3 Days Until the ING Miami Marathon

In 3 days I, along with 14999 other people, will be halfway across the MacArthur Causeway. The sun will be peering between the cruise ships in the port of Miami and my head will likely have exploded. I am sick. I have the sort of head cold that makes Kleenex & SinuTab stockholders very rich people. I am confident that my leaky, on the verge of exploding head syndrome will magically disappear by race morning, so no worries.

More importantly; I have designed a fairly unconventional training program for this particular race and have had three devoted and highly skilled runners volunteer to play guinea pig for the last 12 weeks. Christi, Mary and Amy, thank you very much for having faith in my program and I am extremely confident that you will all run a great race!! You have worked very hard and it will all pay off in 3 days. Good luck, run smart, run fast and we'll see you at the finish line!

Here are a couple of marathon tips that have come to my attention either through experience, reading or the rumor-mill. I am feeling particularly generous this morning:

1. Nothing new on race day, with a couple of exceptions: a. compression calf guards b. well, that's all really.

2. Stay hydrated. Along with the potential risk of being rushed to the hospital, dehydration poses other risks: a. 2% dehydration results in 8-33% decrease in endurance performance. b. horrifying muscle cramps.

3. Tip from unnamed ultra-marathoner: if you can feel (or hear) water sloshing around in your stomach you may need electrolytes & slow down on the H2O intake.

4. Warm-up by running fast but short. Warming up with a couple of pickups will not only loosen you up but it will make your marathon pace seem comfortable.

5. Don't let the excitement of the start dictate your pace. Almost everyone starts the marathon a little fast. Hold back a little, it's a lot more fun to pass those fools when they're gasping for air than it is to keep up with them at the start. Be confident in your pacing strategy, 26.2 (and 13.1) is a long way.

6. Keep a PMA. That's right, I said it, Positive Mental Attitude. But seriously, only positive thoughts while racing. Whenever you're having a negative thought, smile and replace it with something positive. Try repeating "I'm strong, I'm fast and I'm gonna kick your . . .", you get the idea. Only positives on race day. You've trained hard, you're prepared, RACE THAT WAY.

There are roughly 468,00 marathon tips out there. It is fairly likely that at least 3 of them should have made this list.


Good luck to my loyal training partners! Your competition will RUE the DAY!