Miami Marathon Race Report

Start of the marathon.

First of all I would like to give a huge shout out to my mom. She is awesome. I love her so much to come down from St. Louis to do this whirlwind trip with me. She and my father always give such amazing support to whatever crazy hobby that us kids get into. And also a huge hug to my cousin and his girlfriend Adel for showing us around South Beach as well as letting us crash at their awesome condo.

Ok. For those of you who don't know how huge Florida is, it's freaking huge. Yes, I do live in the same state - but it's a 9+ hour drive (plus a time change thrown in there) to get from Panama City Beach to Miami. But thankfully I had good old mom to help with the drive!

On Saturday, we went to my favorite french sidewalk restaurant and had the proper 'day before a marathon breakfast' - wonderful proper French crapes with amazing coffee:




My Cousin Tim and I.

Let me throw in a quick note about Tim. He is a reporter for the

Miami New Times

and writes amazing stories. He was one of the only American journalists allowed into Guantanamo Bay. Anyway - he somehow got his hands on a press pass for the Superbowl this weekend! Really? What!?! Can you bring a friend?

So after breakfast (or brunch) we walked on over to packet pickup and spent some time at the expo (which is always a good time). As I was expressing my love of KSwiss to my cousin - the Kswiss rep actually offered me a job :) Ha! After going through the maze of vendors, Tim and Adel headed back to the condo while mom and I walked around South Beach and had some lunch.


My drink at lunch. Coconut water..yumm!!

But mom's looks much better

And we also saw quite a few of these -

How many can you count?

So that evening for dinner, Tim had a ton of friends over and grilled fresh tuna, veggies, and his special super secret homemade hummus:



And I laid my goodies out so I'll be ready to head out of the house at 4:45am



Up at at it early - Tim (bless him) got up to take me downtown at 4:45...and it was...75 out with 95% humidity. HOTTER THEN HELL. Oh well. What can I do? It's Southern Florida! But the race was awesome. If anyone wants a good marathon - try this guy out. It's flat, very scenic and also has great support. Also, the start is at the American Airlines building (where the Miami Heat play) which equals clean bathrooms! Whoohoo! No need to use a port-o-potty here! But the one downer is that there are a million half marathoners and they run with the marathoners until mile 13.

My goal was to get a sub four - but ended up running a 4:16 (per the garmin 26.58 miles - ugh. I hate running extra!) But still that is a PR for me by 11 minutes! And I felt great, well, as great as you can feel after a marathon. No injuries, just come crappy purple toenails.



Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Yes I'll take that PR

Short race report - will get some more detail and photos as soon as I get home. But what a race. The Miami Marathon is awesome. Yeah, it was a bummer that 1/2 marathoners were with the marathons until they turned off at mile 13, but the race was ran very well. Oh yeah, let me mention at 5am it was 75 out at 93% humidity? Thank goodness is was cloudy so we didn't pass out with heat stroke! But I ended up coming in at a 4:16 - was aiming for a four hour, but I'll take that! Double fist pump!

Congrats to everyone else who races this weekend!!!

I'm In Miami...

It's 4am - and you can still hear people rocking out :) It will be interesting to see people coming out of the bars as we're running by them! Love it. Ahhhh...Miami, what a great town!

Ugh. The taper.

So the Miami ING Marathon is this weekend! Mom is flying in tomorrow and we'll be heading down south on Friday. We'll be staying with my awesome cousin who lives in South Beach which is going to be a blast. I'm so excited for this weekend...if I can just get through this taper.

I'm not sure if I am the only one - but when I'm tapering I get into a mood. Just an emotional wreck. Big J is in Louisiana tuna fishing, which is a good thing I guess because he does not have to deal with me. But I'll get over it - I always do!

So what am I doing right now? I made an awesome homemade pizza, sipping on some wine and I'm watching Spirit of the Marathon to get me into the marathon mood (which is helping). If you have not seen this movie - watch it!!

And I did have a wondeful sunset to watch as I was finishing up my running this evening:


Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Take that crap weather!

Facebook is such an AWESOME tool when it comes to scheduling group rides/runs/swims. You put out one posting...and look how many people show up for a Saturday morning ride!

20+ people showed up on Saturday for a 30-40 mile ride which is awesome! Even though the sun did not come out - everyone had a great time. I am looking forward for these group rides to start up again - and I know our weather does not get to cold down here, but still, when it's below 40, it's cold on the bike!

Random thoughts:

I wish I liked oysters. Really wished I like them. Jason could eat a sack of those guys every day. But me - not so much:



Here is a photo that I found from Christmas - my sister and I totally in the holiday mood as you can tell:

I think my brother said something that REALLY pissed me off - as you can tell by my evil look I'm givng him. :)

But I do really miss my sister since she moved back to St. Louis. But I'm also really proud of her for signing up for the GO! St. Louis marathon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

No, I do not have a shopping problem!

BUT if there is a LULULEMON OUTLET, I'm there!


I was in Orlando all week for work. I don't know if you've even been to Orlando, but it is a town full of nothing but tourist goodness. Lots of large restaurants full of kids, rental cars driving like mad men all over the place, a few theme parks, and OUTLETS. You name it. They have it. Coach, Dior, Nike...and LULULEMON! Whoohoo! This heavenly store just opened up before Christmas, so I have not been in the dark on this one. I know, I know, I ranted about how expensive this brand of clothing is - but for Christmas Big J surprised me with a pretty nice gift card (smart smart man) so I've been all about it. If you are ever in O-town, I would suggest hopping over to Premium Outlets and checking it out!



Ultra Run Short II (this is my 2nd pair and I LOVE them!) They have great 'secret' pockets to store gels as well as a zipper pocket in back for keys/etc
Regular $54/OUTLET $29
5YR Tee Pima Any t-shirt that looks cute I'm all about it
Regular $48/OUTLET $29
Hatha Henley - Cute long sleeve shirt - good for workout or just to wear with jeans
Regular $68/OUTLET $39

To be honest, I'm just happy to have a store somewhat close to me. Well, 6+ hours and a time change. But I'm in O-town every 4-6 weeks for work. I'll be sure to take orders next time I head that way :)

In other news - Big J left today to do tuna fishing charters down in southern Louisiana for a month. Possibly longer. Ugh. I hate this time of year. But it's ok. I'll probably be posting every freaking day and become a total workout nazi to keep me busy. Plus this house will be spotless :)

Oh yeah - and THIS:

came in today as well. Big J's birthday gift from me. Man I love E-bay! I'll let you know how it works out. When he gets back, I want to see if he'll let me post a 'before' and 'after' picture of him. We're working on getting in shape for the best beach bodies contest at Club Lavela over spring break. Look out you college kids! (Just kidding - but we get a giggle out of it!)

Race Report!

First of all I would like to apologize about my rant on the $80.00 half marathon. It does go for an excellent cause, and 'little' Chloe is one of the students who does directly reap the rewards of the the race. She is such an AMAZING person (as well as her whole family)who does tris, swims, runs, tennis, and every other awesome sport out there. If I would have put her first instead of the cost, I would have already signed up for the race. I seriously feel really bad about my decision. And to my luck, it has already filled up. So if any of the readers out there decide to sign up for this race next year, let me know and I can offer a free place to stay! But on the other hand, I do get frustrated with the cost of all races these days. I want to do all of them and not have the cost hold me back.

Big Chloe and Little Chloe

Anyway - yesterday I ran a half marathon in Pensacola Beach. This race was not a race for time, but more of a character builder race. It was rainy. Very rainy. It was windy. VERY VERY windy. But the 30+mph wind gusts would not stop me from running this race. And please remember - this race was pretty much right along the coast which means it is extra, superdooper windy with sand involved with the gusts. I'm surprised I don't have bruises all over my body.



Hadley, Dave, and I before the race

So me, Hadley (3:04 marathon runner) and David (Kona and Clearwater qualifier) headed that way in the FJ at 5am. For the weather, the race was surprisingly full of runners. There was a 5K, 10K and a 1/2 marathon and everyone started at the same time. With this you can turn around at any time. I needed the mileage - so I was all over the 1/2.

Too keep this race report short - here are my splits:
1 -8:16
2 -8:37
3 -8:38
4 -9:12
5 -9:39
6 -9:57
7 -9:07
8 -8:15
9 -7:59
10 -7:57
11 -7:57
12 -7:58
13 -7:43
Total time 1:50

So I'm sure you can tell where the turn around was. Into the wind out and your back to the wind on the way in. I seriously felt like I was running in place on the way out and flying heading back in. My body felt awesome and I am very happy with the way I raced. 7th female overall and 1st in my age group. Now I'm totally pumped for Miami!


I hope everyone had an excellent weekend!!