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.