half marathon training, knee pain, moving forward

Gasparilla half marathon, 2019

Movin' it with Michelle

My husband I decided shortly after running the Disney wine and dine half marathon that we wanted to run another half. We hadn’t properly trained for that half due to good old general life, so we thought, “Let’s do it right this time.” We signed up for the Gasparilla half marathon and started training shortly there after. I had a good 6 or 7 weeks of training until NYE came, and I came down with a 5 week case of bronchitis. I only made it to a 9 mile long run, and I was nervous going in to this race.

We went out to eat with some of our neighborhood runners last night, and after several hiccups in the evening, we didn’t get home until 10 PM. Not ideal when we still had to finish laying our stuff out for the race, AND we had a 3:30 wake up call this morning.

But, we got our outfits laid out, and the morning went off without a hitch. I took my Novorenew (get yours by using discount code of Michelle25 at check out; click link) which I’ve found to help my knee and joint pain tremendously since I’ve started taking it!!! I highly recommend it. We arrived at the convention center within 45 minutes, and had plenty of time to park, apply sunscreen, and do last minute adjustments before meeting up with our neighbors who were also running the race.

Our sub-2 neighbors took off for their corral, and we went to ours to line up to start. I had already given my blessing to my husband to run his own race, so shortly after the start gun went off an we made it about a quarter of a mile in, and he smiled and waved and I was running my own race.

I’ve gone back and forth with solo running, sometimes loving it, and sometimes hating it because I get stuck inside my own head when I am alone, and every now and then I can’t get unstuck. Today, thankfully, wasn’t that day. While I am not the runner I once was, and running in Florida heat is rough, I know eventually I’ll get my speed back.

The race was well organized, had some great spots for spectators, and I even got the high five Meb at around the 8 mile mark, as well as getting a photo with him at the end. Official finish time was 2:31 which is far from my best, but definitely not my worst.

Here’s some photos from the day!!

How was your weekend? Do you have any joint or knee problems? Please click the link above if you do! This stuff is life changing. What’s your favorite distance to run?

Cheers and keep movin’ forward!!

Michelle.

Published by Movin' it with Michelle

My name is Michelle and I am a retired Air Force Master Sergeant. I have found a passion for running, cooking, writing, photography and all things that move my love for life! I've ran 3 full marathons, with a PR of 4:25, and 17 half marathons with a PR of 2:00:11 (yup-missed sub 2 by 11 seconds, lol). Thanks for joining me on my journey!

33 thoughts on “Gasparilla half marathon, 2019”

  1. Awe, I love the medal! It was really humid this morning so I know the weather wasn’t the best. Did you like the course? I think I need to try that stuff for my knee. Congratulations to you and Brian! Way to go you two. Xoxo

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    1. If you’d like to try it again please feel free to use my code. I’m super excited to be an affiliate for this company and will be posting more about it. Please share with your friends as well!! I loved the course even though the first 5-6 miles were pretty dark lol.

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  9. Pingback: Exciting opportunity – Movin' it with Michelle

  12. I haven’t been a runner for a few years now. My feet are my problem. I’ve already had surgery once on my left foot and if I was to continue running, I’d need surgery again for a new problem that arose. I had been warned it was likely going to happen, but we hope, don’t we? As we get older, our bodies become a lot less forgiving.

    Great that you have found something that works for your bad knee. I miss the excitement of race day at a new venue. I had friends running Gasparilla too and they would have been in your corral. I scanned the background in your photos thinking it would have been too funny if I had seen them 🙂

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  14. Awesome! Looks and sounds like it was a great experience and race! I’ve got another half coming up at the end of this month that I have run a few times and haven’t thought much about – now you got me more excited for it!

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  15. Pingback: A good day to run!!! Belated weekend wrap up! – Movin' it with Michelle
  17. Pingback: 2019 recap – Movin' it with Michelle

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