Let me begin at the end. The breakfast they serve at the Space Coast Marathon is the best post-race meal I have ever had (or remember eating). Beyond the typical bananas and bagel, I went straight to the kitchen tent for as many pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage patties that I wanted. And boy were they good.
Now back to the beginning.
I drove over by myself at 4:30 a.m. and arrived in Cocoa at 5:30. I found the last parking space in the Elks (?) Lodge lot and had plenty of time to wander around. I saw Carol Sugars for a sec just as I realized I needed to find a port-a-potty. I went to the farthest bank of them, by the intracoastal, and made it back to the start line in plenty of time to watch the space shuttle fire up and launch from the pad and start the race (pre-recorded).
I hung with the 4:40 pace group for the first half of the race; in front of them for the most part, which was easy, even as I did five minute runs and one minute walks. There was some wind before sunrise, then clouds and rainy drizzle. In the 70 degree race start temps, I did not mind. I ran shirtless remembering how I hid my shirt in a tree last year when it was 15 degrees cooler at the start.
By comparison, this race started like most of my races when I ran without walk breaks, somewhere in the 10:15-10:45 per mile range. Having trained faithfully to the distance and frequency numbers I worked from for 16 weeks, I was not too worried about hitting a wall. I looked forward to the run-walk in late miles.
At Mile 12, I topped 11 minutes while playing tag with Dan Hardaway, who was doing 5-and-1s at a different rate. After the half way point my times were in the 11s. Then at the 20-mile turnaround in Rockledge I started overheating and felt faint. I had to walk a little longer than necessary and lost my concentration on run-walk spells. It was hot. Maybe 80 by then.
I had been hydrating and eating well. I added cut pieces of Cliff Bars to my pockets of fuel and I never felt out of sorts or cramped. It was just plain hot. I had one 16 minute mile at 24 that killed me. I managed to get back in a groove of walking a minute and running to left-foot foot strikes of 100-75-50 and 25 before walking again. He helped me finish decently.
15:09 was better than last year by six minutes and better than any of my three marathons in the 2010-11 season so I was pleased to some extent. I really wanted to be sub-5 but I’ll allow for the heat.
My left adductor was sore afterwards. I stretched as best I could between gobbles of breakfast, then headed over to Fishlips at Cape Canaveral to join other Orlando Runners Club mates who had already finished the half or full. I was last to arrive but quick to order a beer and a cheeseburger with fries. I was still hungry.
After the party split up, I made my way to Jetty Park and spent two hours on the beach, including a nap and a treatment of ocean waves massaging my legs. I mean, it was that warm that I could go to the beach as if it were July. Imagine the race.
By dark I was home and ready to eat again and hit the bed.
Did I mention how great the Space Coast breakfast was? Thanks to Dan, Seth, Cheryl, Dave and Leslie for cheering me up on the race course.
