Gasparilla Distance Weekend 2026

It's my favorite race weekend of the year! Time to go down to Tampa for Gasparilla! 

On Friday, I originally planned to get an early start (around 10am) so that we could stop for lunch at Long John Silver's in Ocala, but of course, that didn't happen, so instead we picked up Arby's on the way out of town, stuffing ourselves silly with too much roast beef and mozzarella sticks. 

The drive was uneventful, and the VRBO was easy to find. The neighborhood was a little sketchy with really narrow roads, but there was off-street parking so I didn't have to worry about getting sideswiped. The house itself looked like a 20-something with a small budget decorated it. Like, it was cute, and you could tell that they tried but there were far too many "Live, Laugh, Love" type stickers on the walls, and not enough usable furniture. They went for Instagram-able (and missed) instead of Livable. The bed was comfy, though, and the couch was a definite butt-sucker, so even though it was a little tacky, the house was perfectly fine. 

While Hubby settled in and put stuff away, I made my way to the expo for Packet Pickup. I had zero issues getting the correct shirts that I requested (and never had to pay extra for) as well as my hoodie (new swag!). I'm happy that the hoodie fits well, though I wish it was a tad bigger/sloppier. Maybe with a few washes, it'll soften up a bit. 

Back at the VRBO, I'm sure we ate dinner, but I can't remember what it was, lol. I set out all my gear for the next morning, then took a hot bath. With some snacks, we curled up in bed to snuggle and play on our phones.

Saturday morning came far too quickly, and I woke up early to gear up, tape up, and eat up, before waking him up to head to the start line. Coming toward the race area via Channelside was beautiful! All the trees had little twinkle lights in them, and the cruise ships were lined up, ready for another day. Unfortunately, coming from this direction made it a little more difficult to get to the parking garage, and we were cutting time super close as we headed toward the start line! I think I got to the corrals while they were playing the National Anthem, yipes! 

Tired but ready to go!

There were some people handing out free samples of Celsius so I grabbed a Fizz-Free Blueberry Lemonade - I figured the caffeine would be helpful, and if it was gross, I could leave it right there. It was actually pretty good... no funky "energy drink" aftertaste, and I think I drank pretty much the whole thing. 

Am I an "Energy Drink Girlie" now?

I met Hubby after the start line and we walked to the Publix, then he peeled off and I was alone with 15,000 of my best friends. I settled into my pace, just walking today, and trying something new, I pulled up a podcast instead of music. (Spoiler alert, I liked the podcast idea!) I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise, and nibbled on the (stale) donut from The Rough Riders. 

They must get them the night before... they're stale

I made it to the Halfway Split (about 4.55 miles) under 90 minutes. My estimated finish time was 2:45. And yes, I know that's slow. 

Thumbs Up for Being Slow

My biggest fear for this race every year is being shunned to the sidewalk on the way back. There's a certain point where they'll put you on the sidewalk so that they can open the roads, and you have to stay there until you get to the 5k Turn-Around point. I've been shunned before, but this time, I made it! I got to stay on the road the entire time, which felt like such a huge win for me for some reason. 

5k Turn Around

The first 5k runner didn't even get to the Turn-Around point until after I passed it, which was rare. Either he was slow or I was faster than usual... who knows? But soon, the hoards of bodies were coming my way, and I had to hug the curb to ensure that I didn't get run over. Thankfully, none of them were really rude this time around...there've been some years where speedy folks (usually young men) will practically run me over because I'm in their way, I guess? Like, do you not see me up here? I'm huge! You can't miss me! 

Here they come!

I crossed the finish line, feeling good, with an official time of 2:50:31 (18:18 pace). 3,717th overall finisher, out of 3,755 total finishers (I beat 38 people!) 255th in my age group (out of 259). 

I got my medal and my finisher towel, then I got a kiss from my hot husband, and then grabbed some snacks on the way off the bridge (Froot Loops in a bag, Gatorade, etc). 

After a hot bath and some quality time with the massage gun back at the house, we headed over to Long John Silver's for lunch, then went to a place called Mr. Putter's Miniature Golf, which was the coolest putt-putt place we've been to so far! It's an inside course, but not one of those over-hyped blacklight course. They have 3 courses with good obstacles, not just humps and dips. One hole is Twister-themed, where you have to spin the wheel and do what it says. One hole is chess-themed, and one player can set up large chess pieces as obstacles for the other player. One hole is Skee-Ball-themed. And so many others. But my absolute favorite was this cool Wall Hole Puzzle Thing (does this have a name?) You put your ball in the wooden diamond, and drag it up a wall full of holes. If you get it to the top of the wall, it will roll it over to a Plinko-style board where your ball will bounce down. If you lose your ball into one of the lower holes, it will come down onto the green (black?). I went first, and damn if I didn't just LOCK IN to this thing like solving it was the only thing that mattered. It was like discovering a superpower I didn't know I had! And yes, I got it all the way to the top. Because I'm awesome. 

I am LOCKED IN (and I think I'm supposed to stay on the white dot)

Hubby went next, and while he enjoyed the task as well, I don't think he was as INTO IT as I was. I mean, even after we cleared the hole, I went back and did the wall again! It was fun!

He loved it as well

We did all three courses then headed back to the VRBO - I was exhausted! And I still have a second race to go. 

My Sunday race starts later than Saturday, so I was able to sleep in a little bit before heading to the race. As we walked by Hattrick's, we saw a HUGE crowd outside, watching the United States Men's Ice Hockey Team play the Canadian Men's Ice Hockey Team (and subsequently kicking their asses in OT). 

USA! USA!! USA!!!

Skies were grey as I made my way to the start corral (I left hubby at Publix), and I was hopeful that we might get a little drizzle to cool us down. 

Race 2, I got this

Within 2 minutes of starting, the drizzle started. So refreshing, cutting the heat we were dealing with. Then the wind started kicking up, too, and I knew that we'd be getting more than just that drizzle. 

Oh lawd, it's comin'

Since it was wet, I didn't take a lot of photos this time around, but I'd estimate that the heavy rain started by Mile 1 or 2. It was pouring here in the Halfway There photo. 

Everyone is soaked at this point

It came and went over the next mile, then came back with a vengeance near Mile 4. My halfway split (about 2.45 miles) was under 44 minutes, and my estimated finish time was 1:27. I saw this one guy using his entire brain, covering himself with a large piece of cardboard (leftover from a water stop). 

Think smart, not fast

All I had was my hat, so I enjoyed the bounty that God provided for us, and danced in the rain instead. 

Florida rain comes and goes

Thankfully, the rain ended before I got to the finish line, but by then I was absolutely soaked to the bone! My official finish time was 1:31:22 (18:23 pace). I was 3,038th out of 3,181 total runners, and 234th in my age group out of 244 runners. Because of all the rain and wind, I was not mad at that finish time. 

I got my medals and towels, then headed toward the snack tables. I ended up sweet-talking one of the volunteers in giving me an entire case of individual bags of Frosted Flakes! (Future Lazy here from July - I'm still eating Frosted Flakes, lol). 

Why do I always lean?

Over the course of the weekend, I came in 230th for the Michelob Infuse Challenge (15k + 8k together), out of 235 total participants. 

Official Results

Back at the VRBO I peeled of my soaking wet clothes, indulged in another hot bath, had some snacks, and relaxed on the couch for a few hours. As expected, I was getting blisters on my heels, but I noticed that one of my toes was hurting and I assumed it was because my toe - with a longer than needed toenail - was being squished against the front of the toe box when I walked. 

We went over to Yard House for an early dinner around 5pm. I was hoping that eating early would mean that it wasn't busy, but no luck there... it was full and loud and busy. I ate too much chicken, hubby ate too much cheeseburger, and we rolled ourselves back to the VRBO to enjoy some extended snuggling. 

Monday morning meant it was finally time for one of my favorite parts of coming to Tampa... a trip (or two) to La Segunda Bakery. We stopped first at the flagship store in Ybor for treats to bring home. We didn't go as insane as we have in the past, but I still brought home three loaves of Cuban bread, some cookies, a pound cake, and 2-3 other pastries. Then we went over to a different La Segunda on Kennedy Boulevard, to have our sit-down lunch - I got a Cuban (of course!) and he got the 1915 Club again. Both were delicious, both were too big, and both became our dinner when we got home. 

We made a pit stop at Russell Stover, and, well... the shit went off the rails. I've talked about the Russell Stover Outlet before, but in case you're new here, the RSO is a store in Wildwood that is part "Real Store" and part "Clearance Rack" in the back. We go for the clearance stuff. It's typically leftover candy from whatever the last season was (so for this trip, it was mostly Christmas candy and some really leftover Halloween candy). Each season usually has some specific flavors that we like - Christmas has peppermint, for example. Halloween has pumpkin (ew). Easter might have marshmallow or coconut (ew). Christmas and Easter are my two favorite holidays, because of the candy offered, so we try to stop for at least one season, if not two. 

Anyway, we always think we're going to behave and get a little handbasket, but within 10 minutes, we swap out for a cart! To be fair, it's easier to see what I'm getting and what he's getting if we can split it up in the cart.

Photo: Courtesy of Anonymous Yelp Reviewer

We each picked up a little bit here and a little bit there as we walked around the big room until... there it was... a full case of their gooey (not chewy) Milk Chocolate Caramels. 

$37.99 for a 24oz Package (75pcs per package)

These are the individually wrapped caramels that they offer in bags or in their Pick-a-Mix products. It's similar to what a Caramello used to be (before Hershey ruined it). Judging by how hard it was to find a photo of these, it looks like it's a "Christmas Only" special candy. Now, when I say a case, I don't mean, a small flat, or even a small box you might get from Amazon. I mean... A CASE. Full to the brim with these luscious, golden-wrapped treats. I kind of drooled over it for a few minutes, touching the box lovingly, joking about how I should get it. But it was a case... I can't do that! That would be insane. Plus, it's $75!!! 

So we kept walking around the room until we got to the other side where there used to be a set of Fire Doors, but now had a sign that read "Come See Our New Room!" Uh... more candy?? Yes, please!! When we talked to an employee, they said that they'd only recently converted a back room into another "clearance rack" room, so when we got there it was still pretty empty. 

Photo: Courtesy of Anonymous Yelp Reviewer

They had a fun Easter Bunny cutout for us to take photos with, and of course we did! 

It's funny that our go-to pose...

...is exactly the same!

In the first "clearance room" prices were generally 50% off of retail price, but back here, prices were 75% off, like a Final Markdown kind of thing. I picked up a handful of their Milk Chocolate candy bars for a quarter each; a few bags of their foil-wrapped santas for a buck a bag. I found out when I got home, though, that all of these were already past their Best By date (everything I've eaten so far is perfectly fine, and it all went into the freezer when we got home.)

But I kept thinking about that damn case of caramels. I didn't need it, I didn't need it! My freezer is overflowing, where would I put them? I'm fat dammit, and I can't lose weight if I'm surrounded by delicious chocolate (she says as she buys candy bars and foil-wrapped santas). 

I looked at hubby and he just knew... without saying a word, he pushed the cart and led me all the way back to the first room and I heaved a case of caramels into - onto - the cart and we rolled ourselves to the check-out counter. And, of course, I'm a Russell Stover Rewards customer! With all the money we spent on chocolate, I had enough points to get a prize! A 3lb Assorted Chocolate box (that retails for $75). We carted our treats to the car, shoved them in wherever there was room (we had to work around the leftover lunch and loaves of Cuban bread, lol) and headed home. 

Who can't smile when they have THIS.MUCH.CHOCOLATE??
Yes, that's a case plus three full bags.

We haven't even opened this one yet!

So for now, the Frosted Flakes and the caramels just live in my dining room (ETA: since I took this photo, all that caramels have been put in the freezer, and we're slowly eating all the boxes of Frosted Flakes). 

Frosted Flakes on top / Caramels on bottom

Yes, you read that right... It's just under TWENTY POUNDS of caramels!

Oh and because I was curious, I pulled up the Russell Stover website to compare prices and do the math. A 24oz bag of these caramels retails for $37.99. That's a unit cost of $1.58 per ounce, or $25.28 per pound. Compare that to the case of caramels for $74.99 - unit cost of only 24¢ per ounce, or $3.79 per pound. Huge difference!

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Now, for something gross (but no photos, you're welcome)... 

Remember how I mentioned that my toe was hurting after the first race? It never really got better, just stayed painful for a few days. Well, when I finally got around to clipping my toenails, I discovered a blister under my second toenail (the This little piggy stayed home toe). I clipped it and all this... liquid... got all over my fingers! Now I have a hole in my toe, and it hurts again, dammit!

ETA May 28 - The toenail never got black or funky, but it finally fell off at work today, with a tiny little baby nail underneath it. So if anyone's curious how long it takes for a toenail to fall off, the answer is about 3 months. 

Race Notes                                                          
Location: Bayshore Blvd, Tampa, FL
Host: Gasparilla Distance Classic Association
Race Fee: $136.10 ($120 Challenge {15k/8k} + Processing Fee and Tax)
Packet Pickup: Easy to find within the Tampa Convention Center; bib pickup first, then shirt/challenge swag/swag bag. Contained within the expo
Parking: Hectic but well-controlled via Tampa Police downtown; we park in Fort Brooke Parking Garage every year ($15 each day, so $30 total, well worth it).
Support: Water and Gatorade on course, very abundant. No fuel for 15k or smaller distances. Community holds up fun signs. No booze (like Gate). Rough Riders hands out {day-old} donuts from Krispy Kreme.
After Party: I don’t go to the party, but the food option afterward is amazing… Bottled water, cups of Gatorade, bananas, bagged snacks from sponsors (this year was Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, fruit cups, Cheez-Its, Gatorade Protein Bars). There’s obviously tons of beer, since Michelob is the big sponsor.
Results:   https://results2.xacte.com/#/e/2622/searchable 

DONNA Marathon Weekend: FIS 5k Race Report 2026

What a roller coaster ride it was to even get to the start line for this race! I signed up for it months ago because I’d heard from a lot of other people that running the Donna was a big deal. When I signed up, I {of course} had to pay an extra $7 to get a shirt in my size. But more specifically, there was no mention of packet picket not being available on race day. There was nowhere to pay extra (like with Gate River Run). So, silly me, I assumed that I’d be able to pick up my swag on Saturday morning.

Fast forward to about a month before the race, and I get some pre-race emails from The Donna Foundation, and they specifically said that there would be NO race day pickup, and that all racers MUST pick up their packets on Friday.

Yah, that won’t work… I live about 90 minutes away from the race location, and it makes no sense to drive there and back, or drive there and stay the night, for a simple 5k race. So I replied to that email on January 13^th, asking if there would be any concessions for out of town people, or if I could swap to the Virtual Option (they were the same cost). I got no reply. About a week later, I reached out via The Donna Foundation’s website contact form, with the same questions. Still no response.

At this point, I was so frustrated with the lack of communication, and the supposed “bait & switch” with having to do pickup on Friday that I began to entertain the idea of saying fuck it all and just not going… I can afford to lose $50, but I didn’t really WANT to, ya know? So in a last ditch effort, I messaged them via their website one more time, and I finally got a response (apparently they had disabled the contact form because it was glitching). The person who responded (let’s call them MM) offered to swap me to the Virtual Option or race day pick up for $10. I told her that I would be fine with race-day pick up (though I was still ticked off about all this), and requested specifically that a W3XL shirt was set aside for me (since I seem to keep getting screwed on receiving shirts that I pay extra for!). She told me that she would personally pack my bag and bring it with her to packet pickup, and not even charge me the extra $10, since I’d had such a frustrating experience… that was very nice of her!

Now that we got that all sorted out, it was time to look forward to race day, and oh yeah… now there’s a crazy cold front on the way. I’m talking temps IN FLORIDA under freezing for race day. Oh, and some rain. I jut had to laugh… I fought so hard to get packet pickup, only to be rewarded with a cold as fuck rainy race? But at this point, I couldn’t not go!

When I went to bed Friday night, it was supposed to be about 55º when I took off, but unfortunately, when I woke up on race day, I was looking at low 40s. Hubby took the day off, so I drove up extra early, to ensure that I could get a good parking spot (so I wouldn’t get lost) – parking was at a hotel 10 miles away. When I got there, I assumed that the shuttle bus would pick up near the hotel, so I parked there. I went inside to use their potties, then asked the front desk clerk where the bus picked up – turned out that the bus picked up at an outer lot about a quarter-mile away, so I moved my car over there and got a good spot right by the bus stop (easy to find when I get back!).

I stayed in the car (toasty and warm) for about 15 minutes, but once I saw the line begin to grow, I decided I should probably get in line. I dressed in a base layer and shirt when I left the house, then tossed on a beanie and running jacket and got in line. Within five minutes, though, I realized that I needed another layer, so hopped back over to my car to get my puffer jacket and a pair of gloves, then got on the shuttle. I’d rather be too warm than too cold.

So many people still behind me (waiting for the bus)

Bus ride took about 10 minutes and it dropped us off a few blocks from the start line. The start area was quite hectic and not well organized. There were some tents on the left side of the road, some tents on the right side of the road, with the ‘corrals’ in the middle of the road – but no way to get to either tent area without having to swim upstream through the corrals. A walkway or sidewalk would have been extremely helpful!

I found the tent to get my packet, and shocker, I ran into my Race Shirt Nemesis – Blue Hair Carol. I gave her my bib number and said that she couldn’t find it. I told her that MM told me that she’d set it aside, and someone pointed to a bag on the chair behind them, which ended up being my bag. Without missing a beat, Blue Hair Carol told me that they didn’t have a shirt in my size, blah blah blah, but I could come back later and hopefully they’d have one in my size (remember, I paid $7 extra for this shirt that she says they don’t have). I opened my bag, and MM came through for me – my W3XL shirt was nicely folded inside. I may or may not have given Blue Hair Carol a smirk as I walked away. I found an empty table, folded up my bag and shirt as small as possible, and tucked them into my waist pack, just minutes before the race began.

The energy as we took off was amazing, such girl power! Lots of survivors and supporters… I almost felt like an imposter. I have no skin in this game, why was I here? But off I went at a fast walk, gaining energy from so many spectators waving and cheering all of us on.

Start Corrals on the left, Tents on the right, and past the corrals on the left

I didn’t warm up very much at all during the entire race, maybe unzipped my exterior jacket by the end of the race. Coming in to the finish line, everyone was so energetic and amped, but then the race announcer Fitz turned off the music so she could relay something she was just told – a finisher told her that she did this race every year, but she’d just gotten terrible news and expected that she wouldn’t be here next year. Or any year after that. Fitz was in tears, repeating fuck cancer, man. FUCK cancer. Someone next to me said “There’s no quit ‘til you’re cold.” I took this to mean that you don’t quit ‘til you’re dead. And I completely agree. You absolutely never know when something can change or improve.

Never give up; you never know what is in front of you

This sounds selfish, I know that, but… this announcement sucked all of the energy out of my own finish, but this woman (the one with the cancer) got SO MUCH SUPPORT from everyone around here that I didn’t even care. I wish I knew who she was, so I could check to see if she comes back in 2027.

I finished under an hour, at 56:29, and was 1761/2262 total runners, and 118/149 in my age group. Anyway, I got my medal, and well… It kind of looks like a vagina with dick arms. It’s a pretty medal, like a suncatcher, all glistening and pink (but, um, aren’t all vaginas glistening and pink?)

It's cold and getting colder!

I wandered around the after party, but there wasn’t much there – there were some places selling food or coffee, but not a lot of fun swag. I picked up a bottle of Electrolit (tasty) and a few Strawberry Watermelon Bloom drinks (also tasty). I headed back to the bus, riding in the cool kid single seat in the back, back to the nearly empty parking lot (being slow makes it easy to find my car!).

Same seat I sat in when I was in high school

I took the car over to the hotel again so I could change clothes and visit the expo (there’s a half and full marathon tomorrow). Then I went to Shake Shack for lunch (not impressed), hit up Trader Joe’s and Dollar Tree, then grabbed a soda and headed home.

Shake Shack Bacon Cheeseburger, Fries, Coke Zero, Vanilla Milkshake - $25!

ETA – A few days later, I found out some cool stuff:

• There were participants from all 50 states, and 11 countries
• They raised a quarter-million dollars for The Donna Foundation
• Fitz (the race announcer) is from Gainesville (possibly still lives there?). Also, she beat cancer herself, which explains why she is so powerfully emotional about this race. Who doesn’t love a confident, healthy, hilarious, kick-ass, conservative woman? Instant follow on X! 

Race Notes                                                          

Location: Jacksonville Beach

Host: The DONNA Foundation

Race Fee: $30 (Plus extra $7 for Women’s 3X Shirt)

Packet Pickup: Near start line; chaotic

Parking: Miles away, at Host Hotel

Support: One water stop (accessible twice), lots of cheers near start/finish line
After Party: Big, but mostly food trucks and concession tents ($$)

Results: https://my.raceresult.com/380156/results#1_979DAD