Jon's Jibber-jabber

The Gasparilla Distance Classic is an absolute favorite.  I was interested in it prior to moving to Tampa and remain interested even after moving away.  The two day race weekend features four races (15k, 5k, half marathon, 8k) and several challenges with combinations of two or even all four races.  It is a very large field with over 30,000 participating in the whole weekend.  Not only is it a popular winter race, but the field is also very competitive.  The 15k draws elite athletes from all over the country.  It also has a uniquely Tampa flavor.  The city supports this event very well.   A few weeks after the official Gasparilla festival, this race weekend extends the winter traditions of pirate themed festivals of Gasparilla (There is a music, film, and art festival, too).  The courses aren't the most interesting in the world, consisting mostly of trips up and down Bayshore Boulevard.  For those who haven't run Bayshore, there are great views of the bay and the run

I am going to call this the Grumpy Half Marathon in honor of my spirit Disney character, Grumpy the Dwarf.  In truth, Donald Duck is the character Disney chose to mascot this race, but Grumpy is better.  Though, Donald is quite angry at times too.  My mood for the race was grumpy.  I've run the half marathon before several times, albeit the last time was 2012.  I was really looking forward to this race, but the fates would not shine so brightly on me.   Race Week This was truly a racecation.  We had a whole week in Florida prior to the event.  Originally, I was going down for the weekend.   My wife was able to get off and extend for the whole week, so we decided to take a road trip.  We started off a whole week prior from Maryland and drove to Hilton Head Island.  We stayed for one night at the Disney Vacation Club resort there (which was very nice, and we'd never been).  The next day we drove to Orlando and stayed with friends.  The rest of the week was spent based out of S