Gasparilla Distance Classic Half Marathon-Feb 22, 2015

Gasparilla.....aahhhh....the fun filled pirate event held in Tampa that I oh so loved attending when I lived there years ago.... and lo and behold, they have a Half Marathon and Challenge Weekend to accompany it! Ugh, but unfortunately, it is ALWAYS right around The Donna Marathon. Every year, I have watched this race go by, wishing I was able to participate. But there was NO WAY I would NOT do The Donna. Well, lets go back to last April when I was lucky to be asked to help man The Donna booth at the Expo of the Boston Marathon. Well, right across from us was the Gasparilla Distance Classic group! We were completely floored when we were generously offered comp entries to participate in their race! Well, OF COURSE we had to say YES then!

In previous years, after The Donna, I usually waited weeks, before I did any kind of long distance run. I just....Didn't....Feel....Like....It.... But this year was going to be different. I went into Gasparilla seven days after running the full marathon at The Donna a little hesitant, but feeling good because we had planned to just take it easy with a slow Galloway 2:1 pace. (run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute)

So, what exactly is Gasparilla Distance Classic? It is one of the infamous Challenge Weekend events that are gaining such attention all over the country. There are lots of races of various distances... add them up, and you have created a 'challenge' and earned yourself an extra medal! There is a 5k and 15k on Saturday, then a half and 8k on Sunday. I believe there is also a fun run for kids sometime.
The Ultra Challenge-15k, 5k on Saturday, then half marathon and 8k on Sunday=30.4 miles in 2 days
The Amber Challenge- 15k, 5k, half marathon=25.5 miles in 2 days
The Lime Challenge-15k on Saturday, 8k on Sunday=14.2 miles in 2 days


COMMUNICATIONS
Leading up to race day, you are not short on communication from the race director! There are plenty of emails as well as Facebook posts with the weekends event information. Their website is also fully stocked and loaded and there is a thick Event Program printed as well. If you don't have the information you need, its not the races fault..... although it may be because you are a little overwhelmed with how much information there actually is! But then again, there are 4 races and 2 challenges that make it a bit confusing if you are not used to navigating all the lingo.


DAY BEFORE
The Donna Girls drove in from Jax Saturday morning, arriving to the Expo at the Tampa Convention Center right before noon. (hint for free parking.... park at Publix). It was a gorgeous warm sunny day, so we soaked up some rays at the outside bar to unwind from the 3 1/2 hour drive. It was still an active scene as the 5k and 15k were wrapping up.

EXPO
The Expo was of a great size and nice and spread out, not too crowded. We did get to snap a pic with Gaspar the Pirate, and received a comp Gasparilla sweat towel as well as a good quality reusable grocery bag. However, we were a bit disappointed on the actual merchandise. The only thing I walked away with was a 13.1 pink visor that wasn't even race specific. I was really disappointed there wasn't more pirate gear. And even the event merchandise itself wasn't very pirate-y.

There was a huge Gasparilla sign with everyone names listed on it, so it was fun to go through the scavenger hunt to find your name.

The Jose Gaspar ship was located right outside the Expo was a cool photo op.

After the Expo we headed to Victorias for some local Cuban sandwiches, then spent the afternoon bar hopping in Ybor (I told you we werent going to take this race easy! Hey, we were still in celebration mode from The Donna Marathon!). We had happy hour at Columbia's (a local must) with sangria, and then headed to the Spaghetti Warehouse for our carbo loading. It was a fun day, but boy were we pooped at 9p when we got back home. I was passed out shortly after lights out.

RACE MORNING
We stayed just a few miles down the street from the Start at a friends family's house. We set the clock to make it a very tight schedule in the morning, and I have to admit, I was a little nervous, but we were able to wake, dress, leave the house, stop at Starbucks for breakfast, find street parking, walk half a mile to start, use the porta potty, and be in line just a couple minutes behind the start gun....all under an hour!!

PARKING
Since the race starts downtown, parking is basically anywhere you can find it, fees vary. HINT- you can park for free on the street in the neighborhood along Bayshore Blvd and walk to start, which is what we did.

START
Because we basically arrived just minutes before actually running, I can not comment much on the Starting area. I do know the bag drop/gear check was located inside the convention center, which we found a little inconvenient, so we planned to keep our stuff in the car. There were Pacers set up and you could basically place yourself wherever, as we realized we were in the 8minute pace group, but it was too crowded to make our way further back.

COURSE
The course is A to A, starting in the same area as the Expo (Convention Center). It runs over to Davis Island to do a loop, and then back over to Bayshore Blvd which is basically an out and back.
Bayshore Blvd is one of the most scenic areas of the Tampa Bay.

The race starts at 6am, which is about 45 minutes before sunrise.  Running in the dark during that time was a bit stressful. There were limited street lights and it was very crowded. I was surprised more people were not carrying hand lights. I definitely would have brought mine, if I had realized. There were some cobblestone areas, potholes, and very tight bridge. Just about all of the Davis Island portion of the race was crowded and because of our poor lining up and our 2x1 pace, we were being passed for the first half of the race.  The pace groups were large and took over the entire street when they came through and weren't too fond of our walking periods. In fact, there weren't a lot of run/walkers at all. We even had someone question what we were doing, which is always fun to explain.

The temps started in the upper 50s, but it was very humid. The heat continued to climb after the sun rose and there was very limited shade.  They actually had a section with some sprinklers out, which was nice.

Some runners dressed as pirates and a couple were in full on elaborate costumes on the sidelines cheering us on. There was a flame thrower and also a Caribbean man on a mic singing, shouting out motivational words, and giving hi fives! But the best part was a the Huge group of young kids lining the street and throwing up high fives for you, as the Gasparilla Distance Classic supports youth organizations and running programs in Tampa.

Once we got to Bayshore Blvd, the street was wide and we finally spaced out. There are beautiful mansions along this stretch of road and is the same road that the Gasparilla parade takes place.

I surprisingly felt awesome doing the 2x1. I even felt like I wanted to do more, run further or faster, but that was our plan being this was our first time doing a race after a marathon. However, I have officially decided to never do a full minute walk again. 30-45 seconds is plenty of time for recovery.

PHOTOS
Photographers were everywhere you looked (and didn't). You definitely have plenty of opportunities to get that perfect pic.

PORTA POTTYS
Plentiful and often

HYDRATION STATIONS
I never felt dehydrated. There were plenty of hydration tables. Unfortunately they were only on one side of the street, and with the street being so wide on the second half of the course, you had to keep cutting over.

FINISH LINE
The biggest upset of the entire event is the city law of no alcohol served before 11a on Sundays. Yep, I guess this includes races as well. The race starts at 6am, so even if you did the half and 8k, you are still awaiting around for the 'after party'. I'd say to start the race later, but we are in Florida, and temps get hot quickly.

Once you cross the Finish Line, you are handed your medal and get a photo opp with the official Gasparilla Pirate Crew (yes, its a real thing) and they even officially congratulate you!

Once you make your way over to the After Party area, you are given a bag to stock with all kinds of goodies! (Suja juice, bananas, Special K bars, fruit bowls, sodas, Fruit Buddies.) I would have liked to have seen something with salt, like chips, but still an awesome assortment. It is a long line of item after item and then you end at the yumminess of Columbia Restaurant official race meal. Unfortunately some runners (well a lot) would cut the line for the real food. They really need to put up ropes of some sort to prevent this from happening, because we were in line for over an hour waiti

It was definitely worth the wait though!.... paella, salads, rice and beans, bread! YUM! We all wanted seconds!!

SHIRT
The long sleeve, gender specific Race shirt is very thin, almost see through. I was a little confused on why they would make the 'Half Marathon' letters so large, and not the actual name of the race.

MEDAL
Everybody wants the Gasparilla medal. It is a good one.







































AFTERWARDS
We did not wait around for the Official After Party with Michelob and the Awards. Instead we had Mimosa waiting for us at home! Brunch was had at Datz (a Tampa MUST!). It was a long wait, so we ordered coffee and a sweet at Datz Dough. Which left me entirely too full for brunch, but the menu looked scrumptious! And to top that off, there were Girl Scouts selling cookies! SCORE! Perfect timing!


OVERALL THOUGHTS
This is definitely one of those family and/or friends filled weekends.... as there is a distance for everyone. The additional challenges makes it unique and brings out your competitive spirit to see how far you can push your limits.

Tampa is an action packed city and being so close to Clearwater and St Pete beaches, you can easily extend the weekend to make it a fun vacation.

Before we even finished the half marathon, we were already discussing signing up for a Challenge in 2016! I will still be doing the Donna Marathon the week before, but then taking on the Ultra Challenge, to make it a total of 56.6 miles in 2 weeks, which honestly, I was doing over 30 miles a week for training anyways so..... easy peasy, lol.... we will see! :)


HM#47
13.1- 2:30

I am running a half marathon a month while I complete my goal of running a half marathon in all 50 states, all to raise breast cancer awareness and promote a healthy lifestyle through running and walking. 100% of donations raised goes towards 26.2 with Donna (70% Mayo Clinic and 30% Donna Foundation). Please show your support by making a donation today! www.donate.breastcancermarathon.com/2016-marathon/melissajohnson

8th Annual 26.2 with Donna-Feb 15, 2015

This was the 8th Annual 26.2 with Donna National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer! This is THE RACE of the year for me. This is what I run for! All year long (Mar-Jan) I run half marathons across the country, trying to check off the fifty states, but also train for the full marathon (the one and only I will do) and raise funds for The Donna in February. You see, The Donna is the only Marathon in the US where 100% net proceeds benefit the Mayo Clinic (70%) for breast cancer research and the Donna Foundation (30%) to help those in financial need to get through their treatments. Fundraising is completely optional, but even part of your registration goes towards the cause. Once you realize what these monies have helped to create (a new vaccine trial for triple negative breast cancer patients is the latest), its hard to not jump on board to help the cause! Plus, there are fundraising incentives that include some pretty cool gifts and Jaguar tickets! I have participated every single year (officially known as a Streaker) and can not see myself NOT participating.

THE YEAR LEADING UP TO DONNA
We will start this blog back in the beginning of the year. As a reminder, I completed 2014 Donna marathon with a Huge PR, crushing my 5 hour finish time goal with 4:55, a whole 34 minute improvement! So needless to say, I told myself I needed a break from running. Yes, I still managed my half marathons, but I was running VERY little other than that. And before I  knew it, it was months down the road and I had slacked for a whole 6 months! Well, you could probably guess, my performance had plummeted. I completed my running year without a single PR. Not only was I disappointed in myself, but I was scared I would not be able to 'match' another 5 hour marathon finish time.

DONNA TRAINING SEASON
My training season was pretty strong. I tried to do a whole 26 weeks of training, however, the heat took a little toll on that.  I also had to regain my 'base' of what I had slacked on, so it ended up being more of a 16 week training program. By October I was able to start adding over 13mile runs to my training. For 3 months I was able to manage no less than 25 miles per week, with most at 30-33 miles per week. I had 5 days that were 20 miles or over. I kept with the breaking up the miles like I did last year (ie, 2x10mile runs a day) to aid in faster recovery. Besides the running, I tried to do Pilates and Yoga at least once each a week. I did drop the weight lifting training this year, which I think may have been a mistake. Something different I did do this year was run in high altitude while on a ski vacation just a few weeks before race day. It was very little miles, but it was 3x of very heavy breathing! I don't know if that did anything or not, but I feel that breathing training would definitely help.

WEEK OF DONNA
The week of Donna is packed full of events! Being a Streaker (someone that has participated in Donna since day 1) and also a Top Fundraiser, I was invited to the One Ocean VIP Reception. This is an interesting event with hordeourvs and cocktails mingling with some very important people that make this event take place. The Donna Ambassadors are also there, which is always interesting to hear their stories from all over the world.

Saturday there is also a 5K in the morning (held at the same place as the Expo, and provides a medal too) and then a by invitation pasta dinner held at Mayo Clinic. Unfortunately I have bypassed the invitation to the pasta dinner the past couple years because I have been more focused on resting since race morning starts at 4am. This year I heard it was fantastic as they did a tour of the Mayo Clinic laboratories.

EXPO
The Expo is held at the Prime Osborne Convention Center located in downtown Jacksonville and is a 2 day event packed with vendors from all over the world. It is free and open to the public and is one of the best expos I have ever attended as there are so many shopping and educational options. There is a Donna Merchandise area as well as other breast cancer organizations set up. Donna herself is there meeting with the runners, as well as Jeff Galloway, the man responsible for the run/walk theory. Kurtis Loftus, the artist responsible for the great designs of the tshirt, medal and posters was there with a table set up to make custom spray painted shirts for $25.

There are local running shops like First Place Sports, as well as ones from afar (I ended up purchasing from the state of MI!) who come stocked with sale merchandise. We are given a reusable drawstring Donna bag, and there were free noise makers (varies every year, this year was thunder sticks) and yard flags to anyone who wanted them.

There was a pink fire truck you could sign parked outside and inside there were huge billboards with encouraging words such as Strength, Love, Finish that you could leave messages on. These would be placed on the beach for our Miracle Miles section of the course.

PARKING
Parking  for the race is open 3 1/2 hours prior to the Starting time with 2 separate entrances, so there is plenty of time for everyone to get there on time. We start at the TPC Sawgrass (for those that don't know, is a huge golf event location) which has more than enough spots for runners and spectators.



STARTING AREA
The Starting Area is pretty big and spread out. Once you get out of the parking, there is the UPS Gear Trucks, which is very easy to pass off your belongings. They transport it to the Finish for you. There are also so many porta potties, you never really have a long line to wait in. Besides Dunkin Donuts being there handing out coffee, there was also water, bananas, and muffins if you forgot breakfast. There is a big warming tent with tables and chairs, or there is also portable heaters scattered around to keep you warm. If you forgot your sunscreen, because its still dark out, don't worry, there is even a table for that as well. This year they tried a new line up. Flags were up with finish/pace times and you placed yourself where ever you pleased. There would be pulse starts for each time. If you did not line up early enough, you started later, but it didn't matter. Your own time doesn't start until you cross the Start timing mat with your chip on your bib. This made it easier to start with your friends and loved ones instead of being separated off from each other in separate corrals. A big part of it is to still be 'considerate' to other runners and staying true to your own pace and line up accordingly. I started in the first group which actually was a lot larger than I expected, but was not impacted with slower or faster runners trying to weave around.

COURSE
The course is A to B starting at TPC Sawgrass and finishing appropriately at the Mayo Clinic. There is a shuttle that takes you back to the start parking lot once you are finished. We run through Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville, Neptune, and Atlantic Beaches, with about 1-2 miles (depending on if you are running the half or full) run right on the hard packed sand. The beautiful white sand beach is where you are engulfed by the beauty of Jacksonville. The sky is still filled with beautiful colors as it is still early in the day. If you look close and if you are lucky you can see the dolphins swimming right along side us. The course is constantly in the beach neighborhoods where you see an endless stream of people coming out of their houses to not only cheer you on, but they have set up elaborate decorations and even 'aid stations' stocked full of oranges, waters, pbj sandwiches, bananas, candy, beer, mimosas, anything you can imagine, they have you covered the entire course! ....until the last 3 miles of the marathon which runs on JTB (a closed highway). The course is completely flat until you reach the last mile where you have enough of a challenge to prove your marathon strength with a small bridge.


WEATHER
All week there was a close eye on the weather. All over the US has been a brutally cold and snowy season and it was looking like we would be impacted by a strong cold front with high winds. Even race morning was predicting what was opposite of what we actually had. I swear this race is blessed. It ended up being in the 40s early and 50s later. There was some wind, but it was not a consistent direction, and it was never steady either. I arrived with long sleeves and pants with gloves, but ended up removing my sleeves and ran in a tank. By the end of the day I was saying I could have even gone down to shorts and tank, but I was fine. It was a gorgeous day!


MANTRAS
I totally believe that running, at any distance, is half mental. I try to go into marathon day with a list of mantras to get me through when I start to boink. This years included....
Better your Best
Embrace the Suck
Breathe thru it
Run with your Heart

AID STATIONS
There is tons of GU available on the marathon course.
On the second half I noticed they split up the water and Gatorade, instead of having both of them every mile, which made it weird because I like to swish out my mouth with water after a swig of Gatorade. A secret to the aid stations (esp the ones with a medic tent) is, they have aspirin and chips if you need, which I always love a mouth full of salt around M18.


GOALS VS RESULTS
My initial goal was to just match last years performance, since it was such a huge PR. But I have also always PRd on this race, so of course I didn't want to end that streak. I would have to maintain a 10:29-11:16 pace to finish between 4:35 to 4:55.

I wore a 4:35 pace tattoo that I had picked up at the Expo to keep me on track.

I am probably the most backwards runner there is, as I like to go out strong for as long as I can and then ease up at the end. For the marathon I do a consistent run/walk method. Below is what my goal was vs what actually took place.

M1-3 - 3x30, Actual-M1-12 3x30
M3-7 -  3x45, Actual 3x30
M7-13 - 3x1, Actual 3x30
M13-16 -  2:30x45, Actual M12-15 2:30x30
M16-20 - 1:30x45, Actual M15-18 2x30, M18-20 2x45
M20-23 - 1:30x45, Actual M20-23 1:30x45
M23-36 - 1x45, Actual M23-26 1x1

I took a GU every 3 miles starting at M6, a mouthful of water and Gatorade for every hydration station, a couple of bites of oranges somewhere on course, and a mouthful of chips around M18.

I ran the first 7 miles with my friend Constance who was taking on her first half marathon. I definitely felt like I wanted to run faster (like I always do and then crash early later) so it was good  she was there to keep me consistent. I unexpectedly ran into a friend Barb on the corner around M16 where I was just beginning to die down. I had co workers support (my work hosts a hydration station) at M8 and 18. My bartender friend surprisingly yelled out my name from behind the bar as I passed by at M 19! My friend Michelle was holding posters right after M20. And of course I had to take my usual shot of beer (the best carbs there are) at M21.

From the first couple of miles, I thought my GymBoss (pace alert) was dying or broken. It would go through one cycle of run/walk, but then stop. Luckily I was able to realize I could just push the button after the end of each cycle to start another. Unluckily, (but probably luckily) I forgot to do this several times and ran longer than I was supposed to. Thankfully it did last the entire race. I really stressed the first miles thinking I would not have a pacer at all. Unfortunately I realized after the race the exact problem and solution for it. (hand to forehead!)

Looking back, I was amazed how well I felt on the 3x30 (run 3 minutes, walk 30seconds) for so long. I was very consistent on overall pace the entire race until those last three-five miles. I could have definitely pushed myself more on JTB for the last 3 miles where I dropped down to a run a minute, walk a minute. With my performance and knowing what my body can handle, I will probably never allow myself to do another 1minute walk break again.

Physically my body was never in any serious pain. I had a nagging right hip and right knee ache and then some sort of feet pain I have never felt before in my life, for the last 10 miles. It is hard to describe, but it was like I was running barefoot. Like a raw feeling, or when your feet are asleep and then starting to wake up again. Nothing too terrible, just interesting.

FINISH LINE
Because I didn't know anyone doing the marathon this year, I was really expecting anyone at the finish (which is pretty usual for me). I slowly crossed the finish with a 5 minute PR and pretty much started hyperventilating. I was overcome with emotion and started to cry, but for some reason it led to almost a full blown panic attack. I continued to take my medal and walk towards the Finish Village when I looked up and saw Constance and her family still there. After a hug my breathing started calming down.

Constance and I stayed for a bit to enjoy the Finishers Village. There is pink champagne (which I had never been able to find previous years), Michelob Ultra, soup, and later we found out there was free pizza and hamburgers being handed out by Mellow Mushroom and Hardees. There is also a massage tent if you want to stretch out your muscles!

SHUTTLE
We didn't stay much longer and made our way to the shuttle to get back to start. It is always a long 30 minute drive back (so  make sure you have your back up clothes, flip flops, anything you want to make you comfortable after the Finish Line)

AFTERWARDS
After the race, we went to a friends who whipped up some yummy food for us. We met up with a couple other half marathoners and shared running stories.



SHIRT
The Finishers Shirt is a long sleeve gender specific tech shirt. I know they have been trying different  qualities and designs for the shirt over the years. I do hope that one year they can actually get the sleeve length right for ALL runners. I am a tall person and receiving long sleeve shirts really can be a hit or miss anywhere, but with that said I have plenty of other running shirts  from other races where the length is just fine. This years shirt, is once again about 2 inches short. I am glad they went back to the beachy design. But the shade of the pink is also a little weird. It looks like a light pink color washed with a bunch of dark clothing.

MEDAL
I love our medal and the stained glass. This year they decided to make it a heart shape, which isn't my favorite, but something different. The wording on the medal is entirely too small. I would love for the 26.2 and Donna words to be more of a focus.

PHOTOS
There is a good amount of photographers on course and at the Finish. There are also a slew of local photographers that end up posting additional (not organized) photos on multiple news sites, as well as Facebook pages. This year was cool as being a 'Streaker' we were given a $20 discount to use with Sport Photos and I was able to order a custom keychain for free!


STREAKER EXTRA!
It has been pretty cool the past few years they have gone out of their way to show appreciation to the Donna Streakers.... those that have run every single year. This year they gave a heart running ribbon heart saying "Streaker 8 Years".

OVERALL THOUGHTS
If you want a standing ovation for all the hard work you put into training 16 weeks for a marathon, you should experience the Donna. It is literally 26 miles of people lining the streets cheering you on, calling out your name, saying Thank you for Running. The crowd support is among the largest I have seen in all my races. Running on the beach is also a huge highlight, making something stressful as a marathon, more relaxing and enjoyable. There is an awesome Galloway training program that can get anyone to run their first marathon. If the marathon is too much, there is always the half, the relay, or the 5k the day before!



Marathon #6 -4:50