Gasparilla Half-Marathon (Hillsborough County, Florida)

Last year, I had traveled to Tampa, FL to run the Gasparilla Half-Marathon and then ended up getting sick the morning of the race and unable to run it. That's annoyed me for a year and so, I decided to make the drive once again and do the race no matter what this time. It was also part of a much longer road trip that will be detailed in my next few posts. Arriving in Tampa around noon on Saturday, I picked up my race packet and then checked into my hotel. I decided to go a little extravagant and stay at the Marriot down town, which is just across the street from the starting line. It made everything much more convenient. 

I was also able to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with one of my best friends, who had driven over from Orlando to hang out. We hit Cigar City Brewing for lunch and then visited the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg, before enjoying a few drinks at a bar across the street from my hotel. With him needing to drive back home, I was able to call it an early night and get a pretty good night's sleep.

I awoke around 4:30 AM to my blaring alarm and started getting ready for the race. It was just a quick jaunt to the starting corrals, but I had forgotten to grab safety pins for my race bib. I checked at the front desk, but ended up having to walk to my car a couple of blocks away in a parking garage to get them. It all worked out though and I arrived to my place in the corral in plenty of time.

The race started just a couple of minutes after the scheduled start time of 6:00 AM. Though it was still dark, I was wearing my prescription sunglasses. For early starts like this, it's always a trade-off between everything looking dark or everything looking blurry. I normally opt for dark, as things will get bright pretty quickly as the sun rises.

As the corrals ahead of me began making their way under the starting banner, the successive groups moved forward until finally, I was running my first half-marathon in Florida. I was hoping for a time under three hours, but also had to remind myself that the next big part of this vacation is a 5-day kayak paddle through the Everglades. And so, I tried to not exhaust myself. 

With a couple of miles down and having found my pace, I was feeling pretty good. I was trying to hang near the three-hour pacer. At points she would get ahead of me and then I would catch up and pass her. The first few miles meandered through the streets of downtown Tampa before finally hitting Bayshore Blvd, which runs right along the shoreline of Tampa Bay. With the sun no up and heating things up nicely, it was a beautiful view for many miles of the race. 

Finally reaching the turn, I returned along Bayshore a similar distance. I did walk a few sections here and there, but I was trying to be mindful of my time. It was a difficult balance, know that I couldn't afford to spend all of my energy reserves during this race. With the finish line in sight, I made a break for it and did a near spring for the last tenth of a mile or so. I was pleased to see an official finish time of 2:56:18. Far from my best time, but better than any recent races that I've run. I grabbed a banana and a granola bar and headed back to my room to grab a quick shower before heading off on the next part of the trip. I really enjoyed this well-organized race. Though, I may not make the journey again, I would recommend this one to any of my runner friends.