To begin with, they publish a race guide that has everything you need to know about the race weeks before the race. You are emailed a link to the guide and they post it on social media. The local news promotes it and even does a special weather report geared towards the race. This race definitely has a lot of local support!

The expo was full of vendors, samples, and fun! Even Meb showed up for the fun- it’s always a good expo when you get to meet an Olympian! I never do gear drop off, but that was available at the expo too.

The swag… the half marathoners get a long sleeve tech shirt, and I LOVE the colors and design!! The colors are bright and of course Pepperjack, the parrot, is on the shirt. We also got a nice tech hat 🧢 and a bottle opener.

Race morning…I was worried about traffic and parking since this race has 18,000+ runners. But, there was no traffic and parking was super easy. The garage I parked at, the Fort Brooke Garage, was empty and was a short walk to the start/finish line. The convention center was open that morning with plenty of clean bathrooms- no porta potties necessary 🎉 The start line was crowded and started in waves. For as many people that there was, it was very organized. I started near the back since I was post injury and not looking to PR, and I started maybe 15 mins after the first wave, not terrible.

The race course itself was a fast, fairly flat, course. The course was along the water for a few miles and in neighborhoods. I even saw a dolphin when running by the water 🐬 There wasn’t a huge amount of crowd support along the course or entertainment, but the crowd that did show up was fun and energetic. Since there’s an option to have your name on your bib if you sign up early, it was pretty cool to hear the crowd yelling your name. My only suggestion for improvement would be to hire bands/DJs to pump the runners up during the race. Not a huge deal, obviously, but it would make it a little bit more fun. 🤩

The weather.. the weather was perfect! Not too hot and not too cold and sunny ☀️ It was 54 at the start.

The bling…. The medal was ginormous! The medal is big and heavy! The medal is a skull with a parrot on the top. They really paid attention to detail by putting the 13.1 on an eye patch on the skull and having a parrot earring. Very creative!

The after party… they had lots of yummy snacks after the race! Along with the usual water, Gatorade, and 🍌 they also had cheez-it’s and pringles. Cheez-it’s never tasted so good! 😋

I would definitely recommend this race if you’re looking for a February race!

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