St. Pete Rock N Roll Half Marathon

After doing two half marathons two weeks apart, I’m reminded of why I’m not eager to do another marathon quite yet. The time it takes to train, the pain, the agony, the misery, the crying…

Anyway, I’m happy to report that the St. Pete Inaugural Rock N Roll Half Marathon was a blast. Team Hea and Bria ran together with my college roommate, Brenna. We stayed together and enjoyed the great route and the scenery. Even though we started in different corrals, somehow Hea found us in the crowd of 10,000! She knew which corral we were in, so that probably helped.

The one downside: the temp was 40 degrees! That’s right, it was 70-some degrees on Saturday and on Monday, but a freakish low temp swooped in Sunday and stayed for the length of the race.

My layers: dri-fit short-sleeved shirt, dri-fit long-sleeved shirt, cotton hoodie, black tights, shorts with pockets over the tights, and gloves. I carried some Ibuprofen in the pocket, but nothing else. No iTouch this time.

I expected to remove at least the jacket while we ran, but after we went about a mile and I regained feeling in my fingers, I felt comfortable temp-wise. I pocketed my gloves and let the hoodie fall, but that was it. Honestly, though, the cold wasn't so bad. I’m glad it wasn’t a freakishly hot day because that might not have been fun.

Our time (2:24) was better than my time at the Miami Half. Overall, excellent course, great downtown/waterfront scenery, great music every mile with the live bands, and a wonderful crowd turnout. I didn’t see many people I knew because Brenna, Hea and I chatted pretty much the whole way. I did spot one of my high school track coaches, Coach McCullough, from St. Pete High. He was handing out water at one of the stations, and I hope he recognized me when I said hi! Our good friend, Jeremy, was also handing out water and got this pic of me at Mile 12, when I'm dying and the smile is oh-so-fake.

Photo by Jeremy Carlson

Cheering us on was my other college roommate, Tavanya. Props to her and her dad for getting up to cheer early in the morning! Her mom also ran and kicked our butts! Afterward, we all got a nice, big breakfast at Bob Evans.