Race Review: 2015 Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon (10/24/2015), or: “I think I ought to walk with you for a ways…”

The month of October here at Hokeyblog generally means two things: my annual presentation of Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs and a review of the Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon held every year in the heart of South Beach. And why not? Miami is such a strange, bizarre, “beautiful to look at but with a definitely creepy…

Race Review: 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon (9/6/2015), or: “But you yourself are nothing so divine, just next in line…”

At around 7:49 AM PST on the morning of September 6th, 2015, I crossed the Finish Line of the 10th Anniversary 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon with an explosion of joy and elation, the likes of which would make a First-Century Mt. Vesuvius stand up and say, “Hot Diggity Damn!” More on that in a bit,…

Celebrating three years of Hokeyblogging and why not? or: “It has a meter that is tricky…”

Put on your party hats and goat-skin leggings, guys and gals, because we’re celebrating today! That’s right! We’re talking Hokeyblog’s third birthday — three years ago today, we went live with an album review of Beatles For Sale, which got the attention of absolutely nobody, given that I had zero promotion, SEO, Q-rating, Alexa ranking,…

Race Review: 2015 First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon (3/15/2015), or: “We’re bumpin’ booties, havin’ us a ball…”

I’ve made zero secret about how much I adore the First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon. It’s pretty much my favorite Half Marathon in all of Florida, and yes, I include all of the Disney races in that assessment. When it comes to the most enjoyable races in the Sunshine State, the Sarasota Half is top…

Race Review: 2015 Best Damn Race Orlando Half Marathon (2/28/2015), or: “In and around the lake…”

For awhile now, I have been really itching to check out the Best Damn Race events. They presented an overall ethos which I can absolutely stand behind… and they also provided me the opportunity to use the word ‘ethos’ in a race review, for which I will eternally be grateful. Anyway, the BDR organization is…

Race Review: 2015 Walt Disney World Half Marathon (1/10/2015), or: “Same as it ever was…”

The 2015 Walt Disney World Half Marathon, which took place on Saturday, January 10, 2015, represented a lot of things to me: it was my 23rd half marathon, my third time running this particular race, and the first leg of the Goofy Challenge — a two day, 39.3 mile endurance thingamabob during which you run…

Race Review: 2014 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon (11/8/2014), or: “Look around, leaves are brown, there’s a patch of snow on the ground…”

This race review was originally published here at the amazing Sparkly Runner blog. If you enjoy Hokeyblog, go give my amazing friend Sarah’s blog a lookover. She’s incredibly forthright and entertaining, and really cool people too. She’s the real deal, Hokeyfolk! There was this magical moment of clarity that occurred as I turned eastbound onto…

Race Review: 2014 Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon (11/16/2014), or: “But now I’m safe in the eye of the tornado…”

You can’t PR at a Run Disney race! That’s what they keep drilling into your head, right? As you dish out your hard-earned shekels to pay the premium registration fees, make travel arrangements, buy all kinds of overpriced merchandise and extra race add-ons like “Chear Squads” and “Race Retreats” and RIDICULOUSLY overpriced photographs, deep down…

Race Review: 2014 Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon (10/25/2014), or: “He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole…”

So I ran the Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon last year (2013), and I started off my race review asserting how I wasn’t a “running in costume” sorta guy. I think THAT particular call still stands, but Halloween doesn’t count. It never counts. It exists in its own continuum, in a state of quantum isolation…

Race Review: 2014 B.A.A. Half Marathon (10/12/2014), or: “Many, many men can’t see the open road…”

Hokey smokes…! OK no not literally, but it’s going to be somewhat improbable of me to talk about the 2014 B.A.A. Half Marathon without interweaving some effusive explosions of joy all throughout my review, so if you want the Elevator Pitch version (or the “Continental” version, for you “Metropolitan” types who like using “quotation marks”…