Thomas expects little and exceeds expectations to the point of a personal record run.

Tampa was very nice this morning, for running. Temps in the low 40s, rising to 60 by late morning, under sunny skies and a building wind, from none to gusty. So I took advantage of what Tom Ward describes as the most significant factor in a race result – the weather. Despite much, I ran a steady race, made a gutty push over the last two miles and PRed (unofficially) in 4:39:41.

I arrived at the race site 40 minutes prior to the gun. I found a Publix supermarket open next to the corrals, full of people using their facilities, doing some pre-race fuel shopping or just sitting on the floor to stay warm or stretch. It was an unusual move by the store manager and I am forever grateful. When it was time to get in the street, my pace run group was just outside the parking lot.

The race was a four-parter: the first five miles on Davis Island, the next six through downtown Tampa, running south along Bayshore Drive away from downtown, and returning the same distance into the finish line.  After a full moonset above the start line, the morning light did not rise while we were on Davis Island. There was no wind and I thought to take off my long sleeve shirt but held on until we returned to the mainland.

Downtown was windier and cooler so I stuck with the shirt. Downtown has its highlights but none of them exist for quick stop and visits. Nevertheless, I cruised through the next six miles with ease and finally indulged in a Cliff Blok shot.  

The half marathoners split off from us at Mile 7 and when I went by the finish line I got to see the Half winner break the tape in 1:11 (after a 0.4 mile wrong turn by him and 20+ others). 

The eight mile run out to south Tampa and the Air Force property was with a wind at  our backs. Under the sun and rising temps, I dumped the shirt in a bush. The marathon winner was doubling back towards the finish around about when I was at mile 11. He beat me by half my time. He looked like a Kenyan.

I was eating caffeine-laden Cliff Blox every 45 minutes and feeling refreshed soon after each one.  I kept water stops to as short a pause as possible by pinching the cups and sipping as I jogged along. When I was on the return run into the wind and with the sun shining, I was a little more slack about the no-walking in water stop zones. Maybe four times in all.

The view of towering downtown buildings slowly moved from across the bay to just down and around the corner from where we were pounding away. My watch told me I could be in a zone to put in a top 2 personal finish time so I dug deep and kept pushing and not stopping for water unless my mouth was a drybed.

I played pass/be passed with about five or six people but when it came to the last mile, everybody was behind me. I crossed the line and couldn’t believe I’d PRed. For as poorly as I trained, it’s a miracle.

The trip was a social treat. I drove down with Liz and we met up with Cheryl, Marcus, Tom, Dave, Mikko and a handful of other Orlando runners at the Four Green Fields Irish pub. After a beer, Liz and I ran over to the hotel to check in to our suite hotel rooms, then went back out to dinner with the team at Bella’s, a highly regarded Italian Restaurant. I was in bed by 9:00, awake at 1 a.m., back asleep and awake at 4 a.m. when the alarms went off. An easygoing in-room breakfast set me up for the great day ahead.

Post-race food was awesome (Jon) with water, bananas, bagels, apple slices, black beans and rice, salad, Cuban bread and a specialty dish from the Columbia Restaurant. The beer garden was a hit too. My end-of- race hobbling disappeared pretty quickly and I walked on back to the car, picked up Liz and was home by 2 p.m.

Amazing day.