January 2019

Following a busy 2018, I jumped into 2019 with plans to stay just as busy.

For my first race of the year, I ran in the 2018 Tempa Resolution Run on January 6.  It took place at Al Lopez Park in Tampa.  It was a nice morning or a run with the starting temperature around 54 degrees.  

It was the first race for me in 3 weeks so I was ready to go.  I took off strong and ran through the first water stop and soon I hit mile 1.  I checked my watch and did my first mile in a (fast for me) 9:41.  I felt good and decided to keep pushing.  I pushed harder and decided to see how I could do.  Coming around the final two turns I knew I had a chance to have my best 5k finish time in a long time.  I crossed the line in 29:40, which was the first time I broke 30 minutes since October 2013.

For this race I wore my InknBurn Run or Die Fire Skull shirt.

 

For my next race I went to Mobile, Alabama for the Mobile Half Marathon on January 13. I hadn't run a half marathon in Alabama yet so it adds yet another state to my list.

It was a great start temperature around 52 degrees at the start.  This was fairly small race, but it seemed to be well organized.  For the beginning of the race I felt well but I wanted to pace myself so I could finish strong.  I pushed through and slipped in with a pace group for the marathon and that kept me from thinking about the pace I was on.  I finished the race in 2:24:19, which was the fastest I finished a half marathon since December 2014!  It was my 63rd lifetime half marathon and my 11th state!
I wore my InknBurn Falcon Tech shirt.

The weekend of January 19th and 20th I went to St. Pete Beach for the St. Pete Beach Classic.  For this race I ran the Marathon Challenge, which was a 10k and 5k on Saturday morning, a 3.8 mile beach run on Saturday evening, and a half marathon on Sunday morning for a total of 26.2 miles for the weekend.
For the 10k and 5k on Saturday it was a beautiful morning so I wanted to just get going, but I knew I had to hold back to finish the rest of the weekend.  I finished the 10k in 1:12:02 and the 5k in 37.40.  I rested for a few hours and then had to run the beach run.  During the afternoon the wind picked up and it started to cool down.  The beach run was an out and back run on the beach.  There was a strong headwind on the out portion of the run so that was a struggle.  On the way back we had a nice tailwind though.  I finished the race in 50:06, but it was a hard run, and took a lot out of me.
Overnight severe storms came in and it stormed all night.  The rain stopped by race time, but there was a steady 20 mike an hour wind.  It was a tough run, but I managed to finish in 2:48:36.  IT was my 64th half marathon.
For the weekend I wore my InknBurn Brick tech, my InknBurn Retro Surf Tech and my InknBurn Magnum Pi tech.

 

 

Overall it was a strong month and a great start for 2019!

2018 Year in Review

2018 went by in a flash.  There were many running accomplishments and it also included our first trip overseas.

January:

I started the year by running the Disney World Marathon.

Two weeks later I completed the marathon at the Clearwater Distance Classic.  By completing these races I qualified for the Marathon Maniacs, which is something I attempted in 2017 but due to a race being canceled due to weather I had to start it over again and this time I accomplished it.  The finish times for these races were not nearly as good as I had hoped, but as long as I cross the line it counts!

February:

In early February I ran in the Best Damn Race in Safety Harbor, FL.  It was my fourth time running this race and I have always done well at this race and this year I had my best finish time in 3 years.  It felt good and was a great start to the year.

Later in the month, we went down to Naples, FL and ran in the Paradise Coast Half Marathon.  It was a warm day, but it was a strong run.

March: 

In March we went to New Orleans to run in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.  We did the 5k and the Half Marathon to complete the Remix Challenge.  After running this race for each of the last 2 years I have really come to love New Orleans as a city and cannot wait to go back again.

We got back home in time to run the Florida Shamrock Halfathon at Ft. Desoto in St. Petersburg, FL, which is one of the races we run each year.  I had a really slow finish time, but I finished and added another half to my total.

April:

We started April by traveling to Raleigh, NC for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.  This was the final year for the Rock 'n' Roll Raleigh Half Marathon.  We did the 5k and Half Marathon this weekend.  This was possibly the coldest half marathon I have ever run.  It was 32 degrees and wet.  I also underestimated the hills at this race and these conditions really kicked my butt!  I finished but struggled and was happy to be able to enjoy some time in the Raleigh/Durham area including taking in a Durham Bulls game.

April also included the Star Wars - The Dark Side Half Marathon weekend at Walt Disney World.  Jenny and I ran the 10k and Half Marathon.  This was the third year we have run in this event and Disney had made it better each year.  I treat this race as a fun run and try to take as many pictures as possible. 

May: 

This month was a light month.  We completed 2 local 5k races but continued to train and allowed myself to recover a bit.

June:

June started with a trip to Vermont to run in the Covered Bridges Half Marathon.  It was great to be back where we used to live in the Upper Valley.  The race was in the Woodstock, VT area and was a very scenic course.  It was surprisingly flat for the area and I enjoyed the race and would definitely rn it again.  We also got to travel to a few areas in Vermont that we had never gotten to visit before.

July:

This was a very light month for running.  I ran in one 5k for the month, and then took most of the month off to recover. 

In July I also became an ambassador for InknBurn, which is my go-to choice for running wear.  You will see it in most of my pictures!

August:

I wanted to run in at least one race each month so I ran in a 10k and actually did well considering the race didn't start until 8AM on a hot August day.

September:

September is the kick-off for my running season and over the last 2 weekends I ran in a 10k in Clearwater, a 5k and 1 miler in Safety Harbor and a 15k in St. Petersburg.  It was a good start to the season and it felt great to get back out on the course.

October:

October had one Half Marathon, the Halloween Halfathon in St. Petersburg.  It was a hot day but I finished and enjoyed the day.

November:

November was pretty much a crazy month!  We started the month by traveling to England and Iceland.  We actually experienced snow during our layover in Iceland on our way to England.  

We main purpose of the trip was to go to our friend's wedding in Towcester, England.  There were several other friends there and we got to visit Bletchley Park as well as in London. 

We then went to Iceland for a couple of days where we got to experience a real Iceland hot spring and we tried to see the Northern Lights.

Following our trip we returned home to run in the St. Pete Run Fest where we ran the 5k and Half Marathon.  It's only the second year of this race and the organizers have created a great event.

Then on Thanksgiving, we ran in the Tampa Bay Times Turkey Trot, which we have run for seven years now.

The month ended with my seventh year running in the Space Coast Half Marathon.  This was my first half marathon back in 2012 and its been great to run it each year.  This year I felt strong and finished with my best finish time in four years!

December:

We tried running a race we hadn't run before called the Florida West Coast Half Marathon in Sarasota.  The weather was pretty bad for this race.  We had strong winds and rain during the race which did affect my time, but I was able to complete my final Half Marathon of the year.

My final race of 2018 was the Hot Chocolate 15k.  It was a beautiful day and perfect conditions.  I was able to PR the race by more than 6 minutes! 

 

Here's my race tally for 2018:

Marathons: 2

Half Marathons: 11

15k: 2

10K: 4

5k: 11

I ended the year with a total of 62 lifetime Half Marathons and added 2 new states for a total of 10 states where I have completed a half Marathon.