Steve Martin once famously defined “comedy” as “the ability to make people laugh… without making them puke.”
As I crossed the finish line this morning of the Space Coast Marathon, I thought maybe the definition of a successful marathon is “the ability to finish the race… without making oneself puke.”
I know that’s not exactly the most appealing topic but I was feeling a bit dodgy through a large portion of the race… and that I was able to avoid, um, an unpleasantness… well, that’s a big win.
I’ve run this race more than a few times… and indeed today was the fourth in a row to achieve “Hall of Fame” status for their Big Bang: The Next Generation race series (even if last year I pulled a last minute switcheroo to a virtual option out of Covid-concerns).
Every year they say there’s no race-day packet pickup… and every year I seem to make the 2 hour+ round trip trek out to Cocoa Beach to pick up my packet the day before Thanksgiving… and every year, I arrive on race day to find… a race-day packet pickup.
In a marked difference from last week’s Philadelphia event, the Florida-based Space Coast Marathon was distressingly, but not necessarily surprisingly, light on Covid protocols.
This is a rare occurrence wherein I consider myself in the 1%… there were very, very, VERY few folks wearing masks before the race.
As for the race itself, it’s a flattened figure 8 — you run out 6.55 miles to a turnaround, run back the way you came, pass the finish line festival, and run another 6.55 miles before a final turnaround to head back in. There’s a few rolling hills which to this Florida Man continue to feel like Everest-ian tasks.
Having finished the race, I quickly pulled up my gaiter mask… as I was surrounded by swarms of sweaty, maskless runners. In addition to the marathon, there are two half marathons (one going north, one going south) that apparently brought the total participant count to 7000+.
I didn’t stick around too long for the finish line festival but at least *most* of these guys were wearing masks…
In the end, I avoided being sick (fingers crossed that continues to be the case when it comes to Covid), and I put up a slightly faster time than last week.
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Post-Script Note: I “bearly” had time to snap this pic along the course…
