Sunday morning was the Inaugural Florida Beach Halfathon at Fort Desoto Park. This race was part of a series of halves made up of the Halloween, Holiday, Clearwater, and Beach Halfathons. These races are well run and tons of fun with great finisher medals and pasta at the end. Woke up from my warm air mattress inside our tent to go out and run 13.1 miles on a beautiful flat course in windy conditions.

The results…A new half-marathon PR of 1:31:53 (official time)with average mile pace of 7:01!! Placed 35th out of 643 overall and 4th in age group (more to come on this later, keep reading).

I knew when waking up that I was going to have to run with a strategy of taking what the wind gave me as I have issues running in the wind. I would rather run hills, at least there is a downside to a hill! I knew from the wind direction and course knowledge that the wind would be in my face most of the way out and some on the way back with wind pushing me the last 2-3 miles. For once, my strategy to back off a little against the wind and going faster during times of no wind or wind at my back worked perfectly as I did not waste too much energy fighting the wind. My mile splits show exactly where the wind was and was not.

I feel especially good about my time because my legs really have felt like crap. With only being three weeks out from the Gasparilla Marathon, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The legs felt pretty dead the first half of the race until I got my first gel down at mile six and the wind wasn’t in my face as bad. The race started into the wind for the first mile then turned back and went into a tree lined loop back through the starting area. It was then five miles out to the lookout point and then turn around for the last five miles. I got a huge lift looking at the most awesome sunrise I have ever seen with a huge sun coming up over the Skyway Bridge. I wish I would have had a camera with me. I had a few guys pass me as I was running into the wind around miles 4 and 5, but I picked off all but a couple as I surged the last miles of the race.

The only bummer of the day was my 4th place finish in my age group which contains a valuable lesson never to be repeated again. I lost 3rd place by four seconds due to my own stupidity. The guy that beat me had passed me earlier in the race and I got him back around mile 11. I thought I had pretty much lost him as I poured it on mile 13. But, he hung onto me and I could hear him coming as we approached the end of mile 13. We turned into the parking lot right into the stiffest wind of the day (did I mention it was raining too?) which I really leaned into to hold my momentum. I don’t know if it was a combination of me tiring or him surging, but he made a move to get by me on the turn into the finish that I failed to go with. Once he got away, it was too late to fight him. Seeing that the clock was still under 1:32, I poured it on myself to ensure I got under which I was thrilled about until I saw the results sheet and the guy I didn’t go with was the one who took 3rd in my age group. So, lesson learned…No matter what, I will fight off anybody going to the finish line (people be warned)!!

Next up is the Hare Racing Experience 5K April 3rd at USF. Only five more weeks until the Kentucky Derby Marathon! Hopefully, I can get two solid weeks of training before tapering.

New Half-Marathon PR of 1:31:55...AWESOME!!

After the race, we broke down camp and went to the lookout point to see the Skyway Bridge and then did some shelling at the beach.

The Skyway Bridge

Kite Surfers in front of the Skyway.

After a longer period of time than I should have, I finally ordered and received my Road ID bracelet. The Road ID is something that all runners or anybody should have. Like a medic alert bracelet, the Road ID tells first responders who you are, where you’re from, emergency phone numbers, and medical info like blood type or allergy info. I got the Elite version which runs $30. The Elite has a comfortable band made of a rubber material that is easy to adjust and put on. They come in many colors. I got my favorite color, red!

I highly recommend everyone gets a Road ID, you can get one at www.roadid.com. You can save $1 by entering my thank-you code ThanksNeil618868. This code is good for the next 30 days.

Me with my new Road ID

Clearwater Pass Bridge in background

Got up nice and early this morning to go run the Clearwater Halfathon. This half-marathon is one of the more challenging races in Florida with four bridge ascents over two bridges. Except for the wind, was a perfect morning to run. Temperature started out in the 50’s and stayed cool the whole race with clouds hanging around so it didn’t get hot. I finished with a time of 1:33:50 besting my previous PR by three minutes and placed 38th overall. Average pace was 7:10. My main goal for this race was to run the distance in the planned time and pace. I had planned to pace myself at 7 minute miles and was pretty much on until miles 12 and 13 where the wind was solid and the final bridge ascent slowed me down a little. Mile 12 was run at 7:20 and mile 13 at 7:35. So, I am pretty happy that I ran as planned . Unlike other longer races, I didn’t crash and I was continually picking people off the whole race.  Didn’t get lucky enough to place in age group. I am running 5Ks the next three weeks and then the Gasparilla Marathon Feb. 28.