Run Tampa

Run Tampa Rocks at the Ranch Run 5k and Air Force Marathon

Great, great morning for Run Tampa. Jen Lanterman was the first overall female, and Linda Rush was second. Linda also took first place in the female master's division. Jenni Salemi took 5th overall and won her age group, and Christina Chabrier took 6th overall and won her age group. Of course, they all set PR's, too.
The PR's didn't stop there, though. Carla Cervantes dropped time again after setting a 2 minute PR just last week. And Pat Bunce also PR'ed as well.

Mark Davis took 2nd in his age group, Denis Karaijac took third in his age group, and Mark Radulich and Bruce Le both PR'd.

Oh, and while we ran through Temple Terrace, Run Tampa's Tori Williams and Dan Moss represented in Ohio at the Air Force Marathon. Good job, gentlemen!

 
 
 

Run Tampa's First Travel Race Will be the Jax Bank Marathon and Half

While we suffer through the hot summer months, here's something cooler to think about:

The first Run Tampa Travel Race will be the Jacksonville Bank Marathon, Half and 5k on December 18th. It's a nice, medium-sized flat, fast race, which starts at the Bolles School and finishes in the stadium. This race has an excellent reputation, and since I've done it, I can vouch for that.

I already know of several Run Tampa people doing it as their first full, and I'm sure there will be some doing it as their first half. Register now and gtive direction to all your training between now and then.

More details to come.

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Join us tomorrow, Saturday, at Trout Creek at 7 a.m. for a lovely trail run. Mother Nature is calling your name. If you haven't done any trail running, you will be amazed at how much cooler it is on the trails, even at that time of the morning. Details were in the weekly newsletter. If you're not receiving it, register in the blue box. That always provides directions to the group runs and all the particulars.

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Join the Run Tampa Women's Half Marathon Team. Register by May 31st and use the coupon code

TEAMSAVEFL (case sensitive) to register as a team member and receive $10 off half marathon registration. This offer expires on May 31, 2011.  Registration prices increase on May 31 as well.  If you use the team code before the deadline and registration increase, you will save $15!

Go to Active.com to register. Click the 'Team' category, and then click Run Tampa in the drop-down menu. Let's have the biggest team. All speeds are invited, even if it's your first half, that's fine. The bigger the group, the better.

Dana's First Marathon

Today begins a new category for this blog. It will be called 'First Person'. I invite members of the running community to write posts about their running adventures. Whether it's your first marathon or your fiftieth, whether you have a tale about bandaging a blistered toe with a wet leaf or stopping at a nail salon during the Chicago Marathon to get your nails done (due to unbelievably inclement weather) the rest of us really do get a kick out of hearing your story. If you've got a tale to tell, email it to me at the link to the right. And if you have a photo to accompany your story, that's even better.

Dana Felice is our first contributor. Dana was the Race Director for last summer's extremely successful inaugural First Step Summer Series, and she is Race Director for Take the First Step's upcoming MADD Dash Resolution Run on Dec. 27th. Thanks, Dana.

I’ve been training for the past six months with the primary goal of running my first marathon in December in Jacksonville. I’ve completed a schedule of track, tempo runs, long runs and recovery runs.  Many marathon runners cap their long runs at 20 miles but my coach believes that going over 20 builds strength and confidence. 

The timing of the Alafia X-Country Marathon was perfect because it was exactly 4 weeks before Jacksonville. Also, the plan was to run at an easier long run pace versus an all out race pace. I’d already completed several 20, 22 and even a 24 mile long run so I thought it wouldn’t be too hard to add 2 more miles to complete a marathon.

I’m usually nervous before races but I was really excited to run Alafia because I wanted to get in a good training run. I intentionally left my technology in my race bag. I usually race with my Garmin but I left it behind so I wouldn’t worry about my pace. I’ve been weaning myself off my iPod so I left that in the race bag as well. It’s a small race so about a hundred 30k (18.6 miles) and marathon runners started at 7:30 am in sunshine and mid 40’s temperatures. My coach Lynn Gray started with me the first mile.  I have a tendency to start fast and she warned me to slow down.