GASPARILLA 5K

It’s only 3:04pm right now but Michael and I are both zonked. Why? Oh nothing much…we just spent the morning in downtown Tampa with over 15,000 people, that’s all.

Today was the big Gasparilla Distance Classic. It is a gorgeous run that starts in the heart of downtown Tampa and continues down Bayshore Blvd right on beautiful Tampa Bay. There are several divisions for runners including 5 and 15k races. Michael entered the 5k race. I didn’t run this year but I think I definitely will try to next year. It is a huge event with 14,117 runners this year! That combined with spectators and sponsors came to a grand total of over 25,000 jam packed into very small city blocks.

We were both nervous this morning. Michael because it was his first 5k (what a whopper to pick for your first huh?) and me because there were going to be 25thousand(!!!!!!) people there. But we were up and out the door on time (a personal best for us) and arrived at the start to find a miracle of a parking space. Welllll, it wasn’t supposed to be a parking space but when there are about a million cars trying to park in the same area, you don’t get very many options.

The plan was for me to drop Michael off at the start and pray that I didn’t have to drive to Georgia to park but when we got there I noticed a striped area behind some parallel parked cars and decided to pull in. I was only going to leave it there for a minute while I got a picture of the starting line but when someone else pulled right behind us and also parked on the stripes, we figured it would be safe enough. I wish I had taken a picture so that you could see just how close it was! With people parking miles away and getting bused in, parking across the street from the starting line was an absolute miracle.

Hugs and a quick prayer for safety and he was off to join the mob. I watched the start and hoped to get him crossing on video but my stupid battery died in the camera. I couldn’t believe how many people were running. It literally took more than 11 minutes for everyone to get through the starting gate even though they had a full 2 lane street to stretch out on!

After searching through all the runners to get a quick look at Michael (though he said he was able to see me from a distance) I ran over to Walgreens to get new batteries for the camera and escape the rain for a minute. The weather today was pretty rough. It was freezing cold and pouring rain off and on throughout the whole morning. I can’t complain though, even wet and shivering is better than burning up in the sun. By the time I got to Walgreens, I could wring water out of my hair and my sweater was completely soaked through. Those poor runner were probably beating all their best times by thinking of a cup of hot coffee at the end of the race.

After leaving Walgreens I decided to try and drive over to Bayshore Blvd to catch a glimpse of the race but all the roads anywhere near were closed. So I drove in the direction of what I hoped would be the finish line (by the way, the race map had NO street names on it…DUMB) and dodged my way through a bunch of alleys and parking lots to a Publix. There seemed to be a lot of people around but that was the case in all of downtown so I asked a guy in an aid station where the finish line was. “ummm….right there.” he said, pointing across the street. I think my eye’s probably bugged out of my head, “are you serious????” I asked. The guy looked back at me so seriously and said “Would this face lie to you?!” and then we both burst out laughing; him at my retardedness and me at his joke.

Another parking miracle, I couldn’t believe it!! I was literally across the street from the finale!! A lot of runners had already finished and I knew Michael’s time should be coming up quick so I ran over to try and see his cross the line. After several minutes of pushing and shoving just to cross through the crowd, I figured it was hopeless but got up to the fence and took some pics while I waited to hear from Michael. About 20 seconds later I hear “Hi babe!” and he was standing right in front of me!!! Another crazy miracle for our day.

After a hot shower and dry clothes we went out to a very late breakfast at Village Inn to celebrate.
All in all it was a wet, freezing, crowded, crazy, wonderful day 🙂

Michael’s stats in the 5k were:

• Time – 34mins 47seconds
• Overall Placement – 4959
• Placement in age/sex division – 375

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go crash with my awesome hubs.

The End