Gate River Run 15k

This one caught me by surprise. The week before the Princess Half, Ted tells me his friend Andrew thought it would be fun if we met them in Jacksonville since his wife Melissa was running a race. I actually thought I was agreeing to a little 10k until I looked at the dates and started cursing. I was already facing a half I wouldn't be trained for; now I had a 9 miler the next week. On the positive side, the half would serve as a good long training run for the 15k!

So, we pack up our stuff and head to Jacksonville. On the way, Harry has a cookie fit. He wants the "chocolate cookies you have in the car!!" He's almost at meltdown level before I interpret correctly- "you want thin mints?" "YES!" Yeah, those cookies were in the car a month ago- they've long since been eaten. I break it to him that he's going to have to settle for something else since I can't produce Girl Scout cookies on demand. We stop at a convenience store before we hit I95. Ted goes in to get some drinks and some sort of cookies. On his way out, he spots of all things, a Girl Scout cookie stand. So Harry got his Thin Mints. And I suppose he learned that if he was loud enough and irrational enough, we'd do whatever necessary to meet his demands. That will probably come back to haunt us, but it totally worked in the short run and sometimes that's okay.

We made it over to the Expo. It's at the stadium, and it's really tedious to park my ginormous car. Of course, dragging all of us in is also tedious, but I expected that. We actually ran into Melissa on the way in. Our plan was to have dinner together, but I was getting anxious about dealing with my 3 and Melissa's baby. OK, actually I was only worried about Captain Harry, but that was a pretty big worry especially since he'd just scarved down a ton of Thin Mints. When you're trying to find the stadium and park, you just keep passing the cookies back...

We finally coordinated with our friends and ended up at their hotel. We walked across the street to a very nice restaurant. When I say nice, I mean no kid's menus, no high chairs, etc. I'm realizing that in the frenzy to get to the Expo, I forgot about the whole re-applying lipstick, brushing hair thing. Yep, I'm dragging in a horde of children looking like crap. Nice. Surprisingly, Harry and the babies were well behaved at dinner. Food was good, and it was fun to talk to Andrew and Melissa.

We headed over to our hotel by the Town Center. The hotel is in a huge outside mall type place. We had a suite, and were upgraded so that we were in basically a two bedroom apartment. I was sad we weren't staying all weekend!

So, it's the usual race day prep stuff. I put on the running skort I wore last weekend. Loved it last weekend, but it drove me crazy all day- who would have guessed? I drove over to the stadium. I ended up in a parking lot that charged $5. That irritated me but I didn't want to try circling the stadium. I did take a couple of pictures of where I was parked so I could find my car. I only took my iPhone this time, with headphones.

Everyone is just milling about by the start. I don't see anyone in costumes, and everyone pretty much looks like they just staggered out of bed and headed to the race. Not to complain, I'm not dressed up either, but it was a funny contrast to the Princess where everyone seemed dressed for the theme. I had on my fancy "Run Like a Princess" hat I bought at the Princess Expo. That was a lucky accident- I added it to my pile of stuff I was buying. I was so distracted holding the baby that I didn't notice it was $30 until I got to the hotel. I was a little irritated by it's price, but it turned out to be a fabulous hat.

So there I am, just standing in a sea of I think 15,000 people. I'm texting my mom because I'm so bored, and I'm listening to the always present 80s music. People aren't really chatting because they all have on their iPods.

Finally, the start! There's a cannon blast and the theme to Rocky. We head off through downtown. We pass the Maxwell House coffee place- it totally smells delicious. We're on a wide street but there are people all the way across. It's really packed. I was a little disoriented seeing Forest Gump blaze by in his short shorts with his box of chocolates. Bands were playing at almost every mile- I turned my music all the way down and tried to wave.

Then there's the Main Street bridge (I think- it's blue). It's not that bad, but I'm so over bridges. It has that grating that always makes me think I'm going to fall through or at the very least trip. We head through a trendy shopping area on San Marco and then we are on River Street. It's a really nice neighborhood- people are sitting in lawnchairs watching. There's a guy in a kayak watching us from the river- that would be cool. One yard had a "mimosa stand" which I thought was great. Some kids had sliced oranges they were handing out, and a runners club had those popsicle-like things without the sticks. It was a veritable buffet.

The spectators were funny in Jacksonville. They were out there and they were clapping, but it wasn't nearly as over the top as Disney. I think maybe that's because the spectators at Disney either are cast members or have a personal connection to one of the runners. I felt more like the Jacksonville spectators were out there to watch the race cause it was in their neighborhood- which is cool, but I felt weird, like we were on exhibit. It added to my feeling of isolation within the herd. I think that goes back to the iPod thing. Was no one talking because everyone was listening or was everyone listening because no one was talking?! Anyway, except for the couple of times some crazed dad pushing a stroller pushed through the crowd, I didn't hear much. Maybe Becky and I just talk too much and I've grown accustomed to chatting on the courses. Or maybe I was just way too tired.

The last mile was the bridge they call the "Green Monster." Much as I expected, it sucked. Although it did not suck as much as the bridge in Savannah, and the bridge in Savannah did not suck as much as the bridge in Brunswick. See? I have way too much bridge knowledge for someone who hates hills.

You go straight down the bridge and to the stadium for the finish. It was a little longer than I anticipated, but really was downhill. I cruised through and then ran smack into a horrible traffic jam. A mass of runners was slowly making their way to the medals and then to the Expo. It took me at least 15 minutes just to get free. I decided there was no way I was going into the Expo mess and broke out of the crowd as soon as I could. At this point, I was realizing my car was possibly on the other side of the hordes of runners coming off the bridge. As I got closer, I decided that my car was actually under the ramp the runners were coming down, so all was well. Turns out the $5 fee was totally worth it, since the man running the lot had to talk me through backing out. Again, the curse of the ginormous vehicle.

I drove back some ridiculous way to avoid the race route. I still made it back in time to shower and pack before check-out time at noon. I grabbed a quick bagel while holding Milo. I was telling Ted something about the race when I realized Milo had stolen my bagel and was gumming away! So, fully packed and checked out, we hit the stores and then drove on home.

Would I do it again? Yeah, sure, but it's not a big goal. If it works out in my schedule next year, great. I am glad I did it, but I'd really like to stay away from bridges...