St Pete Women's Half Marathon

St Petersburg FL 2010

CHIPTIME:   3:24:53

4756 finishers

Largest Age Group:  35-39 (842)

My Age Group:  45-49  (556/633)

Oldest Runner: 76  (3:22:26)

Youngest Runners:  12, 13, 14

This is a superb event!  Well managed, well sponsored (many, many kudos to Publix) and as runner friendly as any event could possibly be.

I signed up for this race several months ago with the intention of training prior to race day.  Several unforeseen events prevented me from training thus my choices were to forgo the event or walk it.  I chose to walk (all but 1.5 miles) and never regretted a minute of it.  At present, I'm not in it to compete, I'm in it to complete.  The course was open and monitored (cordoned off) for 4.5 hours.  Runners passed through Demens Landing Park, Vinoy Park, The Pier, Snell Isle, Crisp Park, around part of Tampa Bay, around Mirror Lake, inside Tropicana Field, and START / FINISH in front of Mahaffey Theater.

Even though this is listed as an all women's event, men do register and run it.  Last year 138 men posted results and this year is about the same.  It was actually not a noticeable occurrence, with all the volunteers, security and race staff, the genders present were fairly equal everywhere except the track itself.  I truly enjoyed the fact that is was predominantly women as it produces a far less competitiveness and LOTS of PINK!!

On that note, I will mention the marathons (half and full) are all about the "bling" and WRM did not skimp on this aspect.  Ladies received designer goodie bags, v-neck hot pink tech tees, Publix running towels and hot pink banded, palm tree laden, oval charm included, medals!!

Looking forward to future races with Women's Running Magazine!