2nd Annual Florida Halloween Halfathon 13.1 Review

2nd Annual Florida Halloween Halfathon 13.1 Review

This weekend was the 2nd Annual Florida Halloween Halfathon at Ft Desoto FL.  This event is put on by the Florida Gulf Beaches Road Races and is part of a four part race series.  This company always hosts fantastic races.

Ft Desoto Beach

This race was held at Fort Desoto Beach which is located at the southern tip of St Petersburg.  This beach is one of the best in the world.  The beach was given the honor as top beach in America by Dr Beach.  In 2008 and 2009 Fort De Soto Park was named America's Top Beach by TripAdvisor.

The Family

This was the very first time our family ran a half marathon together.  This was my stepson’s very first 13.1mile race.  He had a good time and did well for his first race. He's hooked and wants to do more. 

Triston with his bling

 My Race Results

I ran this race naked (i.e. without the assistance of my Garmin).  My Garmin watch went dead even before the race started.  As I ran I tried to team up with someone who was about my pace.  I started running with some ultra-distance runners (my first mistake).  They were hanging at a nice pace but slowly sped up to an 8:45.  I stayed with them till mile 8.  Then I had to slow down.  Later I paced off another runner who was trying to break the 2 hour mark.  My goal for the season was to break the two hour mark so I tried to hang with her.

This is an absolutely flat race.  No hills, bridges or banked roads.  It is a perfect race to PR.  Last year I sent my PR (2:06:01) at this race.  This year I blasted my PR with a 1:56:29 and an 8:55 pace.  Yippie!!

Race Review (Race Grade A)

All the races “Florida Gulf Beaches Road Races” hosts are great.

Lets start with the most important thing first. The after race food is was great.  This race they had Fig Newtons, cookies, pretzels, bananas, croissants, mini muffins, penne pasta with meatballs, water, various sodas, FREE BEER and much more.  During the race they supplied you with water and Gatoraid.

The Spread

The race is held in one of the nicest beaches in the US so the scenery is great.  It is also nice to go to the beaches after the race.  They also have a huge dog part and a gorgeous dog beach.

The medals are really cool also (see below).  They are a running Halloween starfish.  They also gave out additional medals (3 deep) for all age groups

The Cool Medal

I only have two complaints about this race.  1) Some additional water stops would have been nice.  2) There were no timers along during the race.

This is absolutely great race!! I highly recommend it to everyone!!

Below are photos of some of the costumes from the race.

Mrs Captain America

Cool Clown

The Flash

"Hot" Hooters "Girls"

Old Ladies?

Bonnie as a Bar Maid

Chewie as a squirrel

Triston as a Mad Banana (I love the pouty face)

Mr Half TRI-ing

The scariest costume...