I was 9 months postpartum, still had 30 pounds of excess baby weight to lose and desperately needed an excuse to make myself exercise.
When I mentioned signing up for the marathon to my awesome running group from Pittsburgh, they decided there was NO better time to visit Miami from Pittsburgh than early February! It just happened to be below zero degrees in Pittsburgh and nice and balmy in Miami. I barely had to convince them.
So we all started training together. Amanda, our VP of navigation, had just finished a half Ironman triathlon and is now training for a full Ironman! Katelyn, the Beachbody coach and our VP of candy consumption, Diego and I definitely all had some catchup work to do though!
The good news is that it did help kickstart me into reintroducing some of those healthy exercise habits back into my overstuffed life.
The bad news is that for pretty much every minute of my very limited free time, I was running or planning a run. I didn't quite ramp up my mileage quick enough to do a full marathon, and to be perfectly honest, I think at the bottom of my heart I didn't really want to anyway. The baby was still keeping me up late at nights, I was getting up at 4am to run into work, I was exhausted.
But I tell you what, I was really looking forward to gathering Team Awesome around me again.
And in addition, my brother-in-law, Santiago, had also been training to run the marathon and he and my sister-in-law Cristina came from Quito to Miami for a week to see us and participate as well! And my Mom and Dad were also visiting us at the time, which made it even more fun and special.
We had a truly awesome long weekend together. Santy and Cris arrived Thursday night, just after we returned from San Diego, where I had taken my boards on Wednesday, flown all night to arrive in Miami on Thursday morning just in time to go to work and take out a kidney and a half in a baby with tumors. Amanda and Katelyn arrived Friday night and Team Awesome was officially reunited!!!
I truly thank them for taking a weekend out of their busy lives to travel such a long distance to spend such a nice weekend with us! Who else has friends that would travel so far only to run 13 miles???
On Saturday we went to the Expo in the morning after a nice big breakfast. We got our racing numbers and T-shirts and stocked up on our favorite running snacks.
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| They had flags from the country of every participant! |
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| Here's a team awesome Miami Marathon Expo photo! With honorary members Santiago and Cristina. |
That night, we rook my Dad out to dinner for his 65th birthday to celebrate. Kimmy drove down to meet us for dinner.
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| Opa and the dragon, dressed in his Sunday best outfit to celebrate Opa's 65th birthday |
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| Enjoying a glass of wine before dinner |
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| Happy 65th birthday Dad!!! Live strong and live long, to see the dragon grow up and flourish! |
After a very pleasant dinner, we headed home to crawl into bed, knowing we had an early morning the next day. The race started at 630am, to try and beat the heat. That meant we were up at 430, at the train station by 500, headed downtown on the 515 train. We arrived to the start line around 600am.
Cristina stayed home to watch the dragon. They both survived! And it looks like the dragon at least is having a good time ;)
Santiago and Amanda split off to go to their fast people's corral. Diego, Katelyn and I stuck together in the slowpoke's corral.
Here are some pre-race pics:
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| Starting the morning out with pre-marathon cereal. |
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| Poor Amanda is always the first one ready and has to wait on us! |
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| Ready to kick some a$$! |
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| The race start line just in front of the American Airlines basketball arena |
The race had a graded start, so each corral started at a different time. We were in one of the last corrals, so we didn't actually start until about 45 minutes after the start gun went off. By that time, the sun was starting to come up.
The race course was beautiful - a run through paradise itself. It was HOT and HUMID though, especially towards the end with the sun coming up and shade becoming scarce. I'm not sure if this is common in February, but it felt like a very warm day for a marathon. Around mile 10, Diego and I left Katelyn behind as she was slowing down to finish the race at a slower pace. Around mile 12, Diego said to me, "I feel really good. I think I am going to do the whole thing." I said, "Are you crazy?!?!? I think you are going to regret that decision." But as we got closer to the split point, which was just before the half marathon ended, he became more resolute. "I'm doing it."
So he split off and I waved goodbye. I thought he was going to die of heatstroke....
Luckily, just after I finished the half marathon, and in the nick of time to cool things down for the marathoners, it started to rain, first a sprinkle and then a downpour! Most people took shelter from the rain. I looked around for Amanda, who I expected to finish the Half about 30 minutes ahead of me, then I elbowed my way to a prime lookout spot 500 feet from the finish line so I could keep a lookout for Santiago, who I knew would finish the Full soon after us, and now also Diego who I hoped would take his time, finish the Full and just plain not kill himself.
I was thankful for the rain to cool everyone down a little bit, although wet clothes certainly chafe more...
Santiago finished and we cheered, but his head was down powering through to the finish so he didn't see us until he exited the finisher's area. He had a tough race, with the unexpected heat. But he finished!!
It was another hour before we finally saw Diego coming around the bend. In the meantime, I saw a lot of people get their first glimpse of the actual finish line. There was determination, there was joy, there was pain, there was sheer exhaustion, there was even occasional nonchalance. There were tears, exclamations, and embraces. There was even a couple of collapses with the camera-worthy moment where two finishers picked a guy up on either side and carried him across the finish line. It was a very emotional morning. My heart was full. Unfortunately, my cell phone battery was....DEAD. So the rest of the photos are from the Paparazzo himself. I was filled with relief when he finally turned the corner!
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| Last mile!!! Boy it's hot! |
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| I don't know how his battery made it with 41% left!!! Mine was dead just after I hit the finish line... |
Post race photos:
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| Team Awesome represents post-race! Crawling up the stairs to the metro. |
Once we got home, we ordered takeout and in a very short time blew through 4 pizzas and something like 50 wings. Heck we had just burned about 50 million calories between the 5 of us, so whatev. Plus, this is another thing Team Awesome is VERY good at - eating. Or talking about what we're gonna eat once we finish running! Many of us took a nap too... We had to drive them to the airport the next day so that we could all go on with our lives...sigh, sniffle.
What a great weekend it was all together!!!
In the past two months since the race, I've been thinking very seriously about races, running, etc. My body does not get enough exercise because of my work, that's something I know. Races help challenge me to keep physically fit despite my busy schedule, but then I spend a LOT of my very scarce free time running. Recently, I have made a choice to spend more time doing yoga, which I feel help with a lot of my physical ailments, the aches and pains I have from standing on my feet for hours craning my neck and eyes to look down at tiny sleeping bodies. It helps soothe the mental torment, calm the internal storm of working with difficult people, difficult patients, difficult situations. It helps to center me.
So does running of course....it's just harder on the joints. Someday I will find the perfect balance.
For now though, I find myself without an upcoming race....nothing to train for. At a bit of a loss.
I miss Team Awesome. Our connection is so special and precious, and filled such a huge need in our lives while we were in Pittsburgh. But now all the members have moved their separate ways. Amanda is a big bad for-real triathlete! Katelyn is a super-awesome Beachbody coach and motivator. And I am considering making running just an occasional thing. I suppose this is how the universe functions. People are drawn together unexpectedly to fill each other's needs, then drift apart when the time is right. I am so fortunate to have Team Awesome as a part of my life, past, present and future, running or not!!!
So, when, where, how is the next semiannual reunion of Team Awesome taking place? Still TBD...
Keep checking back! I'll keep you posted.
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| Diego's shiny supernails getting ready to blow them all away!!! |
