Sarasota Half Marathon

Pre race with Carolyn, Sandi and Gina

March 19, 2017
Half #73

I love running the Sarasota Half. This was my 9 year running it! I had signed up to run a trail race the day before, but I figured I needed a bike and swim workout on Saturday more then back to back halfs, so I skipped the trail half. Since I rode 30 miles and swam half a mile on Saturday, I wasn't sure how I would feel for the race. My goal was to try and get in at 2 hours. Carolyn, Gina and I got up just in front of the 2 hour pacer. We saw lots of local runner friends in the coral, which is always fun. We listened to the national anthem and then we were off!

I started off a bit fast, which is normal. I just wanted to get around the massive crowd of runners. The first half is an out and back over the Ringling bridge, to St Armands Circle, and back. Gina pulled ahead right away. I wasn't even going to try and stay with her. She was running the relay, so she could push the pace faster. Running up the bridge, I could tell I hadn't done that in a while. Need to add back in bridge repeats to my workouts! Down the bridge was great. Heading out towards the circle, we started to see the leaders coming back. It was hard to see them though, it was still pretty dark. Once again, the bridge slowed me down a bit on the way back, then that slight incline into the mid way point, were the relay people hand off. I was able to pick up the pace a little there, as I got a boost from seeing friends on the sidelines cheering! Miles 1 through 7 - 8:17, 8:34, 8:27, 8:23, 8:58, 8:44, 9:06

Edith got a great photo of me running it in, less then
a quarter mile to the finish.

Love the new route that they kept this year. We were off of the main road pretty quickly. Running through the neighborhood to the west of 41, with the beautiful houses and Bay views. It is so much better then looking at old style hotels and businesses (with the occasional hooker sighting!) The next few miles went by uneventful. Slight slow down, but I was actually feeling pretty good. The warmer weather wasn't bothering my and for once in a long while, I wasn't having any issues with hips, back or calves! Picked up the pace in the last mile. Got a little boost from seeing friends near the finish. Made the last right turn, then picked it up even more! finished 3 and a half minutes under my goal. Miles 8 through 13.1 - 9:00, 8:55, 9:07, 9:02, 9:26, 8:56, 1:21

Half #731