Rock n Roll St Pete, FL Half

First and foremost, I ran this race with Sherry on my mind and in my heart. Her story is relatable on so many levels, and I'm sure her family felt the outpouring of love from around the world from the virtual run this weekend organized by Beth at SUAR.


I saw about 5 other women wearing the bib for sherry, and also answered questions from other runners about who sherry was, or listened to how they were affected by this tragedy. So very powerful.


Time: 2:24, avg 10:59/ mile

Ran entirely with my wonderful, wonderful :)


The start was very cold, like Chicago style cold- 37 degrees with a feels like of 28. We even went to target on Saturday to pick up jackets because when we left Chicagoland on Thursday, the forecast for race morning was supposed to be around 50. We were unprepared for the "extreme" cold the Tampa bay area was going to offer us.


My Daad > marathon foto. :)


The race started at Tropicana field where the Rays play and meandered around some cute downtown areas, went around the pier and then did one final out and back section before finishing at a nice park.


It was a nice scenic flat race that reminded me of my favorite half- the Rock n Roll San Jose. As always, Rock n Roll put on a high quality event, which I do not mind paying extra $$$ for because I know what to expect from them. They held each corral a minute or 2 before letting the runners go to avoid congestion on the course. The roads were narrow at times, but no where near over crowded for the 8,000 or so runners who took to the streets. The water stations were plentiful and had medical tents also. The water cups also had ice in them! Learn from this Miami! The spectators were quiet. I tried to get them going, but it was like they were in church and trying to be all reserved :)


Except for Bella dog dog, who came down with my Daad to cheer us on. She was barking and howling away at all the runners. If she could talk, she probably would have been saying "come pet me. Free kisses. I promise if you stop and give me love you will run faster!"


We saw some of Flo-rida performing his music. Which if this app would let me upload the video I took, I would love to share. Maybe I'll save it for another post.


And this concludes part 1....

- xaar