Gasparilla half update

I came back yesterday from Tampa, where I ran the Gasparilla half marathon in 1:59:42. Yay! A personal record, and a fantastic weekend, which would have been great even without the PR.

My running partner Susan and I drove down to Tampa on Saturday afternoon. Getting out of town allowed me to leave the stresses of work behind, and the running expo at Gasparilla was amazing, better than Disney's expo. I discovered, sadly, that my beloved Mizuno Mercury's are being discontinued, but I also managed to find a discounted pair at the Expo that will last me well into this year. We picked up our race packets and the disappointingly ugly t-shirts-- bright yellow, no small sizes left, "Bank of America" plastered in several locations, and the word "Gasparilla" nowhere in sight. But the goodie bag contained some choice goodies, including energy bars, gels, and various runner's ailment products. We checked into our hotel, a few blocks from the event, and discovered that it had been partially transformed into a retirement home for people who are still displaced from Hurricane Charley. So the combination of runners and seniors was nice.

After checking in, we went to a nearby mall, had a great time shopping, and then split a delicious plate of gnocchi with tomato-vodka sauce at an Italian place called Maggiano's. We got back to our room at 9 and watched some TV before setting the alarm and asking for a wake-up call.

The wake-up call never came, but fortunately, the alarm went off at 5 a.m. For some reason, we decided to wear our Team In Training jerseys again, although I was a bit embarrassed since we weren't actually raising money for this one. Ate a Clif bar, headed outside, wishing that I had brought a throwaway sweatshirt-- it was cold! Maybe 48 degrees. I huddled amid a crowd of runners in my singlet and shorts, hoping the runners would deflect the wind, until it was time to start.

The gun went off at 6, and we ran the first several miles in the dark. Somehow this was a more intense race than the OUC half marathon, with runners not talking very much to each other. We were running alongside the full marathoners for the first 8 miles before they split off and headed away from us. At one point we ran by a long stretch of beautiful mansions on the waterfront, and then out onto a little strip of land in the middle of the water, out and back, which offered some nice scenery, even though it was still pretty dark. I warmed up pretty quickly and tried to keep us from going too fast using the Garmin Forerunner, but I was getting a lot of conflicting readings. It seemed we were averaging between 8:57-9:17 per mile, but each mile was different. I haven't quite mastered the Forerunner in a race situation yet.

There were few crowds along this route, unlike Disney, but Gasparilla was a better experience for me, and running in cool temps was nice. Half marathons feel so much better to me. At one point the Chik-Fil-A challenge truck honked by us, with several runners chasing it. We moved over to the right, but this didn't stop a runner from shoving me as he passed, which was completely unnecessary, as I was not in his way and was not weaving all over the road. That pissed me off, but other than that I was on cloud nine. Susan was just getting over bronchitis but still managed to keep a strong pace, and the only other thing I have to complain about was that I took a Power Gel that didn't sit well on my stomach. From now on, I'm sticking to Gu's... We sprinted the last mile and crossed the finish line with 18 seconds to spare.

No IT band problems, no achilles tendonitis, no shin splints, just a little pain in my lower back that I didn't feel until after the race. I was so cold after finishing that I picked a discarded sweatshirt off the ground and wore it back to the hotel... and will toss it myself at a future race. But otherwise I felt good, and exceptionally happy. We drove back to Orlando, rehashing the details of the race, talking about life, stopping for chili-mac at a Steak & Shake on the ride home. Life is good.