On Oct. 7th, while in Jacksonville, Florida for a conference, I ran the Marine Corps Half Marathon. The start was at 7 a.m. and packet pickup was at 6 a.m. To avoid walking in the dark for a mile in unusual territory, I took a taxi to the start. When I received my bag of goodies, I asked where I could check my bag and a man said, "In your car." Since I had no car, he told me to put my bag on his purple motorcycle and to look for the motorcycle at the finish. 1 hour and 51 minutes after the start, there was my bag on the purple motorcycle. I will always trust a man with a purple motorcycle! The race had a few good hills since we ran across 2 large bridges over the St. John River. The scenery was pretty and support was good. There were a few bands along the way, but no spectators. There were around 1,568 runners for the half and the 5K. The winning male time was 1:11:01 and the winning female time was 1:22:38. My time of 1:51:32 got me 3rd in my age group. The 2nd place lady in my age group passed me at the finish. The party and awards ceremony was nice with lots of food, beer and free massages. I decided to multitask and drink my beer while standing in line for a massage. After standing in line for quite a while, I was told I couldn't get a massage since I was drinking beer. So much for multitasking! Anyway, I took my beer in my marine corps mug, my winning plaque and medal and walked the mile back to my hotel. It was a good day!
© Vicki Copeland    See Results