13.1 Miami FAIL

~5 min. w/u
Target: 13.1 miles @~1:16-1:17
Actual: 5 miles @30:20, 1/2 mile walk/jog, 5 mile jog back to start
Total: 11+ miles

81 degrees, 15 mph winds, 92% humidity.

Am I describing a tropical rainforest? Perhaps a location somewhere in the bayous of Louisiana circa mid-August? Nope, these were the actual real-life weather conditions that greeted me when I woke up at 4:22 for this morning's 13.1 Miami race. I stared at the iPhone screen, shook my head to clear away the early morning cobwebs, then looked again. Yup, still the same numbers. This was going to be brutal, and it probably didn't help that I'd spent a full 10 hours the day before baking in the sun during the South Beach packet pickup. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of worse places to be working on a Saturday afternoon--and I fully realize that selling shoes, as opposed to running, is my actual job at these events--but ideal pre-race prep it was not.


My "office" on Saturday afternoon


Posing with the Karhu Bear and my buddy Frankie Ruiz--US Road Sports employee,
ING Miami Marathon founder, high school cross-country coach and
SoleRUNNERS running store owner. Needless to say, he's
kind of a big deal in the Miami running community.

Grumbling all the while, I got up and dressed--scantily so, no doubt considered normal given the weather and the standard South Beach dress code--and shuffled the two blocks from our hotel over to the beach start/finish area. It was equal parts amusing and astonishing to see the streets packed with people still out enjoying Saturday night's revelry and merriment. As I said at this event last year, I'm pretty sure South Beach gives NYC a run for the "city that never sleeps" moniker. Absolutely nuts.

After spending 30 minutes or so setting up our booth for the morning, it was already time to head to the start. I only had a few minutes to spare for warming up, but none was needed. I was already sweating and parched. Had this race not been the 13.1 Marathon Series national championship race with a whopping $13,100 at stake for the winner, I doubt I would've toed the line at all. After a surprisingly decent showing at Mercedes Half in Birmingham a few weeks ago I had aspirations of running 1:16 or even 1:15 here, but by race time it was obvious that would not be the case. I couldn't help but flash back to the similar conditions at 13.1 Chicago last June, a race I won but paid the price for by feeling exhausted and lethargic for over a month afterward. This morning I lined up fully acknowledging that I was not willing to push to the same limits today, even if that meant walking away empty-handed. Some might contend that means I'd already given up before even starting, but I don't think that was the case. I was prepared to run hard, prepared to hurt--but only within sensible reason. It's a fine line only recognized when one is on the precipice of crossing it.


Fortunately the Karhu bear didn't pass out during the 5k
this year! He placed 14th somewhere around 21 minutes.

The gun sounded at 6:13 on the dot, and immediately three of us were clear of the women's field. We ran side by side directly into the wind for two miles, the clock reading 11:50 as we passed, and I was already worried at my level of exertion. My legs didn't necessarily feel bad, but the unrelenting headwind made every step a struggle. My breathing and heart rate were already well above what I'd expect at this stage in a race--two miles into Mercedes I could've carried on a lengthy conversation--and by the time we hit our second long overpass a mile later I could tell I was cooked. Each mile was a few seconds slower than the previous one and significantly harder. I split 6:10--slower than marathon pace--for the fourth mile and was nearly hyperventilating. The lead woman, a lithe African, had separated herself before 5k, and though I was matching the eventual second place finisher stride for stride I could see spots in my peripheral vision. I'd already double-fisted at the first two water stops but it clearly wasn't helping, and a mile later I realized I was unequivocally done. Whatever the prize, it wasn't worth ignoring my body's deafening warning signs.

And so, I took a little break on the ground for a few minutes. I refused medical attention but did request water and a long rest. When it was clear I still had to make my way back to the start/finish area, I began a slow and shaky trot in the direction from which I'd come. After a few easy miles I felt everything returning to normal, and with that came a sense of frustration and disappointment. I knew I'd made the smart decision, but I also knew I could've practically walked the rest of the race and still taken home the $500 third place purse. Honestly, though--and I realize this might sound crazy to some--I think I'd be embarrassed to win prize money for the time in which I would've eventually completed the race. I want to earn my winnings--which I vowed right then and there to do at 13.1 NYC in three weeks--and, more importantly, I want to preserve my body's health while doing so! Miami may have gotten the best of me, but I'll be back and better than ever soon enough.

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13.1 Miami Beach 5k

~2 mile w/u + strides
Target: 5k race @hard effort
Actual: 18:09 (1st female, 2nd finisher overall)
1/2 mile c/d
Total: 6 miles



Wow, so much to say about this weekend's 13.1 event and so little of it has to do with my running. In fact, as you can see from my results above, the weekend was so nuts nuts nuts that I ended up deciding to "race" the 5k instead of the half marathon; even at that, we were so slam packed at the Karhu and Craft booth that I'm almost embarrassed to count the few minutes that comprised my warmup and cooldown as they were so scattered. Though the race began at 6:23am, a time when I am rarely awake much less trying to run hard, my "cooldown" didn't take place until roughly five hours later when I was sprinting back to my South Beach hotel in an attempt to shower and check out in time to make my afternoon flight. So, why was the morning so crazy? Let's start from the beginning.

In the beginning, my alarm went off at 4:15. And I hit the snooze button. By 4:35 I begrudgingly acknowledged that I could not afford to sleep any later, so I woke up and dazedly began going through the motions of getting dressed for a run and preparing for a morning of Craft and Karhu sales. As I jogged the half mile from the hotel to the race start in Lummus Park, I couldn't help but be amused/amazed by the masses of people who were still milling about enjoying their Saturday night while I was up early to begin my Sunday morning. They say NYC is the city that never sleeps, but based on my weekend here in Miami I would argue that South Beach during Spring Break could easily contend for that title. At any rate, I arrived at the race site just before 5:00 and immediately began setting up our race booth along with my coworkers Nora and Aaron and our partners from Runner's Depot. As is always the case at 13.1 events, our goal was to be set up and ready to rock before most of the participants arrived. For a 7 or 8am start this is often challenging enough, but for today's 6am start it required an even more concentrated effort. Fortunately we worked like champs and had things ready to rock and roll within the hour, which gave me just enough time to jog five minutes out and back while the half marathoners were lining up. Normally I'd prefer to run the half at these events, but given the proximity to my recent marathon and, more significantly, the less than ideal weather--80 degrees, 90% humidity and windy--I must confess I was relieved that I'd only have to run hard for 20 minutes or so. Little did I know then that my own aversion to the weather would be the least of our concerns.

Once the half-marathoners set off at 6:13, we 5kers lined up. Though I'd almost been awake for two hours, the barely lightening sky and my general fatigue from the weekend made the idea of running a race seem preposterous. I lined up near the front of the pack and spent a few minutes enjoying the antics of Karhu the Bear, who was suited up and making a show of stretching out before the race began. Due to the success of LA's "Beat the Bear" promotion we decided to extend the same challenge here: any participants who beat the bear during the 5k would win a free pair of Karhu shoes. In LA our bear ran 18:45 and was beaten by less than 15 people; today we expected our bear to run closer to 21 minutes and hopefully fall in behind 20 or fewer finishers. Didn't that turn out to be wishful thinking...


Karhu the bear during happier times, warming up
for the 5k

The race began just before 6:30, and almost immediately I shot toward the front (after spending the first 20-30 meters navigating around people who had no business taking up the first row of the starting line, of course). Within the first 400 meters it became clear that there would be one guy leading the way, then a decent gap, then myself following suit, then another decent gap, then everyone else. I won't bore you with the details as that's a verbatim description of how the race unfolded, save for myself taking an accidental 10-20 second detour in the wrong direction midway through the third mile. As soon as I crossed the finish line I grabbed a bottle of water--it sure was warm and humid, even without a furry mascot suit--and stayed in the finishing chute to wait for our bear to finish.

I waited. And waited. After a few minutes, I was excited. As more and more people came trickling in, I grew anxious. By the time the race clock ticked past 25 minutes, I became concerned. A few seconds later our bear staggered across the line, literally dazed and confused and more or less suffering from heat exhaustion. Aaron immediately escorted him to the medical tent and I immediately sprinted back to the Karhu booth. A whopping 97 people had beaten our bedraggled and overheated bear, and that could only mean that things were about to get crazy in Karhu land. Sure enough, the next time I looked at my watch over two hours had passed, and the hoopla didn't die down and allow us to pack up until almost 11. To be sure, the buzz surrounding the brand was exciting to behold, but it also made for an absolutely exhausting morning. If I was spared the fatigue of running 13.1 miles, I think it's safe to say the morning madness more than made up for it. Believe it or not, our bear was such a trooper that he returned to the Karhu booth to help pitch in even after spending almost an hour in the medical tent. Now that's the indomitable Finnish "sisu" that our brand celebrates! Karhu the bear may have taken more of a beating than he (or we!) planned for today, but I can guarantee you that he'll be back on his feet and swifter than ever at our next event, the Georgia Marathon 5k on March 20th. In the meantime, I think he and I both need a well-deserved hibernation, er, nap.


Me with one of the 97 (!!) people who beat the bear
and earned a free pair of Karhu shoes

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