The 2nd Annual Fernandina Reindeer Run Half Marathon is a small beach town race sponsored by Amelia Island Runners and 1st Place Sports. It is a family friendly event with lots of festivities such as several kids races, face painting, crafts, contests, bouncy house, as well as the 5k and half marathon.
The event started and finished right on the beach. Coupled with perfect sunny Florida "Fall" weather in the 70s, made for a Gorgeous day! With same day Packet Pick up, I was able to do the hour drive, get dressed and eat my 'to go' breakfast of banana, bar, gatorade all at the beach just in time to catch the sunrise!
After doing the Savannah River Bridge Run in costume the day before, I carried on the fun, as the Reindeer Run had a costume contest as well (no specific prize mentioned though, so I wasnt as outrageous as the $$ prize for Savannah!)
Unfortunately I did not win (in fact the organizer forgot to even mention a winner, so we had to ask her about it, and she 'awarded' the Oranment girls, below, instead with a Visor.
The 5k and half marathon start together and run through the beach neighborhood. With there only being a few hundred runners lined up, I was really worried on how many of us where actually doing the half?! Was I going to be the slowest one? Everyone seemed to 'take off' really fast. I was a little hesitant and tried to just go with the flow.
Right before M3, a man on his upstairs balcony yelled out to a couple of us walkers "That looks like walking, not running!" A woman next to me replied "I have 11 more miles!!" and I added "its better than sitting up there on the couch!" I wanted to say "on your ASS", but he was with a little boy. What a great influence man! Why not bring him out here and get involved?! Get active?! Set an example?! He did get under my skin a bit, and got me running a little faster for a bit, even though I had planned to take it easy because of the Savannah bridge run the day before!
At 3 miles the 5k veered off and the half marathon went into Fort Clinch State Park. The park is gorgeous and peaceful and quiet, which makes it good as a "collect your thoughts and mediate" type of run, not a "ton of spectactors on the sidelines cheering you on" type of run. The shade was welcomed as the bright sun was increasing the temps quickly!
At about M4 is where I ran into the Ornament girls. Signs were warning us a photographer was ahead, and of course every runner wants that picture perfect running photo. I always giggle, because I try to 'pick it up' and make me 'look' like a good runner. However, I have this bad habit of taking really Awful photos where it looks like I am barely moving, yet alone even walking, when in fact I actually was running fast! So I yelled out to the girls "Lets Fake Run Fast for the photographer!!" as I made exaggeratd strides, leaping high. Was pretty funny and the picture turned out great! (see above)
The course went all the way to the back of the park, then out one of the side entrances, over a small bridge to a neighborhood for a mile, and then back into the park to the entrance where we started.
At about M6 I started feeling a raw sensation under my right arm. Shortly later, I realized I was bleeding!! Both arms were being rubbed raw from the velour Santa outfit. (I do NOT suggest running in this!). I tried to run with my arms out a bit so they wouldnt rub. Was a bit awkward but dealable. But then when I took my walk breaks, it was just almost impossible to walk with my arms out. I did a lot of hands on the hips walking. Yea, it was better to just run! I now hav 2 scars on my arms for this race!!
Because the course did several turn arounds, there were lots of points where you ran passed the fast runners going the opposite direction. This is always my favorite part of the races as they inspire me to run faster or longer! You were reminded how of a 'small town' race this was, as most of the fast runners in the lead would call out to you "Good job" or "Keep it up". Its really a good feeling when you think someone so much better than you is cheering 'you' on!
I got a lot of costume compliments and a lot of 'best costume yet' and 'youre the winner'. I didnt think my costume was much, and thought there would be more costumes, but constantly being put in a good mood with the compliments definitely helped the run go by faster!
At about M9 is where the small bridge was, and do I mean small, but this flat road Florida girl still grumbled! Getting over the bridge I hear "Melissa what are you doing walking? This is a marathon not a walk a thon! Get moving!"...it was my friend Christy! I didnt realize she was volunteering, so was good to see a familiar face!
M10-12 seemed ridiculously long and it seemed there wasnt a water station in forever! The temps had really risen and my brain was contemplating tackling the girl in front of me that had her own water bottle! LOL
As soon as we exited the park, the same area we came in, it was just under a mile to go! We turned left onto a sidewalk. I had yelled out to the volunteer that "NOW we are almost done!" as when we were just entering (at mile 3.5) she was calling out to us "Almost there!" LOL. I guess she didnt realize just how far we had!
As I turned back around, my foot caught the lip of a manhole in the middle of the sidewalk and I started stumbling forward. I probably took about 3-4 steps catching myself, when finally I was just so tired my body gave in to the fall. Luckily enough, I was able to fall to the side and into the sand/grass and didnt hurt anything! All my mind could think as I was falling, is "NO! I have a marathon to run in a couple months!!" lol. It was a big surprise to me that I was on the ground, as I have ran over 25 races and have never fallen! ....especially not at 13 miles!
I got up and ran to the beach finish line laughing at myself! I was able to finish only 4 minutes slower than my PR. Not too shabby for doing a Bridge Race the day before!
Pros
-Location! Location! Location!
-Can make a weekend vacation out of the location
-Did random drawings of bib numbers and gave away gift certificates. I won a free large pizza, unfortunately the place was closed on Sundays =/
-Dressed up Water Stations-and properly stocked!
-Same day packet pick up
-Great announcer on PA...got crowd going and runners motivated
-Beer AND cofffe!
-FREE buffet brunch at Elizabeth Pointe Lodge on the ocean, right next to the event park
-Festive/Reindeer mile markers
Cons
-Although it was great to finish 'at the ocean'....running into the sand was a little akward
-There as supposed to be something with memorizing the Reindeer/Mile Marker themes, but didnt see/hear anything about it
-Not much food at finish line...bananas and cookies....if you wanted to wait for awards, then you had to wait on 'free breakfast' (see above)
-No IPOD/open road in park
-Shirts were unisex, making a M an XL on me
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