{"id":2811,"date":"2014-12-09T20:32:41","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T01:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=2811"},"modified":"2014-12-15T08:42:15","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T13:42:15","slug":"cayman-islands-marathon-year-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=2811","title":{"rendered":"Cayman Islands Marathon – Year 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

When December arrives, I always look forward to the biggest sporting event on the island ; The Cayman Islands Marathon. \u00a0This event was recently\u00a0nominated as one of the 30-best Marathons in the world. (http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/best-marathons-in-the-world<\/a> – see number 14) \u00a0 Not bad for our “little” event. \u00a0Many large Marathons have thousands or runners. \u00a0Ours has +-1,300 so it’s quite an honor for the event!<\/p>\n

The “packet pickup” this year was the day before at the Westin. \u00a0It was a gorgeous day so ventured out towards the beach. \u00a0Such a nice view.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5857\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the packet pickup, there was this guy who gave a really interesting talk about running, where it can take you and the impact it has had on his life. \u00a0His name is Bart Yasso and in the running community is very well known. \u00a0He is also the CRO (“Chief Running Officer”) at Running World magazine. He has run all over the world and through his running has met many interesting people and overcome some extremely challenging courses. \u00a0Really interesting!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5863\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So after the packet pickup was the traditional “pasta loading”. \u00a0 All runners know that you need to eat pasta the day before a long run. \u00a0Well, I ate plenty of it! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5864\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I then drove home via a most of the race path where I would be running less than 12-hours later. \u00a0The mileage signs were already there. \u00a0They were all different and colorful. \u00a0Very nice.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5867\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the track. \u00a0The green line is as per I ran it via my GPS watch. \u00a0The path does not change at all each year due to its certification. If they would change it, they would need to have it re-certified. \u00a0My understanding of the certification is that once they have it, runners can use their times to qualify for other races around the world which require runners who are able to make a certain time (e.g: the Boston Marathon)<\/p>\n

\"Capture\"<\/p>\n

So once the race is over, plenty of snacks, fruit, drinks, etc for the runners. \u00a0Lovely!<\/p>\n

\"IMG-20141207-00010\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the middle of all this excitement, there was one local gentleman that was running for an awesome cause and was doing … awesome! \u00a0His name is Derek Haines and is Cayman’s former chief of Police. \u00a0His challenge, “6 marathon challenge” was to raise 1M$ for the Cayman Hospice. \u00a0The Cayman Hospice is a non-profit organisation that provides care to individuals who are\u00a0terminally ill with cancer and the likes. \u00a0 Mr. Haines is 65 years-old and the Cayman Marathon is the 6th and last Marathon in his fund raiser. \u00a0In the picture below he is completing his journey. \u00a0Right after, it was announced that his objective was met and even exceeded. \u00a0Well done! \u00a0To boot, he finished in under 4h was1st in his age category. \u00a0 A great way to finish \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"IMG-20141207-00008\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ok, so how did I do? \u00a0I am pleased to say that this year I did really well and am extremely\u00a0proud. \u00a0 I came in 16th out of just under 700 participants\u00a0in the half-Marathon. \u00a0The best part is that I won my age group (Men 40-49) coming in 1st \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0I also beat my previous years time by +-5 minutes coming in at 1h36min. \u00a0I’m pleased!<\/p>\n

Here I am at the podium getting my trophy! \u00a0The guy next to me came in second.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5874\"<\/p>\n

This picture is with my office colleague and friend Beth. \u00a0Beth is a force of nature! \u00a0She won 1st place for overall for the women in the full Marathon. She has won it 5 times in the last 6 years. Last year she did not run due to having a baby! 10 months after the baby she is right back where she left off. \u00a0Impressive!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5876\"<\/p>\n

A close up of my trophy! \u00a0All-in-all, it was a great day. \u00a0Last year we went to the beach after the event. \u00a0This year, with all the excitement, it was home and a long nap \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"IMG-20141207-00013<\/a><\/p>\n

By the way, walkers are welcome for the 1\/2 Marathon, so if you are in Cayman and are fit enough to walk in the cool December early-morning weather, there is no excuse not to join in! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When December arrives, I always look forward to the biggest sporting event on the island ; The Cayman Islands Marathon. \u00a0This event was recently\u00a0nominated as one of the 30-best Marathons in the world. (http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/best-marathons-in-the-world – see number 14) \u00a0 Not bad for our “little” event. \u00a0Many large Marathons have thousands or runners. \u00a0Ours has +-1,300 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-in-cayman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2811"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2829,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions\/2829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}