The Final Voyage....

Turns out that work needed me to be in Sarasota, FL this weekend so I looked up the Tampa marathon and made plans to run it. Things kept trying to get in my way, but the path cleared and I registered in person on Friday night. Had to leave the convention center to go get cash and come back to pay. What marathon doesn't take credit/debit card? Hokey.

I bought new shoes Saturday afternoon and to test them out to make sure I ran 6.5 miles (circling Sarasota airport) in them to see how they felt. Good thing. The elastic shoelaces I put in them just weren't adjusted right so I elected to run the marathon the next morning in my older Asics.

I found out after registering that this was to be the LAST Tampa marathon, the "final voyage" as they called it. Sarasota also dropped their marathon option this year. Both places still have a half marathon and shorter but dropped the full.

Woke up at like 3:30 am to drive up to Tampa (1 hour) from Sarasota and be in place for the 6am start. You can see that no jacket or anything was required. I think it was about 46 degrees at the start.

Parking lot - my favorite running short combo ever. compression shorts to prevent chafing and these Brooks shorts have a key pocket down low and pockets up high as well allowing plenty of cargo. They work perfect for me. I need to invest in more.


Starting line - took me like 2:43 to cross the line

Started off and really felt comfortable running the 10:30 to 11:00 per mile range which was somewhat inhibited by traffic and bottlenecks along the course that kept slowing us down. The half marathoners were with us through about 6 miles or so I think. I moved up through the 5:00 pace group, through the 4:45 group and through the 4:40 group. Also, between miles 2-5 or so I got to circle another airport to add to my list - the Peter O Knight airport near downtown Tampa. SWEET!! At this point around 8 miles or so I was chastising myself for going too fast as I wasn't trying to hit any time today, but trying to get 5 hours or so on my feet and come away without too much soreness.

At 9 miles I said the hell with it and started taking walk breaks to slow myself down. I figured I would run my pace and when I opened up a gap on the 4:45 group I would slow to a walk and let them catch me. Then later in the race if I felt awesome I would think about moving up, and if I felt average I would slow to the 5:00 group. As it turns out once I opened the valve on the "I don't have to run the whole time" thing, my body kept wanting to take walk breaks. It's hard to explain because once I would start walking everything felt more sore than while running, but while running after a while I just felt compelled at times to walk. Might have been a fueling issue? I don't know. I was keeping up with eating my shot blocs and sport beans.

10.5 miles in and loving it!

I kept with the pace groups through about 16 miles and then just let them both go on ahead and figured I would milk the day, walk as much as I wanted to and not worry about anything. I know I am out of shape and never expected to run a fast race. NO MORE hibernating next winter!

So the last 10 miles I was alternating walking and running. Once in the home stretch I promised myself to run certain segments to make sure I at least broke 5:30 and I did at 05:26:24. I noticed a funny thing today...Even though this race marked my 23rd race of marathon or longer, and I didn't even have any goals other than adding Florida to my list and finishing, the marathon still has the power to almost make me cry when I am in the last half mile and digging deep to finish with a thump. I can't explain it. I really wanted to walk in the last mile, but I had promised myself I would run in strongly from the 25 mile mark and I did just that and felt proud. It is a great thing these marathons do for you.

Afterward there was pretty good food (although no chocolate milk!) including a good salad, rice and beans, and some other rice with scallops, shrimp and chicken. The protein was VERY welcome and I sat down and ate before heading for my car (and a gas station to buy - chocolate milk on the way home.) I also got a MET RX protein bar and turkey wrap on the drive. NOW I just need to curb this appetite and not eat everything in sight over the next week.


The race schwag...nice shirt and medal.