‘I didn’t mentally give up’: Former esports player scores big with half marathon win

Tyler Watson entered Duke University with designs on becoming a lawyer.

He never earned his degree.

Watson chose life experiences instead. He dropped out to play esports in Korea and now is a stay-at-home father in California — with a young son, a pediatrician for a wife and a first-place medal from Disney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

Watson, 32, finished the ninth annual 13.1-mile race in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 48 seconds.

“I was just really happy that I didn’t mentally give up, that I kept grinding,’’ said Watson, a Tampa native. “I hadn’t won a lot of races. I think I’d only won one other race, so it was just really fun to break the tape and have that moment.’’

Former Princeton runner Megan Curham, the 2016 Walt Disney World Half Marathon champion, topped the women’s division in 1:19:59.

“I actually ran the 10K [Saturday] and won that as well,’’ Curham said. “I knew what to expect a little bit. It’s so cool seeing the tape, the characters, all the confetti.’’

Nearly 12,500 runners, dodging raindrops at times, finished the half marathon. None dodged them better than Watson, who said another runner kept pace with him for the first four or five miles before he pulled away.

After that, it was a solo voyage to the finish.

“The guys on the bikes that were navigating the course told me that about Mile 7 or 8 that I had about a 30-second lead,’’ Watson said. “I was feeling pretty good.’’

Samuel Fazioli of Salem, N.H., placed second in 1:12:34. Roger Hidalgo (1:19:00) of Auburndale crossed third.

Fazioli is a civil engineer in Boston.

“The course, although very, very fun, is tough,’’ he said. “There’s a lot of turns, a lot of quick, sharp, 180-degree turns, but yeah, it was a good time.’’

Curham finished more than nine minutes ahead of runner-up Amanda Beal (1:29:09) of Ellicott City, Md. Valery Perry (1:29:26) of Oviedo took third.

Curham, 23, is in a leadership-development program for Johnson & Johnson in Tampa. She led the Wine & Dine Half Marathon the whole way.

“There’s just a million spectators here, so it’s really, really special,’’ Curham said.

Most are faces.

As for Watson’s name, that was not the one with which he was born. He changed his surname from Wasieleski this year, choosing one for his growing family that does not challenge the tongue as much.

“I did not like growing up with a tough last name to pronounce,’’ he said. “Let’s figure out something else, so we came together on Watson.’’ Short and sweet. Watson’s jaunt from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot wasn’t so short Sunday.

The outcome, though, couldn’t have been sweeter. nameless