I did it! Despite steady winds of 20mph in my face, yes 20 miles an hour!, I finished the Ocean Drive Marathon in 3:07, which is fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon, one of the many goals on my "before-I-die" list. For my pride, I would love a physics major to calculate what my time would have been without the natural hinderance. I'm serious, the wind made running really stinking hard! Regardless, I qualified and I am thankful and I will probably never run that fast again on purpose.
Here is a picture of the course. The weather report had 20mph wind from the northeast all day. Notice the angle we ran! Fortunately I logged enough fast miles in the beginning to allow me to walk over 12 minutes during the last 10k. And other than dealing with a nagging cramp in my stomach after sucking down a GU, I felt pretty good the whole way. I spent several miles yelling at God, reminding him how he calmed the storm, and how there was no positive reason that the wind needed to be this bad. Clearly, God decided to teach me perseverance and to give me the strength to make it to the end.
