The alarm went off at 3am and we were out the door by 3:50am as planned.  We had an hour drive, a crazy search for parking and quite a wait to start (25,000 participants meant it took Georgette and I 28 minutes to just cross the STARTING line).

This is my third time participating in the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon Event.  It was the first half marathon I ever ran in 2008 and the first (and only) full marathon I ever ran in 2010.  Now that I’ve run a few races, (this one was my 12th half marathon) I have concluded that I don’t like big events.  Unless you are an elite runner and have qualified to start from one of the front corrals, its just no fun… You spend more time running sideways to get around people than you do forward to pass people.  Even if you just want to participate in the race for fun and not for time, like Georgette and I did at the Disney Princess Half Marathon last year, you’ll get really frustrated with the insane amount of people that will keep you from even hitting your stride.  (Side note:  Disney races are really, really fun but only for those who plan on walking part of it and don’t care about their time.  All of them are very crowded and many of the participants are not actually runners but people who just want to check something off their bucket list while wearing a ridiculous tutu.  I freely admit to having done the Princess Half in a tutu so…. check)

The race today was not as crowded as the Princess Half but, it certainly was nothing like the under 2,000 participant races I’ve been getting used to doing.  Its no excuse for not having made my time goal, though.  I clocked in at 2:10:20 (fooey) but thats ok.  I had fun, spent some quality time with some quality people and got to run through some of my old stomping grounds.