Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon Recap!

WOOHOO I'm officially a half marathon finisher!!!! I completed the Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning, and it was AWESOME!

The week leading up to the half was stressful, to say the least. Mainly because the Saturday before the race, I had a surfing FAIL that caused me to have a sore and swollen shin the entire week leading up to the race. The only run I did the whole week was a 2.5 mile test run on Wednesday to see how my leg felt and it still hurt. I spent the rest of the week in compression socks, elevating, and icing like crazy in an attempt to get my leg as close to 100% as possible. By race day, the leg was feeling about 80% of normal and only a little bit swollen.

After checking into my hotel on Friday evening, I had some dinner and took a few pictures along the course:

 Sun setting over the two bridges the race crosses.

Running statue around mile 12 of the course.

 Sunset view from my hotel room. Both of these bridges are part of the race.

On race morning, I went through my pre-race routine and ran the .5 miles from the hotel to the starting line. The weather was PERFECT for racing. Mid-60's and overcast. Definitely NOT the upper 70's and crazy humidity I was used to running in the mornings, so I was super happy about that.

The start of the race had about 3000 runners (2000 on the half marathon and 1000 on the 5k) and at 7am we were off! This being my first long race, it was very hard to control my pace and not go too fast in the first few miles. It seemed like EVERYONE was passing me and I just wanted to speed up and not get passed so much. I resisted the urge and kept it at around an 8:20-8:30ish pace. 

Miles 1-6:

My leg was feeling decent with only a dull soreness.

At around mile 1.5, the first bridge was upon us: the Main Street drawbridge.

Since all my training long runs involve two bridge crossings, I easily conquered it and passed quite a few people as well.

With about a half mile to recover after the first bridge, it was time for the Acosta high bridge!

This one was quite a bit steeper than the drawbridge, but it still wasn't an issue and I powered through it. From here on out, it would be a mainly flat course. Aid stations were placed about every two miles and I think there were about 5 bands along the course.

After the bridges, we made our way along the river through some historic communities. People came out of their houses to cheer us on, and some has set out candy and drinks for the runners. I tried to thank as many of the people cheering as possible! 

My splits were pretty even: 8:20, 8:20, 8:26, 8:25, 8:32, 8:17.

Miles 7-11:

Around mile 7, I saw the race leader zoom by on the other side of the road. He was absolutely killing it and the next closest person took a full 5 minutes to come. I don't know how they do it, but it was impressive to see. That dude ended up finishing in 1:12 and beat the 2nd place guy by a full 5 minutes. Crazy!
At this point in the race was when keeping my pace in check at the beginning really paid off, as I started passing a lot of the people that passed me in the first half.

I was feeling awesome through mile 10, but then around mile 11 I started hitting a wall. I've never run this distance at this fast of a pace and it was starting to wear on me. And my injured leg was starting to make its presence known to me. I tried to focus on the task at hand and told myself it was only two miles to go and to push through.

My splits were still nice and even: 8:22, 8:23, 8:25, 8:33, 8:23.

Mile 12, AKA mile of HELL:

Right as I'm forcing my way through the wall, I see ANOTHER BRIDGE! It is a pedestrian bridge going over a railroad bridge. That was the last thing I wanted and I blurted out a "FUCK" along with a few other runners next to me. I think this is the only point in the whole race where I seriously considered walking. My legs were on fire and it took all I had to make it to the top. To the left is the bridge of DOOM, as I named it afterwards.

Going down it was almost as much fun, because it was one of those zig-zag ramps. I had to slow it down after this for a few minutes to catch my breath.

Pace for this mile of hell: 8:49.

Mile 13-Finish

Having made it through the bridge of DOOM, I had 1.1 miles to go. I don't remember much from this part because I was just focused on the finish line and nothing else. I did ask the final water station guys "Got any beer?!" and got a few laughs. As I ran under the crossed howitzers and over the finish line, I raised my arms up and yelled "WOOOOO". I was DONE!!!!

I was given my medal and a commemorative beer pint glass. After grabbing a bottle of water, I got in the beer line and enjoyed a pint of cold beer. 

Final time: 1:51:30.
29th out of 113 in the 25-29 age group.

The race was well organized and the route was very scenic. I'd definitely do it again! The soreness wasn't that bad the following day and my leg is now back to 100%. Time to resume marathon training :)

Here is the complete route: