TAMPA, Fla. — Thousands of runners all headed to the same place—the finish line of the Gasparilla Distance Classic.
And at the end of Saturday’s 15K, Jeff Lessie is waiting.
“We’ve got a lot of excitement energy out here. Today we’ve got some great weather too. As you can see, we got a lotta people out here,” said Lessie.
Lessie is posted just past the finish line, delivering medals to the top finishers so they have them on for pictures.
He’s a longtime runner and knows many of those here.
“I haven’t run this one in a few years now because I’m always out here helping out,” said Lessie.
This year’s Gasparilla medal has a parrot in memory of Jimmy Buffett and an added feature.
“It’s got a bottle opener at the bottom,” said Lessie.
While some of those runners have a lot of medals in their collection, we found one who’s just getting started.
Eli Domico ran his first half marathon at 9.
He’s now 13. He just ran his first 15K and finished 2nd in his age group.
“Part of me is crazy because I just kind of like the pain that I get when I do it. It’s kind of a good pain," said Domico.
Domico's parents are both runners, so he caught the bug early.
“It became something that he just wanted to do with us. And then found out he’s very talented at it," said Domico's father, Jonathan.
With another medal to add to his growing collection, Domico isn’t slowing down. He’s got a 5K lined up for next weekend.
