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Comments: The hotel that we stayed at was on the course near mile 7 and mile 19. My husband was on the beach just after mile 7 to cheer. That was nice. I had a throw away polartec type jacket that I wore to the race start over my capris and long sleeved tee. It was cold and I decided to keep it on for a while. I wore it zipped up for about two miles and then I completely unzipped it and wore it that way for until about mile 4. I was getting warm in it and was about to toss it when some other runner nearby said to each other, keep your jacket on until we get to the beach (mile 5) since it is so windy (15+ mph with gusts to 35 in the morning, the wind tapered off as the day went on). I tied the jacket around my waist and held onto it until I could see my husband. I dropped it and asked him to grab it. The run went really really well until mile 20. Then my legs started to complain a little bit. 10k to go. At mile 23 we got back onto the expressway to the finish. With about 2 miles to go I could see the finish. I drank at about every other water stop -- just a few sips but something. I had Gu at 5, 10, 15, 20 (course provided at 5, 10 and 20, one that I carried at 15 since there was no Gu station there). NINE MINUTE PR!  Post race
Warm down: They handed me a silver mylar blanket and a bottle of water. I asked for my medal. I tapped my chest and said medal. I think the poor volunteer thought I was having heart problems. No MEDAL. I was cold and wanted to get out of there -- after hitting the bathroom. Sad in a way since Sister Hazel playing later. I had two bananas. I cold not find the muffins but saw wrappers on the ground (darn half marathoners eating all the food!). There was Panera soup but the line was long and my husband was waiting in the family meeting area. We took the shuttle back to the hotel in a nice warm shuttle bus and then went to the Beach Diner for brunch. Those pancakes tasted sooo gooood! Event comments: I thought that the crowd support was superb. The expo was great as was the runner support on the course. Water stations were well stocked, port-a-pots plentiful, Gu available, etc. The only issue was the shuttle buses to the start. That's kind of a biggie and I'm sure that the organizers are addressing it. I would consider doing this event again. Profile Album Last updated: 2011-11-14 12:00 AM
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United States
26.2 with Donna
28F / -2C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 501/1745
Age Group = Women 40 - 44
Age Group Rank = 40/168
DH and I took Friday off and drove down to Jacksonville. On Saturday we went to the expo and I checked in. The expo for this event is pretty good. I enjoyed it. We did a little course recon on Saturday afternoon but since I ran this event last year, I was pretty relaxed about that. We ended Saturday with a trip to Mellow Mushroom for pre-race pizza.
On Sunday morning, I got up at 4:25, lubed up liberally and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of camelbak elixir. I had a little bit of coffee from the hotel lobby and waited to get shuttle bus to the race start. And waited. And waited. And waited.
There was a huge pre-race transportation debacle that caused me to get to the start line as they were singing the National Anthem -- you know me, I was at the shuttle bus place waaayyyy early (in the lobby before 4:45, on the bus after 6:00!). Anyway, this was both in my favor (no standing in the cold) and against me (no time to get psyched at the start).
Oh yeah. Me. Florida. Near record cold. Did I mention that?
So, I got off the bus, dropped off my pre/post race bag (no lines, everyone was already in the corrals), pre-race pee (no lines, everyone was already in the corrals) and walked toward the corrals. I made an effort to walk quickly and not run to the corrals. Running should wait until the race actually started. I got to the corrals as they were singing the National Anthem. I wiggled my way into the correct corral and they started as I got there.
They had about four corrals. The half and full marathon runners went in together according to color codes they had on our bibs. In other words, 4 hour marathoners and 2 hour half marathoners were mixed together. It was good that I knew where I was supposed to be based on the 2011 event since there was no time to figure anything out this year!
The race started a 10 minutes late. They were aware of the transportation problems to some extent. Not everyone from my hotel made it to the start line in time. I was fortunate. It 30 degrees when the race started (48 degrees when I finished).