One Bad Ass Runner

Today, I ran the RnR Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon in Miami Beach, FL.  It's the second year for this race and last year, I did it for fun with Rich, Jenn (although Jenn DNS'd due to injury), Dana, June, and Shen.  We had tons of fun then and I knew this race is a great one. This year, the race changed dates and instead of December, it was this weekend, which worked better for me, as there is a HM in Weston, FL, I love to do but conflicted with this race.  So now, I can do both.  My next marathon is in two weeks (RnR Vegas) and have been wondering what pace to run for that race.  I think I am ready to attempt another PR, since I was sick during MCM and a PR was all but impossible then.  So, this HM was supposed to be a test of what I could be capable of in Vegas. Since MCM, I've been running a lot.  My team in the 2012 in 2012 game in RWOL is in the semi finals and I decided to do my part by running 50 miles two weeks post marathon and another set of go

Today, I ran the 13.1 Ft. Lauderdale.  This was my first HM in 2009 and it has a special place in my heart.  This year, they changed the course which made it tougher (with the first 5 miles full of bridges).  However, the weather was cooler than usual with a nice 20mph twister wind.  My plan was to run this workout as an MP run with 5-10 MP miles, depending on how I felt today.  The 5K effort on Friday really tired me out and when I went to bed last night, I was still sore from it. Woke up at 4:45am to head to Ft. Lauderdale at 5am.  Race starts at 6:35am and the last two years, I've spent the National Anthem inside the potta potty doing my business.  This time, with the change of course, I knew I had to get there early to be able to find parking and use the potties before the start, as I know the area and the amount of runners that would be there. Got there at 5:30am and by 6am I was parked (see what I mean about traffic?)  Got into the potta potty and went WTF?  No to

Waterford 5K: I hate 5Ks, let's start with that.  I've run many and 70% of them had me having asthma attacks.  So why in the world do I go to run to the park on Wednesday and a fellow member of the group (Pepe, it's your fault) tells me about this evening race and I go home and register?  WTF? Since I registered and I hate 5Ks and I don't think they are fun, I decided to give it a good PR effort.  So, I found my most bright clothes (red, of course), my lightest shoes (Ronins) and decided to go all out and see what I could do. Since I was off yesterday afternoon, I took advantage of that by relaxing, eating, and resting a lot.  At 5pm I left the house and proceeded to spend 1 hour in rush hour traffic to drive the 6 miles to the starting line.  By the time I got there, the cops had closed the entrance to the area and I had to park a mile away.  Ran a mile to pick my packet (almost didn't make it), then ran another mile to the car to leave my stuff and con

Today, I ran the Sun Capital Half Marathon in Boca Raton, FL, to benefit the Police Athletic League.  I had signed up for this race in 2011 but after being selected to do the NYCM via lottery, I had to DNS this race.  So, I was looking forward to running a very small and local HM in a not-flat area of Florida. Boca Raton is 45 minutes to an hour away, so my first concern was doing packet pickup and going back home and back there again the next day.  Fortunately, I was working in West Palm Beach on Wednesday so I picked my packet then.  And I didn't know that they had race day packet pickup so for next time, that is resolved. I ran the Marine Corps Marathon last weekend, so this was definitely not a race for me, but rather a run.  I've been dealing with cough, asthma, and now a funky knee for three weeks now.  I finally got an answer to the cough from the asthma doctor and an answer to the funky knee issue, so I'm all set. After the MCM, I went to the doctor for my ast