5 POINTS OF LIFE HALF MARATHON - 02/16/2014

At the risk of overstating the obvious, this is my favorite race.  If you know anything about me, you know why…it is Gainesville!  Gainesville is my magic city.  The adrenaline kicks into high gear whenever I am up there, so it should come as no surprise that I would be running this race for the sixth consecutive year.  However, it would mark only the second time I would be running the half instead of the full.

I arrived at Jen’s house around 11am on Saturday, and we made our way up to the expo shortly after that.  The expo for this race is one of the smallest, but I always seem to come away with a purchase or two.  This year, Gainesville Running and Walking was selling all of their running shoes for $50.  Despite a limited selection on size 13, I was able to score a pair of Brooks Ravenna at the sale price.  They also had a couple of new colors of the ever-popular “I Run Gainesville” tech shirts, which just goes to prove it’s quality, not quantity.  This race also consistently puts out what I consider to be the nicest race shirts; this year was no exception.

Traditionally, temperatures for this race tend to skew towards the colder side.  This year would prove no different.  When we made our way to the starting line, the temperature was a chilly 36 degrees.  There were 866 participants in the race, with 186 running the full, and 680 running the half.  These numbers were up just slightly from last year.

The race was enjoyable as always, but with an added twist…OBNOXIOUS RUNNERS!  There were two girls that ran a good portion of the way with us who were entertaining in the most nauseating way.  One of the chicks had on what could best be described as wrestling tights.  The problem was, she wasn’t one of the Bella Twins.  Additionally, she had a voice that could even crack my thick glasses.  Some of the runners like to thank the police officers for being out there to control the intersections.  Although it is a very nice gesture, they are getting paid to be there: not necessarily working out of the goodness of their hearts.  When this girl thanked each and every officer, it was like nails on a chalkboard.  Their banter was so stupid, it actually scared me that someone could be that much of a dumb ass in real life.  One example that comes to mind was how they contemplated dressing like space monkeys for the Space Coast Marathon (tail and all).

As we made our way onto the University of Florida campus around mile 10, we stopped to take a good amount of pictures.  Crossing the finish line, I was actually sad that the race was over.  The temperature was now 52 degrees, with lots of pizza, Muscle Milk and other goodies to be consumed during our post-race celebration.

Yet another successful trip up to my "home away from home."  Next race...Swamp House Half Marathon. I need to find one more race in either March or April. Any suggestions?








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