Number Nine In The Sunshine and other Marathonian Aspirations.

Coupled with the necessity to have our Dads meet one another, and the Forest Park Road Runner's next travelling race destination, Karen and I have signed up for the 2010 ING Miami Marathon. This will be my 9th marathon, and her 8th. It will be held on Sunday, January 31st, 2010, and the start time of the race is 6am.

I'm thinking that the extra early start time probably has something to do with the typical temperatures in Florida. It will be extremely important, since I sweat when I run so much, to fuel up at every station, and have all my supplements ready and in excess.

The course in Miami is awesome.

It starts at the American Airlines Arena, and from there it goes east along the MacCarthur and Venetian Causway with a nice, solid 4 plus miles along South Miami Beach. Then we come back to downtown Miami, and from there we head south past Little Havana, Coconut Grove and Coral Gables. We come back north east, head into the Rickenbacker Causway towards Key Biscayne, and back again into Miami. Finally, we finish up at Bayshore Park where I am told that the medals are huge. Yes, I am a medal whore. What can I say?

You can also check it out in full detail here --> http://www.ingmiamimarathon.com/Upload/documents/AerialMap_water_port-o-let.pdf
My family is already assembling a 'cheer squad' at the finish line.

Next, here is a turn-by-turn of the course in its entirety:

2010 FULL MARATHON TURN-BY-TURN
Start at AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA (NE 8 ST)
North on BISCAYNE BLVD
Right onto MACARTHUR CAUSEWAY
Right onto ALTON RD
Left onto BISCAYNE ST/S. POINT DR.
Left onto OCEAN DRIVE
Left onto 14 ST
Right onto WASHINGTON AVE
Left onto DADE BLVD
Right onto PRAIRIE AVE
Left onto 28 ST
Left onto MERIDIAN AVE
Right onto DADE BLVD
Becomes VENETIAN CAUSEWAY
Becomes NE 15 ST
Left onto NORTH MIAMI AVE
Left onto E. FLAGLER ST
Right onto SE 3 AVE
Right onto SE 2 ST
Left onto MIAMI AVE
MIAMI AVE BRIDGE onto Slight Right
Becomes SW 1 AVE
Left onto BROADWAY/15 RD
Right onto SOUTH MIAMI AVE
Right onto SAMANA DR
Right onto SHORE DR E
Left onto SHORE DR N
Left onto SHORE DR W
Left onto SHORE DR S
Right onto TIGER TAIL
Angle Slight Right at 27 AVE
Onto DAY AVE
Left onto MATILDA ST
Left onto OAK AVE
Right onto VIRGINIA ST
Right onto GRAND AVE
Left onto COMMODORE PLAZA
Left onto MAIN HIGHWAY
Right onto McFARLANE AVE
Left onto SOUTH BAYSHORE DR
Becomes S. MIAMI AVE
Right onto US1
Right onto RICKENBACKER CAUSEWAY
Slight Right onto RICKENBACKER UNDERPASS
Follow UNDERPASS
Becomes RICKENBACKER CAUSEWAY
Right onto BRICKELL AVE
Over BRIDGE Becomes SE 2 AVE
Right onto SE 4 ST
Left onto BISCAYNE BLVD
Finish BAYFRONT PARK (E. Flagler)

I expect this course to be a flat course, and so if the temperature holds in the 50's (and that's a big 'if') there is a chance that I could break my Marathon record I set last week. As for whether or not I have a shot at the Boston Marathon.... Well. Take a look below.

Next year when I run the Miami Marathon, I will still be 44. And in order to qualify for Boston, I will have to run Miami in a time of no more than 3 hours, 20 minutes and 59 seconds. In other words, I would have to have a pace of 7:41 per mile to
qualify.

While I have a lot of confidence in myself, shaving off another 30 minutes off is perhaps asking for a lot. Keep in mind that I just broke my record recently for a half-marathon by doing that in 1:42:32. Which is good for a 7:50 pace.

I think, I will leave it up to God as to how fast I will be able to race that day, and hope for the best.

However, I'm not done yet.

I had promised myself to do 3 Marathons in 2010. New York City will obviously be the last one. But which will be the second?

The Chicago Marathon on October 10, 2010. That's 10/10/10. That will be my 2nd marathon.

What makes the Chicago Marathon extremely pivotal are two factors. One, it is a flat course. All the way. Second, I will be 45 years old, and as such, I would then only need a 3 hr, 30 minute and 59 second finish time in Chicago. That is an 8 minute 3 second per mile pace. Could I improve by 20 minutes, on a flat course? It's only about 42 seconds per mile faster...and on a completely flat course.

Just looking at what I wrote is exciting me to no end. The only potential obstacle is that a distant relative of mine, Laura Ghazi, is getting married next year, and they had semi-joked about getting married that day. For my sake, I truly hope they hitch the knot on any day but that one. Seriously (lol), I really want to do this race! The Boston Marathon has been even more elusive for me than breaking 4 hours and running Boston is the MECCA of the sport (though I will always contend that the NYC Marathon is the most amazing of all marathons in the world).

Can I do it? All 3 marathons in one year? With only a 4 week span in between Chicago and New York? Will I survive the heat of Miami? All of these questions and more will be answered on the next episode of "All My Sneakers".