Miami Half Marathon Race Recap – Part 1

February 4, 2014

Cute beach pic from my friend Emily!

When my friend Em asked if I would join her for the Lifetime Miami Half Marathon (formerly the ING Miami Half Marathon and Marathon), I thought Florida in January? Yes please!

Okay, I wish I made decisions that quickly…it went more like the below:

I already ~~ran~~ hobbled the 2012 Miami Half (I experienced horrible blisters early on in the race)
Although Florida is not too far away, I was not sure if I could justify traveling beyond the DC metro area for a half I’ve already completed.
The Miami Half and the Key West Ragnar Relay were both humid, I hate humidity
Well….it would be fun to see how I improved and actually run the course injury free
Decision made-a redemption run!

Packing/Travel

As you may recall, I am a huge procrastinator when it comes to packing.

Running gear (tanks, tights, socks, Timex running watch, Polar heart rate monitor, shotblocks, and running belt)
Foam roller
Running shoes (in my carry-on)
Tank tops, shorts, and flip flops!
Work stuff (laptop, chargers, notebooks etc… I went straight from work and will go straight to work when I return)
Work clothes for Monday
Toiletries AND sunblock <-key for the 70-80 degree weather!

Of course I forgot to pack my swimsuit and running visor! I went straight to the airport from work to catch my flight to Miami. I am lucky to have TSA Pre-Check, so it only took 5 minutes to get through security (got to keep my shoes on and laptop in my bag) and I was able to do some work before my flight. A quick 2.5 hours later I was in Miami!

Once I checked in at the Hilton Miami Downtown (about a mile from the starting line), I headed to the Publix across the street to stock up on some water, nutrition bars, chocolate flavored Zico coconut water (my favorite recovery drink), and bananas (I got the last bunch of almost ripe bananas-score!)

Packet Pickup/Expo

The next morning Em and I headed to the Miami Beach Convention Center for the Nissan Health and Fitness Expo. For those unfamiliar with the Miami area, Downtown Miami is about a 15-20 minute drive to Miami Beach. They offered free shuttles to/from Bayside in downtown Miami to the expo.

We opted to stay in downtown Miami because it was walking distance to the start. Race organizers offered shuttles from Miami Beach to the starting line on race morning, but we did not want to worry about waking up early and possibly missing the bus.

The Miami full and half marathons draw a huge international audience – it is nice to see so many countries represented and the flags were a nice touch. There were tons of volunteers and over 100 vendors at the expo (the usual suspects that you find at the larger races – but I did like that they had several tri focused vendors).

We headed towards the back of the convention center and picked up our bibs (you needed to sign a waiver and bring an ID) and our shirts (there were no exchanges). Luckily lines were not very long at the time we went (11ish), but the expo felt crowded. This year, the technical tees were blue, in honor of Boston. If you registered early enough your name and country flag were printed on your bib.

Around Miami

After the Expo, we headed over to Yardbird Southern Table and Bar for an amazing brunch! We took advantage of the warmer weather and ate outside (chicken and biscuits, pancakes and mac & cheese – ahhh the joys of long distance running)