Lemon Meringue Pie with Tomatoes and Sour Cream - Gasparilla 15k & 8k Weekend February 28 2023

Due to some work events that I couldn't avoid, I wasn't able to take all of Friday off, but only the afternoon. I got home by about 12:15, threw our bags in the car, and were on the road by 12:45. We picked up our typical Circle K and McDonalds to eat on the way. Traffic was crazy, with a huge back-up from were a semi truck hit the overpass near Ocala last week. 

We got to Tampa around 3:45 and were able to park in the little waterfront area that's usually blocked off. I got my shirts, bib,  and bag, and picked up a little extra swag at the Expo, before heading back the car to find our VRBO. 

So awkward, but look at that calf muscle!

Picked up a cooling towel

Our apartment for the weekend was on the 3rd floor of a nice apartment complex, with one bedroom, a bathroom, large kitchen, a small balcony, and living area. 

Dining Room, Living Room              Balcony               Living Room, Kitchen

After unpacking and chilling out for a while, we headed over to Village Inn for dinner. Yeah, it's where old people go for tuna salad and pie... you got a problem with that? Hubby got a Club Sandwich (he's not even a member!) and I opted for a French Toast Combo. I've never had French Toast made with Arnold Italian Bread with Sesame Seeds, but now I have. And I'd rather not have it again any time soon, if ever. 

While we waited for our food, we talked about what to do this weekend. We kicked around the idea of going to Adventure Island on Sunday when I'm do so that I could relax for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, AI is closed until March (literally, it opens a few days from now). 

As we ate our meal, we perused the Pie Menu for what we wanted to take back to our apartment, and I got a serious case of the giggles when I saw "Lemon Supreme Pie." 

Sadly, they were out of Peanut Butter Pie!

What makes it supreme, I asked the server? Is it Taco Bell-style, with tomatoes and sour cream? She was confused and had no idea why it was so funny. But dammit, it was funny! Or I was just tired... We brought home a slice of Lemon Meringue (no tomatoes or sour cream for me), and a slice of French Silk Pie for him. I soaked the day away in a bubble bath then laid out my gear for the morning. I set my multiple alarms, chilled out with Twitter, and eventually fell asleep. 

My alarm went off at 4:30am, and I rolled out of bed around 5. As I've come to expect, my body was unhappy (nauseated, poop-ish, etc). I drank some juice on the couch, hit the bathroom, then woke hubby up at 5:30. We got to the parking garage at 6:20 and headed over to the start line. After crossing the start line, I met hubby past the fences and we walked together to Publix, where I took off with the crowd. I decided, this year, to not take as many photos, so I don't have any half-assed Mile Marker photos (if you want to see the course and mile markers, please see my blog for previous years' recaps). 

Me and all my crazy friends

The first mile sucked, but I was feeling better after the second mile. I didn't have my inhaler this time around, and I wondered if I was going to regret it (nope!). The Rough Riders were out giving away Krispy Kreme donuts, but they were stale, so I only ate half of mine before throwing it away (I know, donut sacrilege!) Also, there were no beads this year.

 

Florida sunrises are hard to beat

They probably picked these up last night, so they're stale and funky

I kept going, feeling okay, but I was already sweaty before Mile 2, and that didn't bode well for the rest of the race. I sucked down a Honey Stinger around Mile 4, made it to the Halfway Sign, then down Gandy and back. 

Public Service Announcement - 
Do not stop to tie your shoe in the middle of the race course!

Time for fuel

I am so freakin' sweaty!

Halfway done! 

Heading back toward the finish, I was on the Bay side, where there was no shade, and boy oh boy, it's gonna get hot. There was a pod of dolphins out in the Bay that kept me entertained for a while. I wish there'd been more mister fans on the course, but the five or ten they had available were very welcome. 

It's too hot for a shirt, so congratulations on seeing my tummy

Around Mile 7, my heart got up to the 170s, so I had to stop and just walk. I was hoping that after 10 minutes, it would go back down, but it never really did. For reference, for my age, I really should keep my HR between 111 and 175. 

Data from my Garmin

Info on what my HR should be 
(I would have considered this run/walk more "Moderate Intensity"!)

It seemed like it took forever to get back to the 5k turn-around area, which signifies that I have about a mile and a half left to go.

A little anachronism, with Rough Riders and Stormtroopers

Oh thank God, only .3 miles to go

I got shunned to the sidewalks at the 5k turn around, and I got passed by plenty of 5k runners, but I finally - finally - finished! A little lightheaded and ready to pass out, but I finished. I met up with hubby, got my finisher medal, an icy-cold wet towel, some water, and a handful of Cheez-Its before slowly limping my way back to the car. 

Those are all 5k folks; we have to stay in the bike lane with the cones

I'm ready to go home

Back in the apartment, I took a hot bath then passed out in bed for an hour or so before heading to brunch at Mom's Place. Even though I was driving toward pancakes, I still wolfed down a bag of Cheez-Its and a bottle of Gatorade while I was in the car. I then demolished a plate of pancakes, bacon, and eggs! I was worried that it wouldn't be as good as last year, but I'm happy to report it was just as good, if not better. I picked up a soda on the way back to the apartment, took another nap, had some quality time with Hubby, then had an amazingly healthy dinner of Cheez-Its, Slim-Jims, and pie. I knew I'd regret this dinner, but I didn't care!

On Sunday, I slept in until about 7:30 before getting dressed and heading over to the race. I was almost to the parking garage when I realized that I left Nathan (my water bottle) in the freezer at the apartment... Dammit!! I had frozen him overnight because I knew it was going to be so freakin' hot today. So, today I'll be water-free and inhaler-free... wonder how this will go?  

Luckily, there was this huge Zephyrhills water dispenser by the finish line, so I was able to get a cup of water and fill up my Gatorade bottle to bring with me on the race instead. 

I guess warm water is better than no water

On the up side, if I want to stop carrying water with me, I won't have to give up Nathan

Race #2, Let's Go!

So many more participants than yesterday's race

I put on my interval timer and tried to do as many as possible, but I just didn't feel the drive to push myself. Nothing really interesting happened along the route, lol. I did a Honey Stinger at Mile 1, drank all my Gatorade, drank all my water, and finished just over my goal time... I came in at 1:31:58, which is the slowest I've done this, just edging out 2020's time of 1:31:54. (Interestingly, it's only 6 minutes or so slower than my fastest 8k so it's not like I'm a total turtle!)

(... they lied)

Halfway!

Cool photo, but kind of looks like I'm giving the bird to the sign

As I did yesterday, I got my medals, towel, water, and (god-tier snack) Cheez-Its and went back to the car. 

Clang Clang, Baby

I was feeling relatively good today! No cramps, no extra tiredness, no walking funny. I soaked the miles away in another bath, and then Twittered while we decided what to do for lunch. We ended up at Jason's Deli, home of delicious deli sandwiches, but some seriously questionable macaroni & cheese. 

Watery yet velvety (?) Mac & Cheese with Half Ham & Swiss Sandwich

Seriously, it's nasty. Don't ever, ever, ever get this as your side dish. I can't even describe what was wrong with it, except that it doesn't have any artificial dyes or colors, no artificial flavors, no MSG, and not HFCS. And apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like it, at least according to their Facebook page! 

 

Lots of people accusing them of just using Kraft Mac & Cheese

After lunch, we wanted to be touristy so we headed west, over the new Gateway Expressway. Interestingly, I watched the TV show Dirty Jobs a while back, and I saw that Mike was working on some random overpass in Tampa, FL. I didn't realize until I was writing this that most likely, THIS was the overpass we drove over! How cool! But then it got even cooler, because as I was driving, things started looking very familiar and I realized that I was in my old neighborhood (I lived here until I was a junior in high school)! We took an unexpected Trip Around My Childhood drive through my neighborhood, past my elementary, middle, and high schools, the local Little League fields, etc. It was fun to share that history with Hubby. 

We explored John's Pass Village after parking in an absolutely frightening parking garage. What a waste of $3! Why do people come here again? It always seemed to be such a thing that everyone did when I was a kid. 

Everything smelled like dead fish, the water was green, and too many, well, tourists

Next, we spent some time at Madeira Beach to enjoy a gorgeous Florida Gulf Coast sunset. The water was colder than I would like, but I still got in (dragged in) up to my chest, and we cuddled in the waves for a bit, then I went back to the car for my camera for some sunset photos. 

Thank you, Random Stranger, for your silhouette

Obligatory Mom & Dad Photo

Back at the apartment, we changed out of our swimsuits and decided to hit up Long John Silver's for dinner. It was a bit of a drive, but we got there around 8:45 and damn if the doors weren't locked up for the night! To heck with you, forbidden shrimp! We went over to Steak & Shake instead, and got some real "post-Covid" service... We had to order at a kiosk because there were no seaters or servers. They called our number and we had to go up and get our own food. There was basically no Customer Service to be found, and we all know that Steak & Shake wasn't all that high on the Customer Service to begin with! I got a Dr. Pepper refill to go, but it tasted like soap, so I dumped it out the window. We settled in back at the apartment for our final night, exhausted as hell, and fell asleep quite quickly. 

Monday morning, we slept in and snuggled until 9:30 or so, still trying to figure out something fun to do on our last day. I was on the laptop and he was on his tablet. He leaned over and said, hey, do you know that Sea World has a water park?! Oh, yeah! Aquatica! I forgot about that place! I looked it up and we could get tickets for $54 each, so what the hell, let's do it! We packed up, cleaned up as required per the VRBO owner, gassed up the car, got some caffeine and stopped at the nearby Krystal for lunch. I'm not a huge fan of Krystal, but I always liked their Corn Pups. Well, this Krystal, apparently, has Corn Doggos (full-size corn dogs). I ordered two, because I thought they were small (I was expecting Puppers), so I was stuffed as we drove to Orlando via Interstate 4. 

Okay, can someone please explain to me what the actual fuck is wrong with the State Road 27 "Champions Gate" area on I-4? Why the slowdown? We lost 30 minutes because of slowdowns for no visible reason (and judging by comments I've seen on the internet). And honestly, it all kind of went downhill from here... 

We didn't get to Aquatica until about 2pm, and we still had to pay for parking. Which was thirty freakin' dollars! for an old beat-up parking lot with no attendants or anything (Hell, it's only $25 at Disney!) But we paid it anyway, parked the car, and headed in. Thankfully we paid for our tickets online, because tickets at the door were $98!!! Then, locker rental was another $20 (only $12 at Disney). So, just to park and put our stuff in a metal cube, it was fifty bucks... Lord. 

After we changed into our bathing suits and stashed our stuff, we went looking for the Lazy River. It was closed. But they had a "not so lazy" river called Roa's Rapids Fast Lazy River, so we headed over there. There was a huge pile of life vests next to it, but we had no idea what they were for, so we went looking for tubes. Oh... no tubes (because it's fast); we were supposed to wear the vests. Back in (with these terrible vests), I'll admit it WAS fun. We went around a few times before getting out to ride Ray Rush and Walhalla Wave. Oh, wait... Walhalla is closed. Ray Rush, though, was amazing! It was one of those slides that empties into a half-pipe. I'd totally do that one over and over! Walhalla opened while we were in line for RR, so we went back up to do WW. It was fun, but not as good as Ray Rush. 

I found the balls to ride Reef Plunge, a body slide where you go through a dolphin habitat. While I was standing in line alone (hubby skipped this one), I was behind a family with a few teenagers, and they were saying how weird it was to be at a water park in February, because it was -2 at home, wherever they lived. I giggled internally, wondering where they were from? The ride wasn't what I was hoping for, unfortunately. Since I had my contacts in, and the ride was so fast, I couldn't keep my eyes open to see the habitat I was sliding through, so it was a total waste for me.  

We walked by a few other slides, watching much younger people have much more fun than us, and hubby lamented that he was bummed. He was tired of climbing so many stairs! He was having fun, but his legs wanted to have none of it. I agreed, having had the same thoughts as I was in line at Reef Plunge; waterparks are a Young Person's entertainment! I'm too tired to do all this work! I made a deal with him to do one more tube ride (aka one more "climb the damn stairs" ride), and then we'd finish in the river. 

Since we're fat, we each had to ride single tubes on Whanau Way. He's not a fan of single tubes, because he's really clumsy when it's time to get out of them! This ride was fine, but kind of boring. Ray Rush was definitely the best ride of the day. I came down the slide first, and then him, and damn if he didn't screw up getting out of the tube! He scraped his knee pretty bad on the bottom of the pool, about the size of a quarter. We went around the river a few more times before the park closed and we had to get out. While going around, I enticed him with the idea of fried food and ice cream for dinner. 

We slathered it with Neosporin when we got home

We hit up the locker rooms, and damn, it was busy! It felt like 9th grade gym class with ladies hogging all of the changing stalls and showers. I ended up just getting dressed in a toilet stall because I didn't want to wait (and none of them looked like they were in a hurry at all). 

Back in the car, I pointed the Garmin to Friendly's which ended up being only 10 minutes away. Because we wanted to save room for ice cream, we ordered a single meal of chicken tenders & fries to share, and our amazing waitress and the crew in the back split it across two plates for us (and it was probably more food than we would have gotten on a single plate, too). The fries and chicken were good, but the ranch tasted like soap, which I just kind of muttered to myself. Hubs heard me, and realized it was the second time in a few days that I said something tasted like soap. He googled why that might happen, and Teh Intarwebz™ said it could be the aftermath of a sinus infection that has screwed up my taste buds... and don't you know, I just HAD a sinus infection! So I guess I need to do more research on how to reset my taste buds or something (ETA: My buds are fine now, nothing is soapy). 

More importantly, we got sundaes for dessert (and it didn't taste like soap). He got vanilla ice cream, peanut butter sauce, hot fudge, whipped cream, and chocolate sprinkles. I got cookie dough ice cream, Reese's Pieces, Kit-Kat pieces, and whipped cream. It was good, but too much. And that's a problem with how I like to eat my ice cream... I like Vanilla + Reese's Pieces, but nothing much else goes well with that combo. And I like Vanilla + Caramel sauce, but nothing else I like goes together with that... I'm too freakin' picky, I suppose. 

Peanut Butter Sundae  ~~~  Chicken Fingers  ~~~  Reeses Kat Sundae

With full bellies, we got gas and picked up a soda for the road at Wawa, then headed home. We were home and unpacked by 9:30, and I was in bed, exhausted and sore, by 9:45! I took some time to reset all of our scheduled automations (turning Roomba back on, for example) and then called it a night. I unfortunately have a 9am meeting tomorrow, but it's by Zoom, so I only need to look presentable for an hour, and then I work from home the rest of the day (jammies, baby!)