Rock N' Roll St. Petersburg Mini Marathon review 2-10-2013

After running the Best Damn Race the weekend before the RnR St. Pete races I took most of the week off from running and only went out once.  I was not sure how my body would handle running half marathons on consecutive weeks so we opted to run the 5k "Mini Marathon".  On Saturday we went to the race expo at Tropicana Field and picked up our bib, shirt and goodie bag.  I was impressed that we still got a nice shirt for the Mini marathon, but it didn't indicate it was for the St. Pete race.  Oh well.  We browsed the expo for a bit and got a discount coupon for food at Fergs, so after the expo we went over to Fergs for lunch.

We got up nice and early on Sunday and drove down to St. Pete.  We didn't want to pay the crazy parking price for the Trop so we parked in the South Core garage for $3 and walked over to the Trop for the start of the Mini Marathon, which started a half hour before the Half Marathon.  I was going to push for a new 5k PR so we positioned ourselves toward the front of the corral.  After the anthem the horn went off and I took off.  Since I have been running half marathons lately I felt like I could push as hard as possible for a 5k race. I had to bob and weave a little at the start but I soon had plenty of space to run.  The course was mostly flat and slightly downhill which was nice.

The first mile went by and I definitely felt my pace was faster than usual, but I wanted to push it out.  At about a mile and a half there was a water stop so I grabbed a water and kept going.  About mile two I really started to doubt if I would be able to PR.  My pace slipped a little, but I just told myself that it was only a mile more so I picked it up a little more and kept going.  There was a slight hill during this mile, but I went through it and pushed on.

We came around the final corner and could see the finish line in the distance, but it felt like we weren't getting any closer to it.  Finally I saw the mile 3 marker and gave everything I had for the last stretch.  I finished in 28:05, which was more than 40 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR!

After the race I got my medal and then was handed Water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, strawberries, granola bars and bananas.  I met  up with Jenty when she finished and we sat and ate and drink for a few minutes.  We then went to the beer tent and I got my free "beer" which was Michelob Ultra.  Neither of us felt like waiting for the rap concert so we walked back towards the car and watched the fast half marathon runners for a bit then we went home to enjoy the day.

Best Damn Race review

On February 2nd Jenny and I woke up early at 4:45 to head over to Safety Harbor to run in the inaugural Best Damn Race.  She was running the 10k and I was tackling the half marathon.  We arrived in Safety Harbor at about 5:50 and found that parking was already filling up VERY quickly.  We were lucky enough to find a space not too far from the expo/finish line and the start line.  The morning was very cold in the 40s but we both knew we'd warm up once we started running so we didn't wear much more than we ordinarily would other than to wear a long sleeve shirt.

The 10k started at 6:30 and the half marathon started at 7:15, so I knew I'd have some time to kill.  The 10k was about 10 minutes late getting started, but the anthem was sung by a local singer and they were off.  Rather than waiting out in the cold I went into the lobby of the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa to stay warm.

After a few minutes inside in the warmth I went out to see Jenny run by and then headed to the starting line for the half marathon.

There was another national anthem sung and we were off at 7:15.  I took off much faster than I had previously, but I was determined to have a better run than I did at the Clearwater Halfathon.  
The first mile was an out and back and partway out we came across the leader with his bike escort just screaming at us to move over.  I think this was maybe a little much! At the turn around to come back there was the first water stop.

After the turn around the crowds of runners thinned out and I was able to get into a good rhythm.  At about 2 and a half miles we turned into a residential neighborhood, which was a pretty hilly part of the course.  Of course what goes up must come down so we came back down out of the neighborhood and onto Bayshore Blvd.  After a mile or so on Bayshore we turned onto another residential neighborhood that was all uphill.

The neighborhood opened onto the Ream Wilson trail which I was very familiar with because it is the trail I generally run on.  This is a nice shaded trail, but it has a few large hills that I knew would be a little difficult.  There had been quite a few water stops on the race and I felt like I had been hydrating well.  My pace so far had been better than any of my previous half marathons.  By mile 8 I was seriously thinking I could PR this race.

Well, the thought was short lived because between miles 9 and 10 I started getting a pretty painful stitch in my side.  I worked hard to fight my way through it and took on more water.  I was able to push through it, but I was worried that I was not going to PR the race.  By mile 12 I was struggling with the stitch and stiffness in my lower back.  I decided to give it my all for the last mile and I came in with an official time of 2:11:48, which was  more than a 5 minute PR!

I got my medal and then went to the food tent.  This is a place where this race shined.  They had cookies, brownies, fruit, pizza and subs!  Add to this plenty of free beer and it was a good time.

They called the race the Best Damn Race and for me it turned into a pretty damn good race!  I thought that for an inaugural event it went quite well.  I liked the face that there were plenty of water stops and course support.  There certainly were a couple of items I would recommend to improve the race in the future.  I would advise the organizers to organize the parking better.  I felt like that if you didn't know the town parking would be a big challenge because I didn't see any signs directing to any parking.  I would also advise the organizers to put a sign out to direct people to the starting line because many people seemed really lost looking for it!

I am pretty sure that this race will be on my schedule next year.

January Summary

Yay, its finally February.  I get to celebrate my 37th birthday this month and I know it'll be a good month.  But this post is to look back at January.  Starting on January 1st I knew I had to shake off the lack of running I had for the end of December.  I started the month on New Years day running bridge intervals to start to prepare for the Clearwater Halfathon.  I realized how much the bridges were going to kick my butt.
I stayed pretty steady with my training runs, but I didn't get in enough speedwork or tempo runs.

I only ran one race this month, the Clearwater Halfathon.  I feel like I did relatively well.  I was about six minutes over my PR, but it just means I need to work harder for the next race.

Looking ahead to February, I hope to join the Half Fanatics on the 2nd at the Best Damn Race.  Following that race Jenny and I will run the mini-marathon 5k at the Rock and roll Half Marathon in St. Pete on the 10th.

January Mileage - 71.0
Annual Goal - 800
Remaining miles - 729