I Survived a 5K Race!

Tampa, FL, has a unique celebration known as “The Gasparilla Pirate Fest”.  The pirate, Jose Gaspar, invades the City of Tampa with his band of marauding buccaneers.  They enter via Hillsborough Bay in the tall-masted Jose Gasparilla pirate ship (she’s a beauty), with cannons a-boomin’ and flags unfurled.

After capturing the city and receiving the keys from the Mayor, the pirates parade through the streets sharing their trinkets ‘n’ treasures – a time honored tradition since 1904.

The celebration continues for a month with children’s parades, night parades and a great juried art festival.  A famous marathon (the Gasparilla Long-Distance Classic) is held one weekend; along with various shorter races like a 5K (separate events for the race and stroller/walk), 5+3K, 15K and a half marathon.

I thought I’d go ahead and take the plunge to run the 5K race this year.  I use the term *run* loosely since I actually alternate jogging and walking – as do many of the participants.  I did my first 5K walk last spring and decided to try this event this year since the weather is great here right now.  I beat my walk-time by 20 minutes by adding the intermittent jogging.  I was thrilled!  Oh, and by the way, I might be on the couch for a few days …LOL.