Melbourne Florida Marathon - race #2 of the Marathon Vacation

Okay so this race report is going to be pretty freaking dated but I promised to write it so here it is. Sorry for the delay but I am really busy (read really lazy) right now. Lucky for you because it is so late its going to be shorter then usual. Next week I should be getting back to posting regularly because I have got lots that I want to talk and complain about.

After the Miami Marathon we drove up to Orlando and hit the theme parks like the world was coming to an end. We managed to squeeze all the Disney parks in as well as both Universal Parks. What a blast!. Both Kim and I are thrill ride junkies (I know hard to believe) so the fun never stopped. No running AT ALL but we did about 13 hours of walking a day so the legs didnt exactly get a lot of rest.

On Saturday we drove 2 hours to Melbourne and picked up our race kits. Its a small race and it was really weird going from a huge expo at Miami to a tiny one at Melbourne but people were nice and we got everything picked up. No tech shirts but great running hats so that was cool because I badly needed a new hat. Then we drove back to Orlando to get in an afternoon of roller coasters.

Okay so this might be completely of topic but has to be mentioned. What the heck is up with serving sizes in Florida. I am not sure if its just Florida or other places in the US (didnt see it in NYC or LA) but it was kind of crazy. Servings were HUGE, it was INSANE. We ordered Nachos from the appetizer menu as a snack and this is the monstrosity that we were given. When I asked for Nachos I didnt mean all of them.

Sunday morning we got up at 4 am and drove back to Melbourne for the race. I planned to take it easy and run my normal long run pace. Kim wasn't sure how hard she was going to run. I think both of us were tired from all the running around during the week. I was feeling like I might have to take a vacation to recover from my vacation.

We found a place to park near the start line and changed into our racing stuff. It was just starting to get light out and it was overcast. I keep hearing a strange click, click, click of metal from behind me. I turned around to see what it was and saw the biggest Vulture I have ever seen walking along the steel roof of the building next to us and eyeing me up. It was big, ugly and looked hungry. Not exactly the kind of thing you want to see before running a marathon. Maybe the bird knew something that I didn't. Tried to get a picture but it was still to dark out.

We then made it to the start line and before you could say roadkill we were off.

The Race

The course was really flat and enjoyable but early on it was really congested with the HM and Marathon starting together. There were a couple thousand in the HM and only 300 in the Full. It was slow going for the first 3k until things got spread out and then it was fine. The course is decent with the HM running one loop that includes two long bridge crossings and the full doing the same course twice.

Things went well early but I realized very early on that this was going to be a tough run flat or not. It was overcast so no direct sun and in the mid 60s but man was it humid, I am guessing around 90-100 percent humidity. I was sweating buckets by the 6k marker.

The first loop sailed by quickly and as advertised it was flat except for the bridges. The first one had about a 300 meter uphill that was not to bad a grade but the second on was much longer and steeper and came around the 19k mark. I can remember cresting the hill the first time and thinking this is really going to hurt the next time I cross it.

Somewhere just after 22k I started running and talking with a guy from Jacksonville. He told me it was always humid like this. I was getting tired but having someone to run along with was cool. We only ended up running together for a few miles though as he actually ended up having to stop and walk because of leg craps. It was fun while it lasted but then I was on my own again and headed into the last and always painful 10k.

The heat was really getting to me by this time and since I was only suppose to be running this race for training I slowed down some more and then headed up over the bridge. As I had suspected it was much harder the second time and the few runners I could see where mostly walking it. Once I got to the top it was a quick 3k to the finish line where Kim was waiting for me.

Post race

I got some food into me and then wanted to get my post race beer but no luck. It seems all the beer was consumed by the HM people. GRRRR.

I finished in 3:57:51 which was okay. I ended up working harder then at Miami for a slower time but that was mainly because the conditions.

I think this was a pretty decent race for a smaller event but had one or two minor complains. The early aid stations were badly understaffed the first time around ( I ended up running right through one and had to come to a stop at another). I realize that is how it goes sometimes at smaller races so no big deal. The bigger thing is that they gave out water in harder plastic cups which you could not squeeze. This meant you either stopped running to drink or you ended up snorting Gatorade. I ended up with a lot of Gatorade up my nose during this race.