ING
Miami marathon 2010
Well
where to start? What a weekend.
I arrived in South Florida on Friday afternoon at 5pm. I arrived to the
Intercontinental hotel at 6pm and immediately set about changing, stretching and
going for a run on a lovely warm 75 degree Friday evening with the town a buzz
with the race weekend, the Pro Bowl, the upcoming Super Bowl, a Miami Heat game
in town and also the theaters, restaurants and cruise ship passengers. I ran
out by the cruise ships in Miami Bay and had a wonderful five miles. Then
shower, stretch and off to Camillas for my annual sojourn to my favorite
Brazilian restaurant to meet with my friend and elite athlete coordinator
Miguel Dias..
The Hotel is also the hotel where the New Orleans Saints were going to be
staying so the hotel was a buzz with anticipation and there was Saints
memorablia everywhere.
Early night and up Saturday morning for a 5.30am TV call for the 5k which
finishes at legendary Nikki Beach. I did pre race interviews, especially
amazing was an interview with Desmond, a graduate of the CPHI (Community
Partnership for the Homeless). Desmond was in the military but after returning
from tours of duty, he fell on hard times and was devastated by the loss of his
Mother and his life spiraled out of control.
He
spent the next ten years homeless in Miami before finding help through CPHI and
now, Desmond speaks to groups to help them, attended school and has actually
now applied to Harvard Law School…. Amazing ! it was a great TV
interview…. Then on the beach I interviewed many finishers
including Elva Dryer of 2004/2008 USA Olympic track fame. A super lady and more
on Elva later..
It was then I had a moment of inspiration… more on this later…
I then left Nikki Beachwith the TV crew to go to the expo where I prepared for
what would be a packed house for my lecture in the middle of the expo at the
ING lounge. ING came up to me and said their techs would be doing live
FaceBook and Twitter updates about my lecture while it was happening.www.facebook.com/ingrunnersnation & www.twitter.com/ingrunnernation
After my lecture I was interviewed on camera by ING themselves…
then it was back to my TV duties where I had to interview Ann
Glover ING’s Marketing Director for the Americas about the company’s
sponsorship of the race.
Then, perhaps the highlight of the weekend….
On TV ( and while a good size crowd gathered including John Brodsky and Laura
Demeo, two friends of mine from NJ) I was to interview USA running sensation,
Ryan Hall. I was to ask him questions about his running and his involvment with
Nissan and their Masterhift program http://www.mastertheshift.com/
.
I also spoke to Ryan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Hall_(runner)) about
his and his wife Sara’s ‘Follow The Steps’ charitable program that includes
providing aid and relief to Haiti earthquake victims.
I will post some video of this. It is not that great quality but it was
shot with my Flip video camera whilst we were being filmed by the television
crew.
I will post some other videos of the weekend too.
Later that evening I was off to the elite athlete technical meeting followed by
the dinner. I was joined at dinner by Ronnie Holassie my great friend and two
time Olympic marathoner that lives in Florida. He just won the marathon for
Palm Beaches in December and is looking to defend his 2009 at the Gasparilla
marathon later this month.
Earlier in the day I chatted with professional US runner Matt Downin about Team
Strands that had a huge presence this year at the event. www.Strands.com
It is a very cool training log site and techno virtual clubhouse where all
kinds of training and fun information can be exchanged. Visit and/or join our
new group there Stingersworldwide . I will keep a training log there and you
can also visit to see my various race PR’s.
I had dinner Saturday evening with a number of the Strands runners including
Michael Ash, Josh Moen, Meghan Armstrong and Elva Dryer. I was also with Jaime
Calzada, Alana Vinitskaya, Gabriel Rodriguez and Michael Wardian. I
really enjoyed meeting Meghan who was a 2008 Olympic trialist in the 5000 and a
definite contender for the 2012 Olympic team and also Elva Dryer, a two time US
Olympian (2000 – 5000m – 2004 -10,000 and lives with her husband
Russ and five cats near Boulder Co. Elva is a character and everyone
therewas extremely gracious, enthusiatic, fresh and full of positive life and
energy. After dinner I visited with Ronnie his wife Dee Dee and their
delightful two year old son Jeremiah (who can run like his dad) and then it was
to bed for an early night and also with Miguel.
At 4.30 am Sunday I met my TV broadcast partner Dave Ragsdale for what would be
our 8th year together. Humid and warm temps met the runners and
I will post some video later.
A great time covering the event and doing post race interviews. Meghan won the
half marathon in sub 1.17 effected by the heat. Two weeks ago she ran 1.13 in
Houston. After the race we all ate like champs in the ING Vip Tent and
then cheered the children on who were completing their final mile of the ING
Run for Something Better program http://www.orangelaces.com/
After all was said and done, it was back to the hotel stretch and out the door
for a 21 mile run over the Venetian Causeway from downtown to Miami Beach where
the place was especially vibrant with all kinds of holiday makers and of course
Super Bowl stuff everyhwere. Temps in low 70’s, windy at times and breezy at
others- it was awesome… I had a really strong run with no problems and a good
confidence builder for Boston.
Later that night my friend Dane Rauschenberg of 52 marathons in 52 weekends
fame and author of the great book about his incredible story ‘See Dane Run’ ,
Ronnie and I went to the ING Miami marathon post race party at the Hard Rock
Café downtown Miami and had a blast.
The next morning I grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and the Saints were in
town and all was very exciting. I caught a ride to the airport with Ben Nemser
and Steve Mendleson. Steve is in charge of security communications
for the NY marathon, the NY Jets and the ING Miami marathon. Last
week he was on the sideline in Indy during the Jets/Colts game.
So I mentioned my moment of inspiration…
Years ago I was urged and encouraged by my athletes, especially the Iron
Maidens to write a book. As you all know, it eventually happened. I
have been asked for a few years to turn the book into a DVD. I would like
to but have been at a loss as to who should or could film it. It hit me
in Miami… the same TV production company that I have worked with since 2003 at
the Miami marathon. I broached the subject and they loved the idea…. We
are working on the concept and on all the logistics but I can tell you that the
Run Tall Run Easy DVD will be shot in Miami late 2010 or early 2011. I am
absolutely thrilled !
