Sarasota Marathon Grouper Run - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

My first half marathon ever. Did my Galloway run/walk thing. Most of the time I do 3:1 on my long training runs, but taking the recommendation from Gallway's book, cut back to 2:1 for the race. My main goal was just to finish, but knew I should be able to do around three hours if I could just maintain my training pace. Concentrated hard on controlling my pace for the first half of the race - the last thing I wanted to do was go out too fast. The bridge was a bit of a strain the first time over, but not too bad. My left nipple started to bleed at about 6 miles so made a quick pit stop at the medical tent af the half-way point for a bit more vaseline - didn't help much. Didn't hurt, but the blood on my shirt was a bit embarassing; being on Coumadin probably made it look a lot worse. I was actually surprised at how good I felt most of the way. It wasn't pre-planned, and don't know if it made any logical sense, but at the water stations I decided to drink water during the first half and Gatorade coming back. Didn't really feel too bad until about 2-1/2 miles to go when my hammys started to get tight. I knew I was comfortably ahead of my 3 hour target time, so walked an extra minute about mile 11/12. Last 1-1/2 miles started to hurt more, until the last 1/4 mile when you return to the museum groups with all the crowds cheering. Really cool when the call you name and hometown as you cross the line.

Everything went pretty much as I expected. I had lost about 12 pounds in the past three months, which I think made a difference, so losing some more certainly wouldn't hurt. Probably could have gone a bit harder over the last two miles. Needed some more vaseline or band aids on my nipples.

Grabbed a water, got my chip pulled then had my picture taken with my son Scott, who had finished in 1:57. Walked around for a while; had a banana and some more water.


Other than my physique? Just started to do long distance training back in the fall, so more base would help. Loosing more weight certainly would help.


Well-organized race with tons of volunteers. This was the fourth Sarasota Marathon and I had served as a bike monitor for the first three - I made sure I thanked all the volunteers along the way. The temperature was okay, but very humid, so I was soaked my the time I finished, even with my dry-fit gear.