was big. Everything is green and lush here, weird, when everything at home has been yellow and dead for months. Tropical man. Tropical. We go straight to the Expo in Miami since it's on the way to hotel and we don't have a lot of time. Traffic in Miami sucks. Only three ways onto Miami Beach Island, where the expo is. Backed up like Galveston can do, same thing here... there is only so much room on an island. We get there then can't park, go around a few times, finally we find a $10 spot. Walking into the Expo, sun crashing down, man we need shorts and sun glasses, it's hot, starting to sweat, dang got a marathon in about a 12 hrs. Rut Roh! We get race bibs at the Expo. Expo is nice, not a lot of freebies. I'm tired- i been up since 4am. We finally go to hotel- Courtyard Marriot, about 6 miles past downtown in Conconut Grove. Rodney and I walk into hotel room at first it looks like a one bed deal... damn, shwew!! it's two, me and Rock laugh about that one. Hungry, we walk across to Fresh Market across the street, it's identical to WholeFoods- just different name. Like McDonalds and McDowells. But we get banannas and stuff.

Then in a couple of hrs we walk over a half mile to Cheesecake Factory for team meal, we have to wait a while, i'm tired and hungry. But it's good to talk to all the LM runners, we have 6 on our team, plus a couple of spouses, and 2 parents. Everyone is nice. Food comes it's good- man $15 spaghetti and not a lot of it at that. But the bread is good. Some of the spouses hit the giant cheesecake, but the runners decide not to. I have fun talking to one of the runner's dad about his football days in high school. Then we walk back and start to get ready for bed at 8pm eastern (really 7pm to us). But i'm really zonked. And still can't get to sleep! Geez. I just lay there listening to Rock snore.

wake up at 4am. We load the cars finally at 4:50. Then drive to Downtown for 6:15 start time. The master plan was to park at the Finish line parking. Only a 6 mile drive. Of course it turned into a Miami traffic clustercuss. Backups at lights, parking garages closed, the course blocking the runners it was intended for. Police men with no clue. Yeah we shoulda took the train. This is bad. Waiting light after light. Blocked turns. Then seas of runners walking to the start line wherever that is. We're still in the car trapped by traffic and it's 5:45, race starts in 30 minutes and we ain't seen the start line. Finally we find a parking garage by sheer luck. We're the only 2 cars in there. We start the journey to the start line. Tons of runners just filing thru the streets. I have some designs on winning the Masters divisions and the $500 so i gotta be up at the front for a chance of that... or i'll be weaving thru runners for miles. I start jogging, i gotta warmup anyway, so i start, i lose the team after a while, but I gotta get there. Finally after about a mile of traffic and runners pouring in, I see the corrals. I weave thru the masses and finally slide between the bars to my corral 'c' then i start weaving thru the masses of thousands of people and make my way to the front of Corral C.

I'm about 30 yards from the start where I can see Corral A with the wheelchair athletes and the elite marathoners/half

marathoners, then there is a Corral B which says 'Seeded Runners'. But I'm far as i can get with a C bib on. It is packed; rock concert style. Everyone is already sweaty and touching me. Damn dude. I'm about 5 people from the front of Corral C. And the 5 people x 50 people across the width of the street, won't be in front of me 10 steps into the race... i have no idea why these people wish to get trampled? Is it going to improve your time to have 25,000 people trample you? Music is blaring- Rihanna's 'Monster' mix without Eminem but with techno. It's dark, only street and artificial lights, casting everything orange. It's steamy and hot. Very international and Latin crowd. People wearing singlets from Costa Rica, Guatalmala... It's exciting. Race director gives a good pump up speech, congratulating the 1st timers for trying, saying, "it's harder to go from 0 to 1 race, than from 99 to 100" telling us to "Give it all!!" I like it. Then a saxophonist nails the Star spangled banner, the guy next to me urinates in his pants, while the old guy to my right drops all is gel cubes on the street. So it goes. Let's get it on, Miami style!!!

They say "hold tight" to the 25,000 mass of people i'm at the front of. They announce "that they are gonna let corrals A and B get a head start first." What? If they're so fast, they should have no problems from us back here. So off they go, Corrals a and b take off. While volunteers block us intensely, cuz if this mass of people gets rolling there is no stopping it. They allow us to walk up to the start line very slowly. A minute after A and B took off, they let us go. It's pandemonium. Everybody out fast. We go by American Airlines Arena, thru the seeming night making our way out of downtown.

I hit MILE 1 at around 5:55. Really comfortable. A few times i looked down and saw 5:40 on my watch so I backed off. I'm thinking of keeping it around 5:59 pace for the first half and just see how i feel. A 2:40 finish time would be great i figure with the heat/humidity and 2 week since last marathon race. Also i see a runner dribbling two basketballs up the Causeway bridge, what he started with elites/seeded runners? i'm tempted to swat one of the balls into the water and say, "that's a turnover bi@tch" :) .... but i just pass him leaving him to his own luncacy and me to mine, apparently he's famous for doing this.

(ps. my watch got thrashed on my trip, you'll see why later, so i had it for the marathon, but never got a chance to get data off :( makes me sad, i didn't get my beloved maps of my Miami runs. But watch was on it's last last legs... battery had to be babied to work at all. Thanks for all the runs red striped garmin 110... we grew up together, and threw up together. sigh. At any rate, these pace times are as best as i can remember along with some race chip data)

MILE 2 around 5:55 again feeling good, going down causeway bridge to Miami Beach, big cruiseships on the right all lit up like their own little towns. It's thinned out some here, but lots of marathoners and half marathoners to run with. This race is gonna be different due to the weather. We already starting to catch some of the wheelchair athletes, they had a lot of them here and some of them don't seemed too experienced- i'd been warned to watch out for them. I'm seeing some runners that seem comfortable at this pace and try to hang around them. Never know if they are in half or full, sometimes I go up ahead and take a peek at their front bibs to get to know my full marathon competitors.

MILE 3, 4, 5(Miami Beach) I'm keeping it around 6:00 min pace. Working, but not too bad. Extrapoling out in my head i'm starting to think even this is too fast. During my 5th mile, I see a guy that looks homeless, sitting on the side of road holding a sign. I try to read as i'm going by, there is a lot written on it, but I read "Why pay to run, run for free....". Then when i get to the side i see the signature country-style mullet, I yell out "Raven" as i'm going by... he turns and waves to me. It's just now starting to get light out.

MILE 6 ~ 6:05 (Miami Beach)

I go by a guy wearing a Yellow-Acapulco singlet. He looks masters age and i see he's got a full marathon bib, good runner (turns out he's 53! nice). But as I go by Acapulco he keeps bursting ahead. We're dualing at 6:05 pace at mile 6. Geez this is the 'we're all in this together' phase of the race... but he won't let me by. Fine. I'm determined not to race yet so I let him go and he takes off and settles in about 30 yrds a head running with some ladies, i'm guessing half marathoners. His shoes are thin flats going "tap,tap,tap" as he runs, I think back to my feet in flats at the Houston Marathon two weeks back and the blisters that were killing me at the end. Good luck buddy.

For this race i'm wearing the heaviest shoes i've worn in a marathon in 4 yrs. I'm wearing the 'Adidas Boston 4' which are approx 9.5oz, but it's all my feet can take. So far they feel really good. I'm happy with my decision. But will they get heavy at the end? I figure in a grinding marathon like this it's not going to matter too much.

I'm already getting hot, red-faced, and sweating so I'm taking a drink at the aid stations and dumping one on my head. Geez what did i sign up for? Tropical Marathon.

CHIP STATS: First 10k(6.2mi) stats 10K 37:35 my time 38:40 (gun time cuz stupid corral c and head start) 6:03 /mi

MILE 7,8,9 (Miami Beach and Venetian Causeway)

I'm slipping pace to 6:08 - 6:15

We go over a bridge with the metal grating at the top, seems like about our 3rd one already today. They don't feel good running on them even in thicker shoes like mine... I see Acapulco up ahead jumping around like a jelly bean to get over to the sidewalk and miss the the metal grating in flats. Smart move. Getting hot. I can't wait to pass you sir. I'm catching half-marthoners they dying in the heat too.

MILE 10

i go past in 61 minutes for a 6:06 pace so far. I'm continuing on bridge going thru tollway arch back to downtown Miami. I'm still doing 6:15 pace. I catch 4th place womens half marathoner

MILE 11,12,13 (Miami Beach and Venetian Causeway)

I catch the 3rd place womens half marathoner. But that's all i'll get before the turnoff, but my half time got all the ladies, even winner Shannon Miller- who may be girl who got me on mile 25 on my first sub 3 marathon. There were ab ut 24 men halfers ahead of me. Also at about the half point I pass the women's lead marathoner. She looks to be slowing down but holding on. She's wearing thick shoes but really landing on her fore foot. I think she'll hold on to win, but definitely started too fast for a day like today. Hecks, i started out too fast myself.CHIP STATS: Half(13.1 mi) 1:20:27 6:08 /mi (about 24 men halfers ahead of me )MILES 14,15,16,17,18 ((CHIP STATS: 6:21 pace for 5.5 miles between half and 30k)) It's getting hotter and my pace is dropping as we work along the back stretch going away from Downtown into thankfully shaded neighborhood streets. It's not he sun and heat that are so tough, it's the humidity. I have a group of 3 up on the horizon. But i'm running by myself. But i'm definitely thankful for them or i'd be in real no-man's land and your mind/purpose can wander then. I'm reeling them in very slowly i think. I see BlueSpandex guy whom i remember from mile 1 he's got really nice form and GreyShirtRunner- they seem to be hanging together. Then OrangeSinglet is ahead of them a ways looking strong.

CHIP STATS: 30K(18.6 mi) 1:55:38 6:12 /mi

MILE 19

Finally done with turns around Coconut Grove section of town. i'm gaining ground on BlueSpandex and GreyShirtRunner, it's inevitable that i'm gonna reel them in... i'm just savoring it. They're all i got out here.

MILE 20,21 approx 6:30 /mi

Back by our hotel in Coconut grove. So tempting to just call it a day and go to the room... but hecks my room key is back downtown. My motto has been just get to Mile 20 and re-focus there.

Oh man they were handing out iced water soaked towels ahh yeah. I grabbed it put it on my burning neck, put it on my veiny bald head, squeezed it over me, sucked on it in my mouth. I made sweet love to it. I didn't want to let it go. Please just a bit longer. Hold me. finally i said goodbye to my towel-friend and chucked it on the side of the street I saw 3 more towels on the ground. I'm wondering how many runners are ahead of me? Gotta play detective on the races. Sniff out clues. No one in crowd has been giving me any info so it must be quite a few. All I know is I got 2 on the horizon, 3 towels on the side of the road. Let's go locked and loaded.

(PS. what do racers what to know? How many ahead of me? how many seconds did last one go by? How'd they look? Whose behind me? how far back? How old are they, over 40?)

I pass 2 elite looking guys on 2 seperate occasions that i aint'seen before... they are walking on side walk and stretching elite, muscle-y worn, out legs. They are done. Geez cramps could come into play? just keep running. Lot of times elites will bail when they are out of the prize money.

Finally after about 7 miles of chasing, BlueSpandexGuy succombs. I go by him with out a word. He is sweaty and laboring and basically hating life.

His partner for the back half, GreySHirtRunner, is next on the Horizon just like 30 seconds up, but that'll take another 2 miles :)

MILE 22, 23, 24 (RickenBacker Causeway) at ~ 6:35-6:42s

oh man i was dreading this part. We've been heading back to downtown and the finish line for last the 3 miles, but now one last detour back over the ocean. Hot out here, no shade just running on a toll road bridge that takes people out to Key Biscayne. I watched the course preview video and it showed you U-turned under the big bridge then headed back to downtown, but close to finishing mile #23 I saw cones going up over the big bridge... oh no. I'm done if i gotta go over that thing... not enough petro left for that... but alas the cones seemed to be for the cars. Thank You God. I went by GreyShirtRunner, I hit the Uturn with a water station, happy to be heading back off this hot causeway... things are looking up now!!! On way back I could see everyone behind me on the other side. I saw one guy in white jersey who looked pretty fresh, and looked to be a GE runner... so no time to coast for me, as always, they are coming for ya.

Ahh and then looky looky there YellowShirtAcapulcoFlats back there, he must have pulled off, and i passed him unknowingly, cause i never got the pleasure of going by him and his racing me at mile 6!!! Wonder how those flats are feeling? But much respect though 53 yrs old, nice work.

MILE 25, 26(back on to Downtown and Finish line) at ~ 6:23

Okay i see a two more guys on the horizon... time to pick it up some. I get one guy on mile 25 and then I get the last guy on mile 26 after seeing him stop for an instant to stretch a quad... there's blood in the water. marathon is cruel. I blow by just so no one hangs on me and wants to duel, good thing i kept working and got him, turns out he was 40 and it got me into 10th place!!

Now on downtown streets, just up to the right and around one last little bridge... oh man 1 more thing of metal grating. you sick bastards. ouch. ouch. ouch. then i see the finish line chutes and barricades, and banners and it's all mine. Music playing, crowd cheering, I'm dancing thru and celebrating. A Miami marathon y'all- hells yeah.

i passed about 6 guys over the last half and no one got me, I think no marathoners passed me for good from mile 2 (Astrel Clovis) on i think?

CHIP STATS: Finish(26.2 mi) total 2:45:28 6:18 /mi ((CHIP STATS: 6:34 for last 7.6 miles))

I saw some of the other marathon finishers standing about and tried to figure out my finish place and masters winning status. But no one spoke english. I even saw the little rocket that buzzed pass me at mile 2, Haitian Astrel Clovis. He had bright yellow eyes and was tending to his black-nailed toes with his shoes thankfully off of his hurting feet. He told me his time but w/ language barriers, I couldn't tell how old he was. I was guessing 40 or so- turned out to be 43. But he got beat by 1 second chip time by elite Master Kenyan who got the 1 min head start. Woulda been a great finish. But crappy race organzation prevented this.

Guy in OrangeSinglet ahead of me told me he was 34 yrs old after i remembered "Anos?" from high school spanish. He was the one guy on the horizon i saw but could not catch, so he ran better 2nd half than me.

POST RACE:

I hang around and drink about 30 chocolate milks as a revenge for them not letting me back into the food line. Apparently once you pass the food line you can't go back in. On first pass, food didn't seem like a good idea but after 30 minutes, i got hungry and they wouldn't let back in. It was total chaos at post race. This is the laid back marathon, miami attitude, no worries. But really crazy. Muddy everywhere. THen at 10am a little rain storm blows in with wind, it last about 30 minutes and i take refuge under a tree. Miami has these cool Banyan Trees that i'd never seen anywhere before, roots grow out of their branches!! They get huge. Finally i meet up with some teammates, we all had trouble finding the family meeting area(mainly cuz the small handwritten sign was only on one side of tent- and there are about 60 tents) And now it's really muddy, but the sun and heat come back out, i put a towel over my bald head to keep from getting burned. I find Team Captain Chuck, whose having a few beers in the beer tent. He's the only one who got any cuz the half-marathoners drank them all up cuz there were no limits... this lead to some angry chaffed marathoners... But it was all good... i just kept going to the chocolate milk trough. And found a place where they were giving out beans and rice. they wre good.

hippees on my side, what can go wrong? They ask me too what my birth year is i say 1971... they all groan!!! cuz i'm runner number #1972 to run with the Raven. They said 2nd time in a week they've missed the birth year by one. Crazy with the stats around here. They say on most days that they usually have 20 or 30 runners, but today is kinda light do to lots of people doing the marathon or half-marathon. I'm the only first timer today. Over the years, Raven has had at least 2 runners join him from every state and over like 40 countries. But still only 1972 runners out of over 14,000 straight days of running must mean most of the runners are repeat locals. In the early years it was just Raven mainly by himself. The Raven has become a Miami institution. Even the mayor has come out and run with him. So off we start. Shuffling. Raven looks like a one-legged prirate running. Dragging his right leg. i look at my garmin watch - 16 min pace. Fugs, gonna take a while out her. But the stories and company are great. As we're shuffling Raven, calls out "ROLL CALL" in his deep John-Wayne-type announcer voice (Raven is a country music singer-song-writer, part of how this crazy run streak all got started, someone in Nashville stole the 19 yr old Raven's lyrics and made it big on the radio). Raven calls out, "Making run number 1452 today is Close Call" everyone claps. CloseCall's nickname is because he worked in the Twin Towers destroyed by 911, but he was recovering from a weekend marathon and didn't go into work that day- perhaps running saved his life. Next up was 'HandleBar' who had long hair and a handle bar mustache and Raven said "HandleBar had dropped 20 lbs after running with him for the last month." Then there was "CHapter 11" a guy who had worked 5 different careers in his life, only to have all the businesses go bankrupt. Then a couple, "OverPriced" a 20 something yr old guy from Houston too, that just moved to Miami in the last year and was now working at the 'Versace' store- thus the nickname. And his wife a Russian 19 year old who the Raven dubbed as "DiamondCalves" for her strong legs- Raven said he thought about "UNderPriced" for a nickname but figured that would get him in trouble :)

So off we shuffled down the beach in the sand, I talked to everyone, moseying from group to group. Raven saw many people out on the beach and called them by their nicknames, "Hey 48 Cent" (he wasn't good enough to be fitty), "MIllion Dollar Baby" a lady boxer with hairy legs who ran some with us and then did her own workout- but told the runners she doesn't believe in violence. And then a regular-vacationing family from Syracuse, NY, ran for a while with us- a man, I forgot the nickname maybe "FighterPilot" and he had his wife and 2 kids, and they all did about a half mile then off they went. It was like just being dropped into this community. Everyone different. But yet just shuffling along with this crazy nut the Raven.

Lots of stories were told about the different runners, their nicknames and pasts, and then some of legendary runners and stories. We talked about country songs, the Raven said the run had costs him some girlfriends along the way.

One he said was beautiful Brazilian lady, but she told him one day that "she was going shopping at 5pm." He said, "you know that's when i run, you know what i do." She said "Well there is a security guard at work that will go shopping with me if you don't." He sighed and said, "Is that gonna be the way it is?" And she left. He said it hurt him for while till on the run one day he found a shell that was so pretty, but inside it was empty- it reminded him of her. It all goes back to the run!!!

I told him once during the run, "Damn Raven you got the legs of a 20yr old." He said "I like this guy!"

I asked him about his diet. He says he eats mostly healthy but eats meat and stuff, maybe gets burger king once a month. And he likes Little Debbies(who among us doesn't?). He said his girlfriend Miracle was worried when they started dating that he was a fitness freak that didn't tolerate any 'regular' food... but then she relaxed once she saw little debbie wrappers around the apartment.

We talked space some since i'm work at Nasa, the russian lady told me Liaka, the name of the first living being in space- launched by the Russians, is actually a russian breed of dog, as well as the name of the first living space explorer. But alas it was planned as a one way trip for Liaka- no return voyage. i told them about one way space trips and how i heard that some of the older, original astronauts had wondered about taking a one way trip to Mars as their last hurrah in life. I said their spouses prolly weren't so crazy about the idea... one of the runners said, "they'd be okay with the pension and compensation pay I bet!!"

I talked about Houston with OverPriced and his mom had called and told him about the 'icy' weather shutdowns we've been having. His wife, Russian DiamondCalves said that she'd been in -40deg weather before. Raven shook his head at this. I was thinking Raven's prolly never been below 30 degrees- living his whole life here on South Beach. Running at 4/5pm everyday at SouthBeach means he can't go far- always gotta be back for the run. He's sorta like a prisoner to the island. But like he says, "i've never missed a sunset or been stuck in rush hour traffic."

Every so Often, every couple of miles, Raven would pause, do a deep knee bend, and then yelp a bit getting back up, just trying to get thru the back pain he's going through. No days off is so rough. I can't even imagine it for a year or two, much less 39 years!!!! No time to properly heal, just compounding your aches and pains all the time. It's one of the most incredible things i've ever seen. And now the 8 miles is taking him two hours to complete. That is just unbelievably rough. But talk about perseverance. It's like he's continually in the throes of the final stages of a marathon- every day. He's just trying to get through- but thankfully he's got company.

The guys said i need to talk to Raven some more so that he could kinda interview me and get me a good nickname. I couldn't think of much about myself except for family, running, texas, and nasa. I told them maybe I should be named ParkingTicket but they said they got one of those. Eventually they settled on SpaceRocket, cuz i work at Nasa and I run fast. So SpaceRocket I am.

We followed the course back and forth the South Beach shore line. To the fence at the farthest tip, where some cruise ships were motoring out. Then turn back and run til the first Hotel building a couple miles up the beach. The sand was soft and somewhat packed, great to run on.

Raven has all the SouthBeach distances memorized. If someone joined the run, he'd calculate how far they ran to get there, going street by street, block by block, adding it up ".1 miles to 13th, over .3 miles.." Each time my watch beeped he tell me the distance he had calculated- he had no watch. He said "when we get done we'll have about 8.3 miles." And sure enough, when we finished my watch read 8.3 miles exactly. I ran the last half-mile barefoot in the South Beach sand.

When we finished back at Life guard stand 5, it was pretty dark. The beach had emptied. Just a band of 6 runners finishing up. I told Raven earlier in the run "I gotta get in the Atlantic ocean, I've never been in before." He said, "Are you gonna do the 'Swim'?" Raven also does a 1/3 mile swim after the runs sometimes- although lately he has not due to the back problems. And of course he keeps track of everyone that does it.

But when we got done running it was so dark. I just ran and jumped in whew it was cold!! But felt great. I splashed around a bit then ran back up to the life guard stand. Raven said, "Are you gonna do the 'Swim'?" I said, "No, i just wanted to get in." I didn't want them to have to wait around 15 minutes for me to swim to the next lifeguard stand and back. But Raven said, "I was hoping you would?" So what the heck. I ran back and started to swim. But Doh! then i remembered my watch. So i ran back up and put it on the lifeguard stand... pretty sure I just toasted my good old trusty watch. Durn. So I start swimming. The waves are tough. Just crushing me out here in the dark- you gotta swim kinda between the crushings. The sand is coarse out in the water, not like the muddy shores of Galveston Bay. I get to the next Life Guard stand and turn back, having to stop and stand a few times when the waves knocked me too much. Crazy that i'm out here in the dark swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. Finally I get back to the 5th street lifeguard stand. Raven says, "Great, SpaceRocket you're the first one: to do a marathon, do the Raven run, and then do the swim in one day." Alas I did something unique in one of Raven's crazy stat categories. Sounds good. We walk back thru the dunes to the city lights. I show them the stars that make up Orions Belt... the only stars i know and i always look for them... my running friend Brad taught me that. There is a sidewalk shower. I wash off and wash off my watch with its blank display, hot feel; electrons going crazy with the saltwater infusion. Dang. I get a Raven CD and shirt from the Raven and his merch bag, he says just mail him the $25 for the stuff. And he scribbles his address on a book promo card he has. He's excited he won't have to pay the shipping!! This guy lives really minimally. From his duffle bag, he also gave me an airline magazine that had a feature on him and the Raven runners. And then he gave me his phone number in case i needed any help with the car/towage situation. Nice guy. Super down to earth in a crazy way. This is just what he does. He runs everyday and meets people and they've created a community around it.

I said good-bye to Raven, and I walked back through the South Beach nightlife with HandleBar and CloseCall, they said they'd go with me to my car to make sure everything is all right. South Beach restaurants are already packed and the night is just starting, we walk thru the sidewalk patios of restaurants, with people at tables with enourmous cocktails(giant daquiri class filled with pink slushi and 2 Corona Beer bottles towering out the top- g'night ya'll) and good food. I see on the TVs that the Seahawks are up 12-0 on the Broncos, not much of a game so far. Music is playing, fancy cars are searching for parking, almost getting in wrecks. It's gonna get wild around here soon. Not for us runners in sweaty clothes. We get to CloseCall's car finally, i don't think he's far from my parking spot. He says this lot is the only free parking on the island. He says get in and we'll go find your car. I get in (man my mom raised me better than this- getting in a car with strangers) but i felt like i know these guys after a 2 hr 8mile trudge!!! They drive around and we find where the car was... ah man it's gone... say it ain't so... oh no it was on the next street... and there it is safe and sound!! I get out and see no parking ticket... whoo hoo!! Been a perfect day(minus salt-watering my watch!). Handlebar says just follow us out. Off we go and before I know it I'm off the Island... the Land of the Raven... and heading back to the hotel.

I tell the Lockheed team guys who are back at the hotel bar watching the dreadful SuperBowl, pretty well snookered by now, all about the Raven run. They loved it, man either my stories are good, or maybe this is an easy audience right now!! An interesting guy on our team, Wolfgang from Atlanta (whose run marathons in a gorilla suit) said he might go run with the Raven tomorrow since he's staying in Miami for a few days. Ah runners we're all alike. Crazy. The community keeps growing. So, Run Raven Run. Good luck man.

raven website: Ha! I'm up for Raven's event of the year.

me the Space Rocket! First ever to do morning marathon,

run w/ raven and do the Raven swim

PS> The next day i spent the whole day trapped in the Ft. Lauderdale airport. Trying to get a flight. Everything is overbooked cuz Dallas Airport had bad weather over the night and just reopened. Then when i do find an open spot on an earlier flight, they won't let me move to it cuz i'm not a preferred member. The bastards. At 4:30pm, trapped in an airport terminal, just waiting... I think about Raven, starting his run... I wish i was there. That guy has the right idea.

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RACE ANALYSIS - Could i have competed w/ top masters? (if i had a good day)

first master: Zachariah Nyambaso 2:37:02

Kenyan ran 2:12 in 1994 now seems to be a 2:3x guy in his masters years.

second masters: Astrel Clovis 2:37:03 top Haitian runner

article: sean penn sponsors Haitian Runners

video: Astrel Clovis you tube video

third masters: Cristian Villavicencio 2:41:16

Fugs that was a man's marathon. Damn dude. When your dumping water on your head at mile 5 you know it's gonna be a long day.

At http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html

estimates my 2:45:28 is comparable to a 2:42:16 time for me for an under 60deg day... but they don't factor in the Miami humidity, which is what really made it tough. Tougher than my 2012 boston that was near 70-80 degree.

Personally, I'd figure you add prolly 6-10 min on for the weather difference between Houston2014 and Miami2014 weather. The winner, Samuel Malakwen, won Twin Cities 2 yrs ago in 2:13 and gets 2:19 here. Also he got 2:16 in miami a few years back on a better weather day.

So I estimate that's like adding 5% on for the Miami2014 weather. That would make my 2:45 in miami estimate into like 2:37 or 2:38. I'da liked that!! I suppose my extra time diff from that estimate and Houston two weeks ago is not having fresh legs.

Likewise, the 5% estimate for weather, woulda give Nyambaso and Clovis a 2:29 or 2:30 in Houston, beating my 2:31:56.

Miami was a tough masters field, but i think I could be in the conversation on a good day. Woulda been a great pack to be in, would a helped me time-wise. My Miaimi-2014 time woulda won Miami masters in several other years, but this year the Masters race was strong.

But that's all just shoulda, woulda, coulda, we toed the line and they won.

PS> sucks for Astrel Clovis to lose by a second to an opponent he can't see because of the 1 minute head start given to the elites

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WEATHER

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-02-02/sports/fl-miami-marathon-coverage-0203-20140202_1_half-marathon-finish-line-evan-dehart

At 4 a.m., it was already 74 degrees with 86 percent humidity. Forecasts called for a partly cloudy day but there was sunshine for the first half of the race. Rain fell around 9:30 a.m. providing a brief respite until the showers dissipated leaving the race under partly cloudy conditions until 11:15 a.m. Then it got brighter and warmer with temperatures reaching 81 degrees and blue skies dominating an already picturesque skyline.

"It's very hot and very muggy," said Miami resident Deborah Zinn, before running the half marathon. "It is 70 degrees out but it feels like you're running in a swamp but that's OK."