Destination Race: Ft. Lauderdale A1A Beachfront Ave

February is typically a time for, well, ICE in the Midwest. And THAT is why I'm leaving my frigid home state to run the A1A Marathon in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida this February. It will be ten years ago that I ran this race for the first time at the half-marathon distance, and I'm excited to see what this year's race is like.

My third half-marathon and fourth race overall, the A1A was a memorable experience for me in 2015, and I'm hoping it is again this time around. Ft. Lauderdale Beach is beautiful, and the majority of the course is beachfront, as you might imagine. The temperatures are a little on the cooler side (for South Florida), but nearly tropical in comparison to Midwestern Winter temps in February. With race time nearing a luxurious 60 degrees, it may be a little warmer than most racers like.

I remember running along the boardwalk and watching the waves crashing against the beach, the deep ocean blue sparkling in the early morning sunlight. Palm trees wave in the breeze as seagulls fly overhead for their morning meal. Sunrise is a magical time, and the beach has a magic all its own. This majestic view is what the A1A Marathon offers in tribute to runners.

Like many, I started running originally using a run/walk program. Starting slow, I split running and walking into equal parts around 2 minutes each, then substituting more running for walking over time. It wasn't until the A1A Ft. Lauderdale race that I ran the entire distance. It's funny now thinking back to that day. In the corrals for the race I was talking to some other runners (I think maybe I was in the F corral at that time), and of course they were running at a similar pace to mine which is why we were in the same corral. But my new friends were discussing some nervousness over the race and being able to complete it. I remember reassuring one of them that they could just walk a little bit more if they were feeling fatigued.

"I'm not going to WALK!" she remarked.

'Oh, why not?' I asked.

"I didn't train to WALK this race!" she exclaimed.

'But aren't we going to finish at about the same time?' I queried.

She went on to ask if I walked, and I said I did. I had no ego about this. Everyone is different. I was a new runner. I was doing something that lots of people don't do at all. What's the big deal with walking if you need to, I wondered?

Another woman overheard our conversation and reassured me that she sometimes walked too, but she mostly tries to complete the entire race running.

"I bet you can run the whole race." she said.

Now I was curious. It hadn't really occurred to me to run the entire race before. I'm not a REAL runner, am I? But I wondered if I could. My new friend thought so. That's something.

"Ok" I thought, "Let's see."

And really that was it. There were times during the race that I wanted to slow down to a walking pace, and a few times you walk through hydration stations or when the race gets a bit crowded (the back of the race is a pretty thick part of the field), but I would estimate that I ran 90+% of that race after never running more than a run/walk pattern in training. All it took was a simple mindset tweak and a little encouragement to reach this new running benchmark - even for a non-runner like me.

My new friend had encouraged me to reach further within myself and become a runner, and that day I did. We took a picture together to mark the occasion, and to this day it's one of my favorite running memories. Stories like this are one of the many reasons that I love racing. I love the atmosphere of the spectators along the course. I love the race signs. I love the nerves of race morning. I love the excitement of it all. But I love, love, love the race community and the encouragement we provide to one another. And I love that with each race - and each day training - we create an opportunity for growth for ourselves. We come together for one common goal on race day, and we create community while we set out to achieve personal goals and cheer one another on. It's uplifting, it's exciting, and it's one of my very favorite things.

This February, I hope I have a similar story to relay and new friends to share memories with from that day.

Happy racing, friends!

Think you know a good racing friend I should meet? DM me!

XOXO,

T