I hadn't planned on posting today, but my mind is swirling with information about the brand new inaugural Sarasota Music Half Marathon, so I thought I'd make a quick pre-race post to clear my head here at work.
I think I began to hear the buzz about this race at the beginning on Facebook. Soon after I began hearing about it, I met Heather at Fit2Run running store in downtown Sarasota when the store had its grand opening. I remember offering to be an official blogger for the race, since I had experience with the Cleveland Marathon last year as a guest blogger (and now this year as one of only 15 official bloggers for the Cleveland Marathon). (#clevemarathon #runCLE)
Relying on social media to keep updated with local events, I kept seeing information posted about the Sarasota Music Half Marathon. The first news was that the registration for the race had opened, and then there was information about where packet pick up would be. They did emails where they did "featured athletes" that shared the stories of so many real-life local athletes who had overcome adversity to continue their running. It was really awesome. Next I learned about the people involved with putting this race together and "somehow" along the way I started receiving emails receiving even more race information. (Note: I say "somehow" in quotes knowing I probably signed up for the emails but don't remember.)
More and more information came in and I think everybody in town was getting really excited about this new race. Flash forward to the last couple of weeks and I got an email (or did I see it on Facebook?) where I saw that there were 145 registrations left out of 2,000. Shortly after that, I saw that the race was sold out! An inaugural race capped out at 2,000 participants before the day of packet pickup! Unbelievable! So glad I was in before they sold out!!
So the race was on my calendar but I wasn't thinking much of it other than to hope my IT band problem would resolve before the race.
Then last weekend I was headed up to Orlando for a long weekend to visit my folks and enjoy some "off" time. Of course, for me "off time" means I still continue to check personal emails, blog emails, and social media (much to the dismay of my family). Gratefully so, since I got an email from a company I had done work with in the past asking if I had any interest in blogging on the Sarasota Music Half Marathon! Really? Like I wasn't planning on doing that anyway? Uh......OK! I emailed back immediately and said "YES!!!!!"
Now I want to do more than a casual "race-recap-like-every-other-race" post, and I want to do even more than just a "this-race-was-amazing" post, because now, I want to do a "rece-recap-amazing-race-FANTASTIC-PLACE-TO-LIVE" post. Everything I've ever done in Sarasota (the city) and Sarasota (the county) in the 15 years I've been here since relocating from Cleveland, Ohio is swirling around in my head.
At the end of the day, I guess the "perfect" post will be the one from my heart - as always.
I'm exciting to see the course since I learned we will be heading through Selby Gardens, which is where my amazing son and his beautiful wife were married. It is my understanding that this is the first time a race has ever gone through Selby Gardens, so that's pretty cool too! Selby Gardens is even hosting a spectator zone for the race - so cool!
I can't even begin to share all they will have for this race in this short post. I looked at the Sarasota Music Half Marathon website today and saw they now have 16 different musical bands at 26 locations. They are even going to have a 65-piece marching band and drumline on Ringling Bridge! On Facebook today, I read they are having a "selfie" contest too! Bring your camera, post your "selfies", tag them with #sarasotahalf and someone wins A CASE of Girl Scout cookies! (Wait a minute, don't I run because I eat too many cookies now?)
The medal isn't too shabby either - they revealed it and the shirt and they both look pretty nice. Shirts usually don't fit me so I won't get too excited until I try mine on, but you all know what a Bling freak I am, and I'm already excited about that. Here's a glimpse:
This won't be a race where I'm shooting for a PR for many reasons I've mentioned above: (1) I've been struggling with an IT band issue; (2) the Ringling Bridge is part of the course - twice, (3) there are 16 bands, (4) Selby Gardens, (5) 2,000 participants, and, oh, did I mention Girl Scout Cookies?
Well the list goes on. I didn't even mention the fact that the race is in Sarasota! Our Siesta Key beach was once listed as the 14th best beach in the nation - can't go wrong there. Well, it's Friday and I'm at work. My lunch hour is over. Okay, I'll do my best to help all of you feel like you were at the race if you missed it and maybe next year, if you're lucky, you'll be able to participate in the race too!
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