Melbourne Music Marathon and Half Marathon

It took me awhile to get to this review from last weeks event, but it was a good time. This had allot of title sponsors namely State Farm being the biggest and with it being the Master's Half Marathon championship I expected a large turnout and some fast runners. I was correct!

After the letdown of the Ocala Expo and dinner I was interested to see how a bigger race does it. We decided not to do the dinner at a local eatery, but the Expo was nice. It was held at the  Crown Plaza hotel which is located on the beach. There were plenty of volunteers directing you where to go for bib, shirt, and bag. Bib had timer on it, the tech shirt is very nice, but not much in the bag at all except I will admit I will take the hat they gave over normal bag filled with flyers! We walked around the expo for a bit and tried some of the vendor samples. I would guess about 20 vendors were there. Met former Olympic runner Zola Budd, but didn't ask about her friend Mary Decker Stanley since I am sure she is asked that a thousand times.

After the expo we drove the course so I could see it and my wife would know how to navigate through during it. The plan was for her to see me around 4 miles and 8 mile points. I will admit driving over the bridges did not give me an excited feeling knowing we had to go over two of the them. Also driving over the first one and looking down the intercoastal to the second one was funny when my wife stated how far it looked from one to the other.

Instead of the race dinner we decided to go to Squid Lips which was located just off the course on the intercoastal. My wife's good friend Amy was also doing the event so we met them and some friends there for dinner. Not a good selection of entrees to eat before a race, but I did have the Citrus Salmon and it was real good! After dinner went back to the hotel and crashed--ok not really since I never sleep good before a race.

Up and ready to go. My wife drove me to the start and found a spot on "Waverly Place" (hopefully no Wizards are around!! ie.. Disney show) She hung around so she could take a picture of me and some new Half Fanatics runners friends. After that she went back to the hotel to get my son up and make thier way to the 4 mile mark. Walked around to find the portalets and there was a long line that I really did not want to stand in. Right or wrong I will just state that I found a dark place to relieve myself.

Walked through the people and found Amy and talked with her a little. I moved up to just behind the 1:50 pacer and could hear some people talking on a bullhorn, but could not understand. The race was scheduled to start at 7:05 then I thought they switched it to 7:07, but on my watch at 7:03 all of a sudden I heard "Runners start your engines!" A NASCAR driver was doing the start. Anyway off we went. Took me 13 seconds to cross the starting line. Wanted to remember since even thou I started my Garmin at the line the finish line clock will be 13 seconds faster than my actual time.

Couple of goals for today were to try and beat my Ocala time 1:52:58 by running a 4 mile split of 8:45, 8:35. and then a 8:25, Even bigger goal was to finally run a good race when my wife was in attendance!!! Just have never done a good run when she has been there. So off we went and tried to settled into a good pace and keep an eye on the 1:50 group. Notice at 1/2 that my pace was 8:30 so slowed down some. Problem I was getting into was trying to make my way through slower runners it would make me sped up to get through. Regardless my first mile was 8:20. Way to fast with so much to go.

Will keep my time review short by saying I was on track with a 4 mile split of 34:25 (30 seconds ahead). Then the second 4 miles in 34:33 (13 seconds behind) and finally the last 4 miles in 36:17 (2:37 behind pace). At halfway I was 22 seconds ahead of over time pace. Reasons for the slower splits were namely the two bridges. They just took more out of me then I thought they would. Also of course going out to fast in the first 4 miles The Ocala race my first 4 miles were over a minute slower so I had allot left during the race. Also the higher temps didnt help either. It started in the upper 60's and kept climbing.

Highlights along the course are running along the intercoastal, plenty of water stations, music acts--even thou it sometimes was just one person. The piano guy at the top of the intercoastal bridge was a highlight for sure. The turn onto Riverside right at halfway was full of people (some for the relay) and a line of Corvettes were there. Was running along and this guy was cheering on the runners and yelled out "Go 666!" Yep there was the dreaded number bib right next to me. Told the woman I would have asked for a different number. Did not like being near her so sped up away from her.

Wife and son were there right on schedule at 4 and 8 mile mark and gave me a water bottle and change of hand towels-I sweat allot! It helped seeing them and especially her to remind me that I even thou I would not PR I needed to finish strong. Passed Amy's family and gave her daughter a low five. Ran through a neighborhood where some people just set up their own water stations or cheered. Pretty cool! Sadly missed the Gummie bears at mile 10 stop and didn't want to go back.

Made the turn towards the second bridge and told myself to get up and over. Did notice as I was coming down my foot felt a little numb. Had not felt that before, but put it out of mind and pressed on. After passing the 12 mile mark I knew it was just over a mile left and you get a nice little downhill to help. Problem thou is I drove the entire course except the last mile which sadly includes a modest 3/4 mile uphill before the turn to home. I did not know about it so did not plan on it. It got me for sure. Final mile was 9:16 about 25 seconds off pace. Learned a lesson for next races!! Made the turn towards home and could see the clock clicking away. Still wanted to be under 1:56 so sprinted it out and passed a few and hit the line at 1:55:55 Garmin time. Actually jump over the finish line for the pictures! Was not to bothered by the slower time since it was still way under 2 hours and did get a decent time with my wife there!

After crossing was handed my medal-very nice! A towel --another goodie. Then hurried through to have them take a picture with the backdrop. Found my wife and son and waited for Amy to finish. She had ran it last year and she beat her time by two minutes this year--Great job! Got our picture together and we all made our way through the after party.  They has pizza, pancakes, sausage, water,orange juice, massages, and allot more. Checked out the trophies--wishful thinking!!

Got back to the hotel and was joking with my wife that my shoes were "squishing" and I stepped. We laughed how wet my shoes were even though I did not run through water. Got to the room and took my socks off and WOW! My big toe was as black as night! That was the numbness I was feeling from the blister and blackened toe and toenail. Will take awhile for that to heal, but I will press on!

All in all a very good event that I would recommend to someone to do. Also cool was the live webcast of the finish line. My brother had it one and sent a screen capture of it!! Now a little break until Florida Beach Half in March.