Gasparilla Distance Classic Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

My plan was to run miles 1-3 at about 9:30 pace; then walk 1:00, run miles 4-6 about 9:30 pace; then walk 1:00, run miles 7-9 at about 9:00 pace, walk 1:00 and run miles 10-13 8:30 pace or better no walking. I was going to sip gatorade every mile and take a gel at 45:00 (~mile 4-5) and again at mile 11. I needed to hit mile 11 no later than 7:35am in order to hit my goal of 2:00.

Plan worked like a charm. I walked less than plan (:40 :40 :30) and my pace was slightly better than target:

Target Actual
1 9:30 9:21
2 9:30 9:22
3 9:30 9:25
4 9:30 9:37 (includes walk of :40)
5 9:30 9:01 (ate a gel after finishing mile 5)
6 9:30 9:02
7 9:00 8:54 (includes :40 walk)
8 9:00 8:43
9 9:00 8:42
10 8:30 8:31 (includes :30 walk)
11 8:30 8:23 (ate my gel after finishing mile 11)
12 8:30 8:22
13 8:30 8:05
13.1 sprint! 7:56

It was pitch black the first hour. They had spot lights on the course - one of them on a corner that completely blinded the runners (glad I had my visor on). I'm not a fan of running in the dark because my vision is not so great. I was being very careful, but managed to catch my back foot in a pothole and ended up doing a front roll on the street. I was focused on NOT putting my hands out to catch myself, so just tucked and rolled. I could feel my visor tuck under me, then my shoulder hit, but my fuel bottles acted like a buffer against the road, so the impact was not nearly as bad as it would have been had I not had the squishy bottles to cushion the fall. Hip was jolted, but landed on my feet and kept going - surprising myself and everyone else around me - wow! what a wake up call. This happened around mile 4.5.

I could feel my body heating up and knew I had to keep my core cool in order to keep to my plan, so I was sipping gatorade every 1/2 mile and using water at the aid stations to pour over my head, on my face and later on my chest as well. Once the sun came up the temps began to rise - low 70's I'm guessing. Soooo glad I had my racer back tank on.


Nothing! It was a terrific race for me. I was trying to eliminate walks from my distance running, however, because of the heat, I didn't want to take a chance on bonking at mile 10 so I left a couple short walks in and they worked well.

walk, find Paul and Lisa (turns out Paul was :30 ahead of me), got medal, took pictures with pirates - argh!!! looked for radio station with coffee mugs for first 10% of finishers in age group - I don't think they were open yet - looked like they were still setting up. Went to hotel to shower up, then ate breakfast.


nothing really - the heat - but it really wasn't terribly hot - just hotter than I was able to train for - so just needed to adjust my plan a little.


Great Race! This was a PR for me - a full 12 minutes faster than my best half marathon! woo hoo :)

Enjoyed running with friend and getting out of the COLD SNOWY winter of Baltimore for the WARM SUNSHINE of Florida. Location was nice - waterfront was fun.