My Miami Marathon adventure started off on the wrong foot and never really eased into the right pace. While in Florida they experienced the coldest weather they'd had in years and freeze warning were posted most nights. At the end of the week when I was hoping for cool weather the heat came in so the warmest temperatures we encountered was on marathon day.
Since we had so much snow in Connecticut I didn’t put as many miles as planned on my new marathon shoes. I purchased two identical pairs of Kayano 14’s and used one during training but only had about 25 miles on my racing pair. Marathon morning I was a bit concerned because my left foot had been sore since my last run in my race day shoes and there was a bruise on the topside of my foot.
The official start time for the Miami Marathon was 6:15am but with a crowd of 15,000 or so it took me about 10 minutes to get to the starting line. Typically the first few miles are slow due to the dense pack of runners so I was surprised when motorcycle cops started pushing us to the right as we
crossed the bridge into Miami Beach so they could open a lane to traffic. My second bout of slight disappointment came at the first few water stops. Early in a long run I'm not a big Gatorade fan so I opt for water which is towards the end of the hydration stations. The first stop was so chaotic with the masses of runners and understaffed attendants that I decided to wait for the next stop where it was still short staffed so I had to stop and pour my own water.
My foot didn’t feel too bad once I got going but the later miles were tough. As we ran through a residential area with fairly loose roadways I could feel a pebble in each of my shoes so just after mile 16 I stopped to get them out. By mile 20 the heat on my feet was a pretty clear indicator that I was 
