Sarasota Half Marathon Relay 2015 Recap

I've run the Sarasota Half Marathon for the past two years.  It's a beautiful course on the water near historic Sarasota.  The dolphin medal is the largest in the area.  This year, I decided to try the half marathon relay.  I invited my sister Patti to run the relay with me on March 15.

We came up with the team name Super Sisters.  I created a quick logo to have printed on matching shirts with our team name on the back.

On race morning, we dressed in our matching running outfits and headed to the start line.  The race started at 7:00 am with temperatures near 70.  I was running the first half over the Ringling bridge twice and Patti would run the second, flatter half.

It was still dark when the race started and I felt a little tired from the half marathon I ran the day before.  For this race, I only had to run 6.2 miles and I wasn't too concerned with time as Patti was nervous about the 6.9 miles she had to run (her longest race distance).  I told her not to worry about time and just feel good about her run. Patti waited with some of my running group friends and then made her way to the transition area.

The Ringling Causeway was killer on the way up but I flew on the way down.  We ran around St. Armand's circle and back over the Ringling Causeway bridge.  There were lots of little inclines here and there and I was glad Patti didn't have to run these as a newbie runner.  I met Patti in the transition area where we exchanged the timing ankle band and my Garmin.  I was so glad to be running the relay this year!!

The transition area was about a quarter mile from the finish, situated so the relay partners ran and finished the last portion together. I started to watch for Patti about an hour later. Luckily, I had some friends to pass the time with.

I was excited when I saw Patti approach the transition area.  She was doing fantastic with a nice pace.

I asked how she was doing and got a little emotional as we rounded the last corner together with the finish line in sight.

I was proud of my little sister for following through and finishing strong.

We both had a great race and pushed ourselves until the end.  I loved all the race photos and they were free this year!



Suncoast Striders' Relay Teams

Overall Place: 105/285
Female Place: 46/159
5K: 30:45 - 9:54 min/mi
10K (relay transition): 1:03:37 - 10:15 min/mi
15K: 1:32:55 - 9:59 min/mi
Chip Finish time: 2:18:03 - 10:33 min/mi

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the Tampa Bay Bloggers, I was given a race entry.  All opinions are my own.