Yabba, Dabba, BOO!

I have a friend that is obsessed with dressing up. She now has twin daughters who’ve had more costume changes in their short one-year old lives than most of us have had our entire lives and even her new kitten has been subjected to wearing a cowboy hat and scarf.

So naturally, when we all decided to run the Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon, she was in charge of coming up with costume ideas. We were all on board to be the Smurfs until we imagined the blue paint running down our bodies and into our eyeballs during the race. When that idea fizzled, she came up with running as The Flinstones.

Of course, we waited until the very last minute to get our costumes and in the spirit of the economy, a few of us, including my wife and I, made our own costumes and I playfully named us Recession Barney and Betty Rubble. Fashioned from ungodly, non-dri-fit fabric, our friend and his mom helped with the sewing and below was the finished product.

While I was running the course, one spectator recognized my costume as Barney right away, while another thought I was a pirate. I can forgive him for his error because when I first put on my costume I thought I looked like a jester from the court of some mean, tasteless king. As a group, we had Fred & Wilma, two incarnations of Pebbles and of course, us as the Rubbles.

It was the first time I had ever run a race in costume and I wasn't planning on shooting for a PR, but I at least wanted to post a respectable time. But, somewhere along the course, that competition bug bit me and I tuned in and started really running. I noticed that I was on pace to PR or at least tie my best time of 2:15. With one mile left, I gave it all I had and I was cruising nicely to a new personal best.

With not very far left to go, I was shocked to find a hill ahead of me that I had no idea was going to be there. After cursing at it, I began charging up the hill. I gassed out at the top and had to take a walk break. I ran down the hill to the last water stop, threw some water over my head and continued to soak my already wet shoes with more water. Good job.

I saw the sign for mile 13 up ahead and I told myself there was no stopping from here. I shifted from walking to a fast sprint until I crossed the finish line, but as it turns out, I missed PR-ing by a little over two minutes. Finish time: 2:17, my second best finish for a half.

The medal that we were given is my favorite so far. It's a casket that opens to reveal what looks like a Mrs. Dracula. It's very different and what sparked me to sign up for this race.

So, that's three halves for me this year. I'm happy with my running accomplishments for 2010. I've decided to take a week off from running to rest and relax and the next race will be the Turkey Trot 5K in Washington, DC. My wife and I will be starting and finishing it together which is a first for us.

Until the next post!