St. Pete's Women's Half Marathon

Saturday Sueann and I packed up and headed to Clearwater to Mary 's house. We met Stephanie, her daughter, then headed out to the expo to pick up our packets, goody bags and meet up with our other runner friends. We got there and when we walked in we saw a girl who looked like Tia but we headed on in to take care of packets. On the way back by, I texted her and sure enough, it was her! She is soooo full of energy and such a fun, positive person!!! We picked up our shirts, then headed to the band shell to meet everyone at 3, I don't know if people knew where it was, no one was there. We left at 10 after 3, we texted Suezette, she was there at the expo so we headed back in, found Suezette, got some pics. Sueann and I bought new running skirts and got free shirts with them. We also got chains for our medallions. After the expo, we headed to this fantastic little Italian restaurant. Yummm!!! Sueann and I had fettucini with mushrooms, Mary had manicotti. After dinner we headed back to Mary's house and hung out and watched TV until we crashed out.


Sunday came early, 4:15 we get up and get dressed and ready for the race. We head to the race site, get parked and make our way to the port-a-potties and then to our corral. Mary, Sueann and I lined up together and when the gun went off said our good byes to Mary. We were off and the first couple of miles were tough, Sueann and I both had tight calves. After that cleared up we were cruising. We hit 5 miles under an hour, I knew if we kept up the pace we'd PR. Well, I didn't count on mile 10-13 being soo hot. I started feeling sick, but the rest of me felt good. The run was gorgeous and I was hoping I'd be able to hold it together. Getting to Tropicana Field we had to weave around on black asphalt and I started getting sick. However, when we got into the building, I got goosebumps. How cool is running on a MLB baseball field?!?!?!? Coming out I was doing everything I could so I didn't get sick. We got into the last mile and into some shade and I was able to run longer again. We did one more short walk before we picked up the pace for the finish, I somehow had the energy to kick it at the end, realizing I was really close to my PR time. Garmin read 13.21, chip time 2:36:16. My previous PR was dented...not smashed..by 25 seconds. 2:36:41 is no longer my time to beat! Had we not had the stretch breaks for Sueann's calves and hamstring and my extra walk breaks in the last 3 miles we could have had a serious PR! I know had the weather been cooler we could have broke 2:30. I do know I'm not built to run in the heat...I get way over heated! All in all, this is a race I would repeat! Beautiful course, really well marked, no mistakes like we saw in Miami, great goody bags, cute medals and a decent expo. I just wish the expo had better prices.

I'm home now, the only thing that is remotely bothering me is my PF in my left foot. I will be in bed shortly, I'm exhausted but it was a great day and despite my passing nausea, I enjoyed the race.