“Welcome back to Earth,” a volunteer said after I crossed the finish line of the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa, Florida, on Nov. 30. I received the largest medal I’ve ever earned and completed my 19th marathon in my 14th state.
The marathon had been quite the journey. Living in Maryland, I was not excited to see the predicted race temperatures in the 60s and 70s, but of course, I figured I’d make the best of it, and I knew I had signed up for a race in Florida. The race began at 6 a.m.
I had hoped that I would be able to come in with a time under 5:29:15, my time at the Publix Atlanta Marathon in early 2020, and thought my training indicated I could do that — especially on a flat course like this one. However, I knew the heat would pose a challenge.
I made an extra effort to hydrate well in the weeks leading up to the race, and I knew there would be many water stops along the way. With the start time of 6 a.m., I got up around 4 a.m. and had some oatmeal pre-race. My fiancé, Mike, dropped me off at the start, which was about 10 minutes away from the Airbnb where we stayed. There were also buses that people could take from host hotels or a mall parking lot.
In the corral, on a road next to Cocoa Riverfront Park, I lined up right behind the 5:30 pacer. The pacers in my pace range were going to do short run-walk intervals. I’d tried that in training and decided to go with a four-minute run, one-minute walk.
The race started with a countdown, smoke going up into the air and a rocket launch showing on a large screen, which was a fun way to start the day.
The race course was beautiful. Basically the entire course was along the Indian River, with plenty of palm trees and interesting houses to see as well as the water views. We ran north on Indian River Drive, turning around at about 6.5 miles and heading back. Then, there was a small portion of the race not along the water while we avoided the start/finish line, before heading south onto Riverside Drive/Rockledge Drive for another out-and-back.
The half marathoners started at 6:15 a.m. and were only on the south part of the course.
I felt great at the beginning of the race. Since we started in the dark, it was cooler, and obviously, the sun was not out yet. While I planned to do run-walk intervals, I decided to do a straight run for the first three miles. While it’s not a great idea to “bank time,” I did want to bank a little time because I knew it was going to get warmer.
I ended up not far from the 5:15 pacer, running the first four miles in times of 11:53, 11:48, 12:03 and 11:45. The run felt comfortable, but I knew this would not last long. The temperature at the start was in the mid-60s.
I did get to see the sunrise from the course and snapped a photo of the sun coming up. I didn’t take too many photos.
I wore my Eastern Shore Running Club singlet, and in the first half, someone asked if I was from Maryland or New Jersey — I said Maryland, and he said he’d met the nicest people ever while traveling to Cambridge for the IRONMAN race. Later on, I briefly chatted with a woman from Ellicott City, Maryland.
I stopped at a porta-potty during Mile 8, marking my first slower mile of the day, at 16:03. After that, I was right back to an 11:57 mile. Along the way, I also stopped at the water stops and fueled with the Clif Shot Bloks I brought.
Around Mile 10, I started to feel the heat. This is not ideal anytime, but especially not in a marathon with 16 miles to go. After keeping my miles in the high 11s-low 12s (except for one mile at 13:03 and the 16:03 bathroom stop), I ran miles 10 through 13 in 13:51, 12:04, 13:22 and 12:29.
I completed the first half in 2:47:05 — not too far off the sub-2:45 I would need to meet my time goal. There was an opportunity to end the course at the half, which was slightly tempting, but not enough that I fully considered it. I wanted to run my Florida marathon!
I figured I could at least run the second half in 3:00 (spoiler alert: I couldn’t). The race had a seven-hour cutoff, so at least I knew I would not be right up against that.
I walked a decent amount in this area of the race and at some point, I changed the intervals I was using on my phone. I tried two-minute run/one-minute walk, then ended up doing three-minute run/one-and-a-half-minute walk. What I ended up doing for the last several miles was one-minute run, one-minute walk, with extra walking as needed (they all included extra walking as needed).
In the second half, it was all I could do to keep moving forward, and that was what I did. The sun and heat were crushing me, and by the time I finished, it was 76 degrees. The featured spacecraft for this year’s race was the Perseverance Rover — and it definitely took perseverance to finish this race.
There were two particularly supportive women (not running together) who I would leapfrog with every so often who were very supportive, and I tried to be supportive back. Mike had also gone out to support me, but somehow we missed each other. The water stop volunteers were also great, and some cheered for me by name — I wore an added bib with my name on it.
At some point, probably around halfway, I’d tried to calculate what kind of time I may be able to end up with, assuming that I would be able to stay under 15:00 miles, but that turned out to be more of a challenge than expected. Eight of my miles in the second half were over 15:00 (all starting with 15 except for one 16:51 mile).
While listening devices were not recommended, I did wear my Shokz, which allow me to hear my surroundings, and along the way, different songs reminded me of different parts of my life, family or friends. The song that came on as I headed toward the finish was “It’s My Life,” by Jon Bon Jovi, my sister Lisa’s favorite bowling song (from the jukebox) when we were kids.
Slowing down definitely helped me, but earlier on, there had been times I just felt the heat wash over me. On my way back to the finish, I was passed by the 5:45 and 6:00 groups, and I thought about trying to keep up with them, but I knew I just wasn’t keeping up that average pace. The 5:30 pacer had passed me during my Mile 8 bathroom stop.
I crossed the finish line with a time of 6:07:51, my slowest marathon to date and my first taking more than six hours. That means the second half took me about 3:20.
However, to be fair, while I had expected a much faster time, it really wasn’t THAT far off my most recent marathon before this — 5:55:55 at the 2024 NCR Marathon in opposite weather: bitter cold. Last year, I was also struggling with plantar fasciitis, which (knock on wood) I was not dealing with this year and am not dealing with now.
After the race, I was kind of cranky and tired, but I was able to get a free iced coffee and some pizza. I didn’t see any post-race beer, but after I was able to take a shower, Mike and I came back to the Cocoa Village area and had barbecue and beer at Crydermans Barbecue.
Before and after the race, we had been spending time with my family in New Smyrna Beach, about an hour away. We headed back up there after the race.
Swag for this race was awesome — in addition to the enormous medal, finishers also received a beach towel, and I got a long-sleeve shirt and patch at the packet pickup the day before. The race was also well-organized, but as someone who does not love the heat, I’m going to stick to 5Ks for Florida races going forward.
Splits
Mile 1: 11:53
Mile 2: 11:48
Mile 3: 12:03
Mile 4: 11:45
Mile 5: 13:03
Mile 6: 12:06
Mile 7: 11:50
Mile 8: 16:03
Mile 9: 11:57
Mile 10: 13:51
Mile 11: 12:04
Mile 12: 13:22
Mile 13: 12:29
Mile 14: 13:41
Mile 15: 14:39
Mile 16: 14:30
Mile 17: 15:09
Mile 18: 15:40
Mile 19: 15:20
Mile 20: 16:51
Mile 21: 14:55
Mile 22: 15:59
Mile 23: 15:15
Mile 24: 15:23
Mile 25: 15:17
Mile 26: 14:33
Last bit (watch had .51): 6:11/12:11 pace
Final on results: 6:07:51 / 14:03 pace; final on watch: 6:07:52 / 13:53 pace
She Runs by the Seashore 