While Northern Virginia (and a large portion of the country) was bracing to be hit by a nasty winter storm on Saturday night, I was mercifully on a morning flight outta dodge to sunny Miami. The forecast was gorgeous.
Well... for my arrival and departure days, that is. And for anyone who was going to be a spectator at the marathon. But for those of us running? It wound up starting and getting even hotter than this -- rather brutal to run in. But at least I made it (unlike many others, including at least one pacer, who got stuck at their respective homes because of flight cancellations due to the storm).
In the week or so leading up to the marathon, something wonky was going on with my left leg, just above the ankle on the outside of my legs. It was increasingly swollen, very tender to the touch, and not overly comfortable to walk on. But with my workouts during the week, I determined (maybe foolishly) that I was in sufficient condition to run the marathon at the pace that I would be setting.
Lord knows, though, I didn't bargain on just how long and tedious a walk it would be through what seemed to be an interminable terminal at Miami International Airport to get to the MIA Mover which would get me to the Metro Rail. But, of course, because of construction, there was yet an additional transfer after just a single stop. (sigh) Finally, though, after all of that and a relatively short walk from the Lyric Opera station to the pacer's hotel, I arrived. Even though it was about 1pm, they would not do an early check-in, so I left my bags with them and headed up to the expo to get my packet and work my shift at the MarathonPacing.com booth.
Miami and Miami Beach certainly have eclectic artwork around -- lots of murals painted on the sides of their buildings. A couple caught my eye on my walk up.
There was also this curious window display:
I even saw a couple of guys loading many of these delivery robots onto a truck (presumably for repositioning). Amusingly enough, when walking back from the pacer dinner (more on that later), I would see this one's counterpart -- aptly named Judy.
At the end of the approx. 2-mile walk, I was finally in the Wynwood neighborhood for the expo.
Around the back side of this complex was the back of the long, snaking line to get into the expo. There was a Yerba Mate truck handing out cans of their caffeinated drink. I decided to give it a shot, though expected to dislike it despite the expected good flavor, since it said that it was sparkling water -- I'm not one for Evian nor seltzer. But it was neither of those. I didn't recognize there being any carbonation, so it was just flavored water -- and tasty. Definitely something I was in need of after the hot walk up.
After maybe 10 minutes on line, I made my way to the entrance.
Just inside the entry way was the Hall of Flags, where people could take selfies with the flag of their home country.
As I turned the corner, I was greeted by a choice of going onto the long line ostensibly to collect my bib, or to the nonexistent line for the VIP entrance. I chose the latter, noting to the volunteer guarding that entry that I was one of the pacers and that our bibs were sitting for us at the pacer booth. (An unusual system, but one I was happy for.) A couple of turns later and I was at the booth for my shift.
It was a really fast-moving hour, answering all sorts of questions, related to pacing, race morning logistics, course logistics, and all manner of other usual questions. (Though the most frequent one was where to find the race shirts -- they were in the next room.) I was able to advise several people who were first-timers to NOT attempt their stretch goal time, given how unforgiving the heat and humidity were going to be, and that they should simply enjoy their first race (which was a guaranteed PR so long as they finished), finishing safely and uninjured. Before I knew it, the hour flew by, and I was relieved at the booth to enjoy the rest of the expo and head on back to the hotel.
The expo was pretty standard in terms of vendors, etc. Generally speaking, I don't purchase anything at expos any more given I have everything that I need/want for my marathoning. If I need to replace something or get a great deal on Shot Bloks, I'll jump on them, otherwise, nah. But I'll certainly accept the various freebies. This time around, it was a 360 photo/video. (I added the audio on top of it.)
Despite having paced for the marathon the previous year, I decided to attend the First Timers talk anyway, to see what they were telling everyone. Sometimes it can be good info, or simply a reinforcing reminder of something to be cognizant of. There was one piece of "advice" I thought was problematic, at least the way I was hearing it. It sounded like the speaker was telling people that they didn't need to use every water stop on the course. And while, strictly speaking, that's usually true, with the heat as high has it would be, even if they weren't going to drink something at every stop, at the very least they should throw water over their head at each stop. He didn't mention that -- then again, I've never heard anyone giving a similar talk at any other expo mention runners throwing water over their head to stay cool.
Done with the expo, I ventured back to the hotel to check in and try to prep my gear for the following morning before heading off to the pacer dinner. On the way, I passed the following construction scene - which didn't seem to have been overly different than the previous year:
I've asked many long-time Miami residents over the last few years what these arches are supposed to be (both being down for the marathon and for a couple of cruises), and not one person has the slightest clue. (Can you help?)
Back at the hotel, I checked in and was refused a late check-out (meaning I would need to bring my bags down to the front desk on my way out to the race, since I was set to cross the finish line at the same time as check-out). Sigh. Oh well - not unexpected. But annoying, as I would much rather being able to shower and change before doing anything else on the day. C'est la vie.
The most annoying part of the hotel, though, is the fact that they have five slow, non-partitioned-by-floor elevators for 51 floors of hotel rooms and condo apartments. The line was essentially out the front door continually, with only a few people getting on at a time. It took at least 10-15 minutes to finally get on an elevator up. With only a few minutes available to me before heading out to dinner, I unpacked a bit and started to set up for the morning. (I prefer getting that out of the way as soon as possible.) Before I knew it, it was time to go to dinner.
Silly me, I didn't pad enough time to get the elevator down. The line to come up was still very long (as I would find out), and it was even busier because of the people who had checked in that were trying to descend to go to their evening plans. More than 5 minutes after arriving at the elevator bank (where someone else had already been waiting), the first elevator arrived -- packed to the gills. They instantly shut the doors on us. Alright, wait for the next one. A few minutes later, that one also arrived, packed to the gills, but I squeezed my way on before they could press the close button. Slowly but surely it descended floor by floor. I finally had the feeling of what a Shabbas Elevator was like. :-)
On my way to our restaurant, I came across a neat sculpture reminiscent of Wall Street, NYC:
More than two dozen pacers from the team running the half or full marathon met up for dinner, socialized, enjoyed a pretty tasty Brazilian buffet, and got our usual expectations "briefing" before heading back for the night with an early wake-up call that would ensure we were at the starting area in time for a 5am group photo.
This is one of few races where the team is not only put up, but is put up SO CLOSE to the start. And we even had a nice few to boot.
