I’m planning to write about this little adventure in the next issue of Her Times, so..I hate to spill all the beans, but I can’t wait that long (Feb. 7, 2010 issue!) to tell you about the race. So…here’s an abbreviated review.

Race: Women’s Half Marathon (www.womenshalfmarathon.com)

Where: St. Petersburg, Florida

When: Sun., Nov. 21, 2009 (inaugural race)

What: This was a women’s 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) and there was also a 5K (3.21 miles). Men were not excluded from participating, but…they were definitely in the minority in both events.

What I loved:

Nearly 4,000 women participating. There were women of every size, shape, age and ethnicity you can imagine. It was empowering just to stand among them.

The personalized bibs. Waaaaaayyyyy cool:

The race T-shirts. They are technical running shirts that are, obviously, designed with a woman in mind since they don’t have some obnoxious logo emblazoned across the front, but…instead, a pretty design (there are logos galore on the back, but..who cares…I’ll never see it).

P.S. The only bad thing about these shirts is that this (above) is a Large and it barely fit me.  BE AWARE …if you ever do a women’s race and they are offering women’s-cut shirts….that likely means they run very, very small (with the exception being the Her Times women’s 5K that I direct because I INSIST we have t-shirts that run true to size.
The setting. Wow….I could write an entire blog entry on St. Petersburg alone, but…we’ll stick to talking about the running stuff here. Suffice to say it was worth the flight.

Our hotel. I’ve never stayed in a Hampton Inn I didn’t love. Our hotel rooms were “suites” that contained a microwave, sink and refrigerator. They were roomy, clean and had balconies that we could sit on.

They even had a whole patio on the 2nd floor that we enjoyed a few wine-and-cheese cocktails hours on:

The hotel pool. Not exactly large enough to swim laps, but….nice and refreshing for a post-race swim.

The restaurants (and the prices). First of all…we got free breakfast every morning at the hotel (nice thing about Hampton Inns!). Second…you could dine outside almost anywhere. Third…you could always find something healthy on the menu. And, finally, you could eat relatively inexpensively. I don’t think I ever paid more than $15 (with tip) for any meal.

Mahi Mahi sandwich with mango salsa & beans & rice …yummy…and about $9.

The Salvador Dali Museum. Way cool. Read all about it in my post on my “Life & Her Times” blog.

The Race expo. The expo was at a nearby hotel and it was fun, but much smaller than I had anticipated — probably 25 exhibitors. It was also very crowded — and we went on Friday almost as soon as they opened. I can’t imagine what that expo space must’ve been like on Saturday when most of the other racers arrived. There were some exhibitors showing some cute stuff. I could’ve spent a lot of money on shirts — race shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. — with pithy, inspiring or witty statements, but…I limited myself to one sweatshirt that I’d been eyeing up online for months (and I LOVE it):

The Ultimate Goody Bag. The race bags were uber cool — funky flowered reusable shopping bags. I know that I will get a lot of use out of mine.  Everybody also got a pair of hot pink crocs (doubt I’ll wear those much, but…). And, of course, there were all the other usual goodies and samples — sunscreen, energy bars, etc.

The Race:

Race day — Sunday — dawned warm & a little humid, but overcast. Luckily, It stayed that way through the race (for me). After the first two hours, the sun came up and it got hot.

Walking to the start, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over the water.

Here’s a pre-race photo: from left, Sarah’s friend from The Villages in Florida (totally blanking on her name now!), Jan Comi, Sarah Rose, Vonnie Lorah, Heather Cass, Linda Huegel and Toni Vieyra.

The race was well organized — especially for a first-time event. The start line was organized and the volunteers were efficient in pointing women in the right direction.

We found the gear check area and dropped off our bag of post-race clothes (turned out we didn’t even need them, but still…).  The gear check was well organized and very efficient. Seriously…they made this organizer-freak’s heart sing (though, I will say that had it rained…this would’ve been quite a mess):

After dropping off our gear, Jan and I headed for the starting area and lined up in the corral between the 8 and 9 mile pace markers.The rest of the gang lined up at their paces.

The race started on time after announcements, the national anthem and some inspiring words from  Katherine Switzer (yes, THE Katherine Switzer…the first woman to run Boston Marathon…the woman who was nearly pulled off the course by race officials). Believe it or not…I heard every word of the announcements. I think it’s the first time I have ever been able to say that about race announcements. It was loud almost to a fault.

And…we were off!

Below are some shots I took along the course…which was beautiful. It was flat, but scenic — we ran by lots and lots of water, through beautiful neighborhoods and even through the Tropicana stadium.

The aid stations were plentiful and the crowd support was 10-deep in some spots. In others, there were just a few people cheering…but …hey…we Presque Isle State Park racers aren’t exactly used to cheering crowds anyway, right?).

Waiting to go!

Crowd support was good. Lots of cute kids, cow bells and funny signs. My favorite sign “We’re drunk!” (and that was at like mile 2…which is what makes it funny).

Mirror Lake — mile 9 or so.

Running through an air-conditioned Tropicana stadium. A nice reprieve at mile 11 to 12.

Linda ….almost to the finish line.

A post-race photo — not too bad, eh? At least we’re all smiling! (from left, Linda, Toni, Jan, Vonnie & me). Check out the medals…aren’t they cool?

My race

I certainly didn’t run my best 1/2 marathon, but…I didn’t mean to. I was out to have fun, take photos & get a story out of this whole experience.

I finished in just under 2 hours. My best 1/2 marathon is a 1:47:02 or something like that, so… considerably off that pace. But, I had fun, so… mission accomplished. I had to visit the porta potty (which were so wisely placed by all the aid stations) at the 2nd mile and I stopped to take photos at least a few times…so..that’s my excuse (and I’m sticking to it!).

Results can be found here.

The ERC gang’s results are here.

Bottom line

Would I recommend the race? Yes…definitely. Worth every dollar and all the hassle of traveling. If you’re going to go, though, plan to spend a few days exploring St. Pete’s — it’s a really hip and cool area and you’ll never lack for fun things to do, parks to explore and places to shop.

I’m going to give you a full race run-down/report tomorrow (God and holiday deadlines willing) complete with photos and witty commentary , but…for now…suffice to say the Erie contingency that participated in the inaugural Women’s Half Marathon in St. Petersburg (Fla.) on Sunday went the distance. Our results are here.

See complete race results for the 1/2 here.

There were 3,411 participants in the half-marathon distance (136 men) and 622 finishers in the 5K (45 men).

So…women were 4,000 strong — it was as cool as it sounds (er, in a 80-degree Florida kind of cool anyway).

Seems like ages ago I was leafing through Women’s Running magazine and saw an advertisement for the Women’s Half Marathon in St.Petersburg/Clearwater Beach, Florida. I suggested to a group of running friends that we sign up for the race and make a long girls’ weekend out of it.

To my surprise, they jumped on board.

A few weeks later, we gathered around the table on my back patio with wireless laptops all around and simultaneously searched for the best flight & hotel deals. We lucked out with a RT flight for $160 out of Pittsburgh — direct to Tampa — which actually dropping in price a few times. I think it ended up being less than $150  (Gotta love Orbitz!).

So, tonight the adventure begins. Five of us are traveling down to Pittsburgh and tomorrow we descend on Florida for some warmth, sunshine and a 13.1 mile run with 4,000 other fitness-minded women.

I’m a relatively sheltered runner and a bit of a homebody, so I’ve never done any really huge destination races except for the Cleveland marathon (half-marathon) each year. It’s always a rush to stand at the start line with thousands of other people at Cleveland, so I can only imagine how cool it will be to do that on Sunday with 4,000 women!

The course is filled with palm trees, beautiful water views and even a trip through Tropicana Center.  You can watch a fun little video of it here:

There’s a cool finisher’s medal that you can tell is designed by a woman who thought…hmmmm….how can we make this thing practical? Check it out:

That’s a charm in the middle…that comes out of the award (which still looks cool without the charm in the middle) and can be made into a necklace. And, I just heard the magazine will actually be selling necklace chains at the Expo for just $10.  Sweet.

Oh…and speaking of swag…the the “Ultimate Race Goody Bag” looks to contain lots of stuff to make a woman’s heart sing, including a pair of pink Crocs and a reusable shopping bag (oh..I am SUCH a sucker for bags):

I have only one goal on Sunday — to have fun — so I won’t be setting any P.R.s. In fact, I plan to carry my camera for the whole 13.1 miles so I can capture race moments and views to share with all of you.

As for the days leading up to the race…cause you might have done the math and realized we’re leaving a wee bit early… well, who knows what adventures await?

I’ll tell you all about it (well, all that is suitable for print) when I return.

Enjoy your run(s) this week & weekend — I hear the weather’s going to be great (for Erie, anyway). I’ll be sweating it out in Florida…and loving every minute of it.