Bank of America Gasparilla Half-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Tampa Bay, Florida
United States
Bank of America
50F / 10C
Overcast
 		Total Time = 4h 01m 23s
Overall Rank = 2066/2073
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

I got up at 3:30 to leave the house 2 hours before the race. Remembered everything I wanted to bring!! Was very scared when I realized it was raining that miserable light drizzle that usually lasts the entire day. Thank God it stopped by the time I got downtown. I was thrilled when I saw open parking spaces at the corner of Tampa St & Brorein! Got an *awesome* space, but had to hunt for quarters. Thankfully, the guy at Starbucks gave me a couple of dollars worth & I made it to the start on time!
Event warmup:

Walked around a bit beforehand in the quest for quarters. Light stretching.
Run
  • 4h 01m 23s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 18m 26s  min/mile
Comments:

Since I was not quite ready to run the half, I decided to enter and walk the distance. If I had been able to do the 5K the day prior, I would have done that instead, but I was only able to be there on Sunday. Trained for several weeks to build up to that distance and set my goal at completed with a 20 min mile pace. I based this on the last place finisher from the previous year. Overall, I averaged an 18:24 pace, so I'm very pleased with my time.

I was absolutely thrilled that I finished well before the last group...I think they were 30 min behind me..and the girl I had been watching for 12.5 miles...she had maintained about a 100 yard distance ahead of me the whole race...the last mile, she slowed down and I sped up....so I was very pleased to beat her!
What would you do differently?:

Not a thing.
Post race
Warm down:

Got a mylar blanket, my medal (its so pretty!), a banana and 2 fruit smoothies....the bad thing was I forgot to stretch at the end of the race.
Looked around for folks from my company, but it seemed like everyone had left.

Event comments:

Loved the music on the course, the announcer off the bridge, and the pirates milling about! Really enjoyed the Chick-Fil-A cow!! My only complaint is that there was no water stop between miles 2 and 7...I think they might have been there previously, but got taken down before the back of the pack got there.




Last updated: 2007-02-02 12:00 AM
Running
04:01:23 | 13.1 miles | 18m 26s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/2073
Performance:
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4