Space Coast Half Marathon Review

I Did It!!!  I finished my first Half Marathon.

We started the weekend by driving from Clearwater and stopping at Downtown Disney for lunch at the Earl of Sandwich so we could have their Holiday Special.  We then made our way over to Cape Canaveral to check in at the Radisson at the Port.  Once we were checked in we drove over to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center to get my bib and shirt and to check out the Race Expo.


Now this expo is much smaller than what we have seen at the Disney Expos, but it is also easier to maneuver.  Even though there were not a lot of vendors, the ones there are very friendly and you can easily chat with them for longer.

We had already booked the Pasta Dinner at the Space Center so we had to wait a couple of hours for that so we walked around the Visitor Center and checked out the Rocket Garden.  We also took a few photos and then a guided tour of the Rocket Garden.

Finally it was time to catch our bus to dinner at the Apollo/Saturn V building.  We went tot the building and watched the opening video presentation and then we got to go into the Saturn V room.  HOLY COW!  This rocket was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.  Looking at the Saturn V rocket it is just amazing what humans can accomplish and build.  Our table was directly under Stage 1 of the rocket.  Our dinner was a buffet that included a tossed salad, orzo salad, cheese ravioli, meat lasagna and assorted dinner rolls.  The food was actually very good and a highlight of the evening was the keynote speaker, Bart Yasso of Runner's World.  Bart gave a a great presentation about his amazing life and it was quite inspirational.  Following the dinner we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep.

We got up at 3:30 on Sunday morning to catch the bus to the race.  It was quite chilly in the morning.  It was about 46 degrees out at 5AM while we were waiting for the race to start at 6:15.  I was able to get in a bathroom break and had a banana while waiting.  We then walked over to the start line and I started next to the 2:30 pace group, which was my goal for the race.  At the front of the pack the video screen showed a countdown of a Space Shuttle and then liftoff and the race started!

 It took about 5 minutes for me to cross the start line but I then got going at a reasonable pace since I had never ran 13 miles before!  I felt strong right off and started faster than I originally intended.  By mile 2 I decided to slow down a little and allow my body to tell me how hard to run over the next few miles.  Over the first few miles we came up to several water stops which I looked forward to because I had read that they  are themed really well.  The first on was Star Wars themed and had Darth Vader right at the front of the tables.  The other early water stop that sticks in my mind wasn't even an official water stop.  A family with two little girls and their mother were handing out water in Dixie cups.  I couldn't not take one of these!

By mile 5 I was feeling really good and decided to push harder so I increased my pace quite a bit and started passing people.  At the turn around for the out and back course was the Parrothead Club's water stop.  This was fun to hear Jimmy Buffet music which is a great pick me up at the middle of a race.  On the second half of the race I realized I felt really good so I kept up my faster pace.  I caught up to the 2:20 pace team and passed them.

Once I passed mile 11 everything was new to me because I had never run farther than that before!  The last two miles breezed by and I started seeing other runners walking back down the road with their towels so I knew I was really close to the finish.  I tried to kick it up a little faster again and I found myself making the final turn to the finish and everything around me seemed like a blur.  I crossed the finish line and got my medal and towel and then Jenny found me. I checked my time on my phone app and it showed 2:16:53!!!  I was elated with myself to finish my first Half in 13 minutes faster than my goal time.

After the race I headed to the beer table and got a Yengleng and then it was time for pancakes!  That was the best beer and pancake breakfast I ever had.  I got my finisher photo taken and then went back to the hotel to shower and head back home.

I would highly recommend this race because the organization and volunteers are fantastic and the mostly flat course makes for a fast run.  Its quite possible that this race will be my first marathon in a year!

mi	Pace (min/mi)	Elevation (ft)
1	11:04	-24
2	10:41	27
3	11:01	-9
4	10:35	7
5	10:20	-3
6	10:15	-13
7	10:17	-1
8	10:21	9
9	10:14	-3
10	10:02	7
11	10:00	14
12	10:03	-14
13	9:51	3
14	9:34	-12

Clearwater Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving morning Jenny and I ran in the Tampa Bay Times Turkey Trot.  This race has two 5k races, a 10k and a 1 mile race.  In last year's races there were more than 15,000 participants.  We ran in the Wing Ding, which is the more competitive 5k race.  Because I didn't want to strain myself before running the Space Coast Half Marathon on Sunday I decided to run with Jenny and try to pace her to a new 5k PR.

We got to the race about an hour before it started because parking was going to be scarce, so we walked around for a bit and then went to the area where the race started from.  We thought we were towards the middle of the pack where we would start.  When the race started we took off with the crowd.  The race went down a hill and we could see the sea of people in front of us.  We then looked back and saw at least twice as many people, so we were much further up in the start than we thought.

We ran pretty well and hit mile 1 in 11:43.  We may have gone out a bit too fast, so we backed off our pace and kept going.  We hit mile 2 at 24:47 so we had slowed down some.  Jenny wanted to break 40 minutes, so we knew we had to keep going. We had a couple of hills in the last mile which slowed us a little more, but we kept pushing.  We came around the last bend and crossed the finish line in 40:08.

I had a great time in this race.  There were several bands playing along the race route which I'm looking forward to making this race a new Thanksgiving Day tradition.

Now its onto the Space Coast Half Marathon on Sunday.  I'm excited for it and I hope to enjoy it as much as the Turkey Trot.

One week until my first Half Marathon

Next Sunday I will run my first Half Marathon at the Space Coast Half Marathon.  I decided to run this race with 8 weeks to prepare for it. I raised my mileage and have been very consistent with my training.  Last week after the 5K at Disney I ran 10 miles on Monday.  The first 6.5 were great, and then my right knee suddenly started hurting badly.  I finished the last 3.5 miles and made it home.  It was my IT Band that was causing the pain so I decided to take a few days to rest.

I got a new knee brace for my right leg to try to help prevent the pain.  I waited until Friday to run again and put in about 3.5 miles and it felt great.  I ran again today and put in 10 miles.  It was a little slower than I was intending to run but I had minimal pain so it was good.

Now I just have one week until the actual race.  This week I'll run on Tuesday and on Thanksgiving morning Jenny and I will run in the 5K Turkey Trot race in Clearwater.  On Saturday we'll go to the Kennedy Space Center for the Race Expo and the Spaghetti dinner.  Sunday the race starts at 6:16and hopefully by 10AM I'll he a Half Marathoner!

Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k

On Saturday November 10th we ran in Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k.  This race was part of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon weekend.  We had never run a runDisney race before so we were very excited for this race.  We arrived at the race expo on Friday afternoon and picked up our race bib and t-shirt.  We did do some shopping at the race expo and then got dinner in Downtown Disney and then went to our hotel to get some sleep for our early morning wake up.
We got up at 4:30 AM and got dressed and had a banana before heading out to meet the 5AM bus to Animal Kingdom.  We arrived at Animal Kingdom park and found it to be quite cold.  It was 52 degrees out  so we were glad to have worn our long sleeved Blue Moon Half Marathon shirts from the previous weekend as well as the new calf compression sleeves to keep us warm.  We got in line for a photo with Mickey and Minnie before looking at the other photo locations that runDisney had set up.

We then waited around for the race to begin and absorbed the ambiance of the race as more runners arrived.

We then headed to our corral at about 20 minutes before the 7AM race start.  We started in corral C for this run.  We enjoyed the banter of the race announcers and watched a large number of hot air balloons rising in the distance

At 7AM the fireworks went off and the race started.  Since this run was a fun run we decided to run together and have a good time.  We found that starting in Corral C in a run like this leaves very little opportunity to actually run.  We ran through the first mile through the Animal Kingdom Parking Lot and then entered the park.  Once in the park we stopped for the first character stop for Baloo and King Louie.  The line was only about 10 people long so it was about a 3 minute stop and then we were off and running again.

We ran into Africa and saw Rafiki at the next photo stop so we had to stop at this photo stop as well!  He was funny because he pointed at Jenny's Blue Moon shirt and rubbed his tummy.  Only slightly out of character.

We then started running more.  We wanted to get back ahead of the people from the back of Corral C and Corral D and we ran quite a bit faster than we had previously.  We ran into a backstage area of the park and then back into the pack past Nemo and Dinosaur.

We passed photo spots for Donald and Pluto, but we stopped for a photo with Santa Goofy.

We then finished the race with a strong run and received our medals at the end of the run.

We had a great time at this run and would do it again going in with the knowledge that it was just a fun run and not really based on time.

With our medals after the race

Blue Moon 5K review

On Sunday I ran in the Blue Moon 5K in Palm Harbor, Florida.  We got up early at 5:30 AM (Thank goodness for Daylight Saving Time ending overnight) to get ready for the drive up to Palm Harbor.  It was a bit chilly and VERY foggy.  We really couldn't even see more than about 1/10 of a mile on the drive north.

We got to Palm Harbor only to find that the main parking lot was full already (an hour before the race started). We found a good spot just down the road though.  Since we had done our bib and shirt pickup on Saturday we went directly to the chip pickup line which took all of 15 seconds to get our chips.  The organization for this part of the race was great.

We then had a good 45 minutes to wait until the race started. We spent that looking at the menus on the restaurants nearby and just waiting out the time.  At 7:30 the Half Marathon runners took off and then the 5K runners lined up.  Usually I line up in the 10 minute pace section, but I have been frustrated with having to pass so many people at the start that this race I started in the middle of the 8 minute pace group.

At 7:32 the gun sounded and we were off. Did I mention it was foggy?  We were supposed to have views of the gulf, but because of the fog we really couldn't see much of anything.  Oh Well.  I turned my focus on the road in front of me and tried to go at my max possible pace.  I found that by starting further up in the start I didn't have to pass so many people and I could get a comfortable pace started quickly instead of waiting for a half mile or more.  Since I had my phone set up to notify me of my pace every two minutes so I was able to hear that I was going too slow at the start to break the 30 minute mark for the race that I was trying for.

I picked up the pace and felt good running around a 9 minute mile pace.  At mile 1 I was slightly over that pace at 9:05, so I decided to try to push myself a little harder.  I found that a great way to pick up my pace is to find another runner in front of me and focus on catching them and then passing them.  At this point of the race the groups had thinned out, so there were maybe 20 runners  in my area, so I found my target and began my pursuit.  The time between mile 2 and mile 3 went by like a blur and my pace picked up as well.

Once I passed mile 2 the group thinned out even more and I felt like there just 5 or 6 people around me.  I was starting to feel tired, but kept trying to push myself as hard as I could since I knew I was going to break the 30 minute mark and I wanted to do as good as I possibly could. Once I hit mile 3 I knew I had a great chance to break 29 minutes!  I tried to kick my pace up another gear, but I was about out of energy.

I took the last turn to enter the finish chute to see the clock at 28:40! I gave it my best sprint and crossed the finish with my best 5K time yet.  I had run a 5k in 28:47!!!  I then went to the finisher's chute to watch for Jenny to finish her run.  She came down the chute a little later with a smile on her face.

Once the race was over we got a bite to eat and I had a beer since it was the Blue Moon race!  Once we felt filled we went over to the raffle and Jenny's number was called and she got a pair of sunglasses.

Overall we had a great time in this race.  Next Saturday we get to run our first Disney Race, the Jingle Jungle 5k. We're going to use this as a fun run and take our time and try to get character pictures during the race.  Once this race is done I have ONLY 2 WEEKS until the Space Coast Half Marathon!  I have to get my miles in!

Mile    Pace   Total Time
1         9:05    9:05
2         8:49    17:54
3         9:17    27.11
4         8.34    28:27

October Summary

October was the month I really started focusing on my training for my upcoming Space Coast Half Marathon.  I worked hard to increase my mileage while at the same time improve my pace.  I also set up a training plan that for the most part I have stuck with very well.  I run Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and then go for a long run on Sundays.

During the month I ran one 5K race and I again ran it for a PR again.  I almost broke 30 minutes for this race, which is my next 5K goal.I came up just shy of my monthly goal of 80 miles, but I'm happy with my results.  I was able to run a 10 mile and 11 mile long runs in the month so it increased my confidence in completing a longer race.

Looking forward to November it will be a busy month.  I have the Blue Moon 5k on November 4th and then its off to Disney World for Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k on November 10th.  We also plan on running in the St. Petersburg Time Turkey Trot 5k on November 22nd.  The month will end with the Space Coast Half Marathon on November 25th.

October Mileage - 78.3 miles