Space Coast Marathon & HM (for Hubby)

This week Mr. Docket ran his first Half Marathon, not only breaking all expectations on it, but also PRing on Thursday at the Miami Turkey Trot 10K.  I paced hubby on the 10K and treated it as an easy/recovery run for me.  I did the Space Coast Marathon today and had a great time too.  More details below.

Short:

Miami Turkey Trot 10K - 1:11:06, 7+ minute PR for hubby

Space Coast Half Marathon - 2:39:XX - 30 minutes below what we were expecting him to do.

Space Coast Marathon - 5:10:XX - My fastest in the last month and I have run 5 marathons in 34 days, so awesome.

Long Version:

Miami Turkey Trot 10K

The cold front arrived in Florida solely for 2-4 hours.  It was a cold 55F at the start of the race, 60F at the finish.  LOL.  Notwithstanding it was that warm, I saw people dressed with long sleeve JACKETS, HATS, TIGHTS, and GLOVES.  Da fuck?

Our plan was to run at hubby's pace and using his strategy of 1 mile run, 0.10 walk.  After Mile 2, I noticed he was doing my easy pace on the run segments (10:20-10:47mm) so for me it was my typical easy run.  I thought he would fade after Mile 4 but in fact, he got faster.  We crossed the finish line at the same time, seems, like, since both got the 1:11:06.  Pictures are not up.

Space Coast HM and Marathon

We decided to stay in Miami through Saturday morning, drive to Cocoa, FL (Middle East Florida, close to 45 minutes from Orlando and 3 hours from Miami), do packet pickup, spend the day in Orlando and go back to Cocoa to sleep.  We arrived in Cocoa at 1pm, did the expo and by 3pm, we headed to El Guavate, the best Puerto Rican restaurant outside of PR.  We ate two huge mofongo platters and went shopping in Orlando.

Orlando has a lululemon outlet, OMG!  I always find great deals and last night was no exception.  We ended up with running tights, gloves, vests, long sleeves, and other Winter running gear.  Obviously, this will not be used in Miami ever, but I don't plan on running in Miami much longer. 

We drove back to Cocoa after a smaller dinner of pasta and ended up staying at a cheap hotel because it typical Docket fashion, we only reserved a hotel on Wednesday and everything else was full.  It was not a bad hotel, though.  We got our gear ready, read our emails, mourned the loss of Paul Walker, and went to bed.

The HM started at 6am, so we were out of the hotel by 5:15am.  Found parking near the starting line and headed for the potta potties by 5:30.  Hubby left for his start at 5:45 and I finished my business and watched the HM start precisely at 6am (I like this race!).  I like super small races and with 3000 for the HM and 2000 for the full, this is one of the smallest I have done.

Temps were 64F at the start with 100% humidity, 64 dewpoint.  So, a cool day, right?  This means....

I even saw a guy wearing a long sleeve AND gloves.  I cannot even make this shit up.  It was 67F soon after the sun came out.  I was wearing a bra top and shorts and hubby was wearing a singlet and shorts.  I felt sorry I didn't wear only a bra, it was that humid, sigh.  Fortunately, 90% of my race was cloudy.  The 10% that was super fucking sunny was when I was heading down South with the sun almost in front of me the whole time.  Good times!

The marathon started at 6:30 and we headed North in a figure 8 that would bring us back to near the starting line by the halfway point, after which we would head South until Mile 20 and head back to the finish.  I thought I would see hubby on the course, but the HM started South, so I only saw the 3+ hour finishers (and the marathon winners and faster people too).

Since I've done 5 marathons in 34 days, including that double three weeks ago, I wanted to make this one fun but I wanted to run easy miles instead of trying to run too slow.  I have a new way to tape the groin area (thanks to my massage therapist) to help with the fibroid pain and it worked better than the other times, but the pain was there even before I started the race.  So I knew it was just a question of time when the walk breaks had to be added so that the loin wouldn't explode.

Whoever told me this race was flat is crazy.  Rolling hills.  And flat apparently has a different meaning when you live in Miami.  Flat to me is zero elevation not that.  Anyway, they were manageable and I was doing fine by the halfway point.  Blinding pain usually starts at the end of the 2 hour mark but I was fortunate in not getting pain until later.

As I round up the figure 8 to start the second loop, I pick a cup of water and the following happens:

I look left and see volunteers, people, cowbells, and my fucking husband wearing his HM medal!  I tell him in Spanish: how come you're already done?  Since people were watching, I switched to English and told him: You're done already?  HOLY SHIT!  People were laughing so hard I felt my job was done.  Hubby apparently finished his HM in 2:39, even with his walk breaks, started with the 3 hour pacer, passed him, passed the 2:45 pacer at Mile 10 and went for it.  We were assuming he would run 3:07-3:15 so he is very happy with his time on his first HM:

Not sure why he is wearing Hokas and inknburn because no one else at the house likes that shit.... 

On I go.  Miles 1-14 were done at paces ranging from 10:11 through 10:30, with some slow miles when I had to fix my sock (thank you, arthritis, I really appreciate how annoying you are when it's most wanted!)  Anyway, crossed the halfway point at 2:24 clock time, so 2:20 which is where I wanted to be (easy pace, 4:40-4:50 race).

And then, Miles 15 through 17 were OK but I had to stop to fix the sock at each mile, drank some beer from a nice lady that was handling it and stopped at the medical tent to see if they had tape.  Then, Mile 18: blinding pain.  I walked a bit and ended up with 12:50mm, but 19 and 20 were faster than that, and then Mile 21 was BAM, 15mm, holy pain.  I walked when I had too much pain, and ran the rest.  The running segments were at my usual 10:15-10:30 all through the finish, but I just couldn't run straight through with this pain.  The tape helped a lot, but I still need surgery as soon as I can manage it, sigh.

Anyway, Mile 22 gave me a huge surprise.  As I am looking at the people coming from MIle 17-18, I see Nikki (IRun4Bliss).  She was doing the full and I didn't even know (well, she didn't tell me, ha).  We hugged and chatted a bit, and off we parted ways.  A bit further down, I see a girl sitting on the side of the road.  A guy was with her and kept running after she assured him she was OK.  I asked her too.  She said she was cramping bad.  I asked her whether she could walk with me, she said no.  So, I see the police car ahead and continue on and flag him for her.  She was picked and taken to the nearest medical station 0.50 mile ahead.  When I ran by, she was wrapped in blankets and being treated.  15:08mm for that mile does not feel so bad when you're playing the good samaritan!

Miles 24 through 26 kept me doing the same run when I could, walk when it was too painful.  They were all in the 12mm ratio.  I stopped one time at Mile 25 and grabbed my groin and this gentleman asked whether I was OK.  I told him yes, but he noticed I had done that several times before (we were playing tags with each other).  I thanked him but told him it was something I couldn't help and raced him to the finish.  We finish almost together.  We congratulated each other and went to meet our families.

I finished in 5:10, not even my fastest (which is 36 minutes from my PR--I counted correctly this time, Beth!) but it is my fastest since the fibroid issues arose and after 5 marathons total in 34 days, I can call this time a win since it is my fastest of those 5.

Hubby was waiting for me at the finish with a Yuengling for me.  Such a nice husband!  Then, he took a closeup picture making me look all puffy which deleted all the credits he got from the beer.

And here is a close up of the two medals.  They don't differ much except one says marathon and the other one says that other boring distance. 

Next: Disney!

Thanks for reading!