I haven’t written an in depth race recap in a long time, so I thought I’d post one today. On Sunday morning, Feb. 12,2012, I ran a half marathon race during the 26.2 with Donna – The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer. The mission of the 26.2 with Donna is “to passionately produce world class events to raise funds for ground breaking breast cancer research and empower women living with breast cancer.” Donna Deegan, a Jacksonville, Florida native and a news anchor on First Coast News, created the 26.2 with Donna – The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer. Donna herself is a three-time breast cancer survivor, who was first diagnosed in 1999 at the age of 38 and again in 2002. She created The Donna Foundation in an effort to raise research dollars and to bring awareness to women who battle breast cancer and have difficulty making ends meet. If you are looking for a race with a positive message and you like to run for a cause, this is the race for you.
The Race:
I woke up a little tired at 4:30am on Sunday morning because I didn’t get a full night’s sleep. My sister, my friend, M, and I were out at Wal-Mart pretty late picking up some last minute warm-weather clothing for the race. Earlier in the week, we learned that the weather on race day was expected to reach only up to the mid-40s. So, we wanted to make sure that we had enough clothes in case we needed to remove layers. By the time we made it back to my place it was a little after 10:00pm. I tried on some of the new clothes and finished laying out my race clothes and running gear. Around 10:30pm, M and I were trying to convince my sister that she should wake up early with us and come to the race. She was not convinced one bit. When my sister went to sleep, she was still on the fence about coming out into the cold. Needless to say she didn’t leave the house with us. I don’t blame her either…it was really too cold to stand around for a few hours.
Anyways, M and I woke up and got ready pretty quickly. We wanted to leave the house at 5:15am to get to the bus shuttle by 5:30am. I ate a peanut butter sandwich on whole-wheat toast and had a little orange juice. I also had some yogurt with some Bare Naked granola – my favorite. When M and I left my house, it was about 27 degrees outside. At first we both thought that the weather wasn’t too bad, but it was probably because we were really bundled up. We drove to one of the shuttle sites and when we pulled up, we saw a ridiculously long line of people waiting for the buses to arrive. When we got in the line, that’s when we realized how cold it was that morning. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait too long for a bus. We stood in line for about 10 minutes before 12 buses pulled up to scoop up all of the runners.
The race began at the Mayo Clinic Campus on San Pablo Road in Jacksonville Beach. It was scheduled to start at 6:30am, but I think we actually started about 10 minutes late. We met up with my running partner and then lined up in the corralled area. The runners were crammed in the corrals, so we just headed towards the back of the pack. We were so far in the back that we didn’t hear much that was going on, but we heard the gun go off and saw some confetti flying. We were ready to run. Outside was still a little dark when we started running, but within the first or second mile, the sun started to rise. Unfortunately, the sun didn’t add any warmth to the day. I ran with 2 long sleeved shirts, a fleece hoodie, ear warmers, throw away gloves and running pants. I had every intention of getting rid of some layers, but it never happened. I was cold before, during and after the race.
The race was pretty crowded in the beginning of the race. I had to weave around some of the walkers and the runners that were using the run/walk method. We headed out to Highway 202 towards the Intercostal waterway and then to the beach. This stretch was a little over 3 miles and it led us over a couple bridges. Theses were the only hills in the race; the rest of it was pretty flat. The route lead us onto Jacksonville Beach after we ran through neighborhoods of wonderful race supporters. It was really great to see all of these amazing people cheering us on so early in the morning. So many of them just smiled, shouted out names or held a sign. Some provided music from their homes and cars and some even performed in their front yard. It was and then eventually on the beach. Once I got on the beach, for some reason I began to loose some of my steam. It could have been the beautiful ocean sunrise that distracted me or the crazy cold winds that felt like it was cutting through my clothes. We ran on the beach for most of mile 5 and mile 6 until I turned around to make my way back to the finish line. The rest of the marathoners continued to run on the beach and I didn’t envy them one bit.
On my way back, I tried to get my energy going again. I hit up a few water stations for some Gatorade, I ate some of my sports beans and I had 2 GU energy gels. Once I got back to the bridge, I almost lost it – I just wanted the race to be over. The last 3 miles of the race required us to go back over the bridge - it was miserable. I’m pretty sure it got colder on the way back to the finish line. It felt like the wind had picked up at least 5 times more than it was when the race first started. There were large crowds of people at the top of the bridge cheering us on and some of them even ran down to help runners to the top. Again, it was great to see and hear all of that support. At that point I really needed to hear all of the positive words. When I hit the top of the bridge, I just ran down as quickly as I could towards the finish line. My time was so off, I had to make up for the lost time. I tried to look for my sister at the finish, but I didn’t see her until I got my medal. Overall, it was a great race despite the cold weather.
My Stats:
There were 4,569 total race finishers for the half marathon and 3,384 female finishers. My official chip time was 2:13:18 and my splits were: 5 Miles: 49:45 and 7 miles: 1:10:14. I was a little disappointed about my time because I wanted to get closer to 2 hours or even finish under 2 hours. But, I didn’t train as hard as I did for the half marathon I did in October 2011, so I really shouldn’t be surprised about my time. I just have something else to work towards for the next race. Have any of you competed in a half marathon lately? Do you have any tips on improving your time?
On the morning of July 4th, I ran in a 5k race at 7:30am. I wasn’t sure I was going to run until I was jolted by my alarm at the crack of dawn. I told myself that if I were able to wake up at 6:00am, then I’d sign up for the race at the site. I know - 6:00am sounds brutal right? But, I’m glad I woke up and pushed myself to go to the race. One of the reasons that I wanted to run this particular race was to help me get back into my running groove. I’m not sure if you all have noticed, but I haven’t been running as often as I did last year. At first, I was sure why it happened. I truly enjoy running and I particularly love running in races, but I hadn’t ran consistently since April 2012. The only thing that I could think of that changed dramatically since last year is my workload at my job. My workload pretty much doubled in April and I have been working some ridiculously long hours. As a result, my drive and motivation to go out for a run or even go to the gym for a workout had vanished. Over the past few months, I tried to run here and there; however, it wasn’t enough to get me back into a routine, until I watched some of the U.S. Olympic trials for the track and field division at the end of June 2012. Watching serious athletes battle it out for their ticket to London was just the boost that I needed to get started again. 
