Miami Tropical Marathon 2005 -
The Full Story
After a tough 2004 season plagued by
several injuries and finishing a not so
good 3 :58 NYC marathon. Fazal and I
was at it again, he was also out of
training since Ramadan. His last race
was in oct ’04 Chicago, Winter was no
so bad except for the last three weeks
prior to the race, it was freezing temp
was in single digits and not to mention
I was sick for two weeks plus, to add
to it blizzard storm in NYC 12-14 inches
fell no place to run and we never got a chance to do a run longer than 15 miles but found our selves boarding a delta / song airplane to Florida Jan 29th.
Well we got there ok all they served us was a soda, not even ah bag ah chips, Sabita was there to pick us up on time as usual, ha-ha!!! 45 minutes later, sorry Sab’s .on our way to the convention center not knowing that there was two of them and obviously we went to the wrong one, we ask some people where do we pick up our race number for the marathon and they looked at us as if we was crazy, I would say that 99% of the people in Miami did not know that there was a marathon that weekend. OK!! So much for international race. I had to call Yamile (expo Miami red road) to get directions. Finally we reached the convention center and was picking up our number the most crazy thing I have ever seen, you down the escalator to pick up your number then up the escalator and all over to the left of the expo to get your tee shirt, then walk all over the other side to of the expo to get your packet, dam it!! I was getting annoyed now, finally we got our number and on our way to Ft Lauderdale.
Sabita dropped us at Kenny’s place where we got a little rest before Kenny arrived, well the grand master Kenny showed up and we headed to the supermarket ,the menu was shrimp cocktail with home made sauce, and stewed salmon with pasta. Kenny was able to whip up a mango chow. Well we ate late and had some coconut ice cream and of we went to bed, our alarm was set for 3:45am.
Fazal and I was up and ready to go, Kenny was driving and we thought he knew Miami well, Destination downtown Miami here we come. I had fell asleep, Kenny was giving us a tourist drive 45mph ,I got up when he say if is here we exit after he already took the exit, well guess what it was 5:45 am and the race starts at 6. my god we was down south beach lost ,I told him to turn around and get back on 95south ,5: 50 am still not on 95 S we got to downtown 5:55 everyone was giving us bad directions and there was to much traffic lights we still had our bag to check in ,we could not take it still stuck in traffic Fazal and I was able to see the start of the race so we got out of the car and started to run to the start of the race , 3minuites left to start, thank got we saw restrooms cleared so decided to make a pit stop, I think it was the chow that night, well that was good and then we saw the fed ex truck free ,no line so I checked my bag in and we run to the start, our number was like in the early one thousand so we was up front in the lead pack, thank god we look like foreigners people always thing that we are elite internationals and make no fuss when we jump in front of them. As soon as we got to the start all we could have done was shake hands and say good luck and off the race went.
70 degrees weather greeted as at the start, temperatures never affected me on race day I can run in 30-95 degrees and still do the same time. Well the race was a relatively flat with exceptions for the bridges, there were a few not as big as NYC but created a little problem; they were not covered with carpet or cardboard, this we felt on our legs and feet because our ankles were rocking on the metal grids which were uneven. After the first three miles I had to pull back because of calf problem and I lost sight of Fazal. There were not that much support along the way, having run those big races like NYC, BOSTON, CHICAGO, SAN DIEGO my expectation was a bit too much. The race wound through some nice neighborhoods pretty shady and cool although it was 77 degrees later in the race. After the problem with the calf I slowed down until I was properly warm and then started to push too see if I can catch Fazal, passing through Coconut Grove there were signs all over that stated "the GOVE say’s NO to HOME DEPOT that was not too nice because I was running for my store HOME DEPOT 1253 (EXPO DESIGN CENTER) in NYC.
continue >>
The Full Story
After a tough 2004 season plagued by
several injuries and finishing a not so
good 3 :58 NYC marathon. Fazal and I
was at it again, he was also out of
training since Ramadan. His last race
was in oct ’04 Chicago, Winter was no
so bad except for the last three weeks
prior to the race, it was freezing temp
was in single digits and not to mention
I was sick for two weeks plus, to add
to it blizzard storm in NYC 12-14 inches
fell no place to run and we never got a chance to do a run longer than 15 miles but found our selves boarding a delta / song airplane to Florida Jan 29th.
Well we got there ok all they served us was a soda, not even ah bag ah chips, Sabita was there to pick us up on time as usual, ha-ha!!! 45 minutes later, sorry Sab’s .on our way to the convention center not knowing that there was two of them and obviously we went to the wrong one, we ask some people where do we pick up our race number for the marathon and they looked at us as if we was crazy, I would say that 99% of the people in Miami did not know that there was a marathon that weekend. OK!! So much for international race. I had to call Yamile (expo Miami red road) to get directions. Finally we reached the convention center and was picking up our number the most crazy thing I have ever seen, you down the escalator to pick up your number then up the escalator and all over to the left of the expo to get your tee shirt, then walk all over the other side to of the expo to get your packet, dam it!! I was getting annoyed now, finally we got our number and on our way to Ft Lauderdale.
Sabita dropped us at Kenny’s place where we got a little rest before Kenny arrived, well the grand master Kenny showed up and we headed to the supermarket ,the menu was shrimp cocktail with home made sauce, and stewed salmon with pasta. Kenny was able to whip up a mango chow. Well we ate late and had some coconut ice cream and of we went to bed, our alarm was set for 3:45am.
Fazal and I was up and ready to go, Kenny was driving and we thought he knew Miami well, Destination downtown Miami here we come. I had fell asleep, Kenny was giving us a tourist drive 45mph ,I got up when he say if is here we exit after he already took the exit, well guess what it was 5:45 am and the race starts at 6. my god we was down south beach lost ,I told him to turn around and get back on 95south ,5: 50 am still not on 95 S we got to downtown 5:55 everyone was giving us bad directions and there was to much traffic lights we still had our bag to check in ,we could not take it still stuck in traffic Fazal and I was able to see the start of the race so we got out of the car and started to run to the start of the race , 3minuites left to start, thank got we saw restrooms cleared so decided to make a pit stop, I think it was the chow that night, well that was good and then we saw the fed ex truck free ,no line so I checked my bag in and we run to the start, our number was like in the early one thousand so we was up front in the lead pack, thank god we look like foreigners people always thing that we are elite internationals and make no fuss when we jump in front of them. As soon as we got to the start all we could have done was shake hands and say good luck and off the race went.
70 degrees weather greeted as at the start, temperatures never affected me on race day I can run in 30-95 degrees and still do the same time. Well the race was a relatively flat with exceptions for the bridges, there were a few not as big as NYC but created a little problem; they were not covered with carpet or cardboard, this we felt on our legs and feet because our ankles were rocking on the metal grids which were uneven. After the first three miles I had to pull back because of calf problem and I lost sight of Fazal. There were not that much support along the way, having run those big races like NYC, BOSTON, CHICAGO, SAN DIEGO my expectation was a bit too much. The race wound through some nice neighborhoods pretty shady and cool although it was 77 degrees later in the race. After the problem with the calf I slowed down until I was properly warm and then started to push too see if I can catch Fazal, passing through Coconut Grove there were signs all over that stated "the GOVE say’s NO to HOME DEPOT that was not too nice because I was running for my store HOME DEPOT 1253 (EXPO DESIGN CENTER) in NYC.
continue >>
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