Fernandina Reindeer Run Half Marathon-Dec 2, 2012

 

 

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

Savannah River Bridge Run-Dec 1, 2012

The Enmark Savannah River Bridge Run is known as the Toughest Bridge Run of the South. The bridge is about a mile and half long with a 5.5% grade. There is a 5k, 10k, and 15k (aka the Double Pump)….that is once, twice, or three times over the bridge! This was my sixth year participating in the Bridge Run and is one of my absolute favorite races!

I arrived Friday afternoon to enjoy the gorgeous weather and relax at the Westin Resort on the river….Holiday lights, Christmas trees, Gingerbread houses galore, hammock, bonfire, and much more!

 

I had a sunset nightcap at the Bohemian Rooftop where you have the best birds eye view of the town, bridge in distance, and overheard a couple from out of town ask a waitress if there was ever a race over the bridge. After the waitress said ‘No’, I couldn’t help myself but interject and tell them about the Bridge Run. I excitedly gave them all the details and even told them about my costume. Little did I know that they were actually going to register that night and I would run into them later at the race! I just amazes me that so many locals do not know about their own local events, especially ones that bring in thousands of people! It’s the same almost everywhere I go.

 

Staying at the Westin was the best decision I have ever made! Usually I do the 2 1/2 hour drive the morning of the race, or stay further in town for a cheaper rate. This time I splurged and it paid off! Even though I still had an early wake up of 530a, I had a birds eye view of the people in traffic and the Starting line. It definitely put the mind at ease not having to deal with the parking or shuttles or same day packet pick up!

Taking the short stroll over to the start, all my worries of the costume disappeared as people immediately started bursting out laughing! I was worried people would not ‘get it’…but really I only ran into a couple older people that never hear of the song, but they were usually with someone that explained it. Lots of pictures were taken as we waited to start.

 

The weather was PERFECT! Sunny and cool with a nice warm up after the race! (usually we are freezing!) Winds were calm too, so the top of the bridge was Gorgeous!

I was registered for the Double Pump, as I planned on not running in costume this year! I still was going to try to push it, as I have YET to do complete Double Pump, but it was going to be all up to how the costume handled the bridge.

The race is of good size…about 5000 runners/walkers. It is very family friendly, getting kids involved in a healthy lifestyle! This is more of a Fun experience race, instead of a time beating goal.  I was excited this year as they had a new game plan to separate the runners and walkers on different sides of the road, separated by the median, and the runners were to start about a minute ahead of the walkers. The anthem was played, the gun was fired, and we were off! All of us! What?! Why are the walkers going? The walkers ended up going at the same time, therefore getting ahead of most of us runners and making it even MORE difficult to weave around them compared to prior years! =/

For the Double Pump, you have to complete the 5k and get yourself to the 10k start line (a couple blocks over from the 5K finish) all in about 40 minutes. This is very difficult when you start on time. Then add in the extra minutes it took to even get to the ‘START’ line. Then add on the minutes it took to get around the walkers in the first mile and half. I just couldn’t stay running. There was no weaving around people with the costume.  Someone really screwed up. I know it was all miscommunication, and I do look forward to them getting that under control next year, but it really screwed me up this year.

My calves were really tight, front and back, from the very first steps….probably from the insane sprinting I did the other night after that ridiculous break up most of you know about. The front of the phone was bouncing a lot, so I had to end up holding both sides the entire way. Of course, I am used to that with previous costumes, so just went with it.

I got to the finish line at 41minutes. I think that was the longest I have EVER taken! But then again, the big cluster F@$! at start didn’t help! I said Oh Well and headed to the Brunswick Stew and Beer Tent! =) I later found out they delayed the 10k start about 15min, so I technically did have enough time to get over there if SOME one would have told me that at the finish line of the 5k!….Oh well! I watched the runners coming in, and mingled with the rest of the finishers. This was probably the most popular costume I have done yet! Seriously at one point I just stood there and kept turning in circles as every time I tried to walk away, there was another camera for me to smile at! =) The best part is people would just look and Laugh Out Loud! Its good to make people laugh!

There was a pretty good band this year as we waited til all the runners finished. Then as we were waiting for the costume results, a girl was called up on the stage. She was going to shave her head for reaching her donation goal for JC Lewis Cancer Center! This year the Bridge Run partnered with the Cancer Center and encouraged people to raise donations. The race will also donate money to the center. I love how community involved Savannah is!

There were a lot of group costumes this year. For the contest, they give $400 for 1^st, $200 for 2^nd and $100 for 3^rd for both individual and group costumes. This year however, they ended up giving away 5 places for groups with KISS getting 1^st place. As soon as they won, they announced they were donating all of their winnings to the Wounded Warriors org!

 

They called up 3 of us on stage for individual costumes…it was between me, a shower curtain, and the boy from the old school Rudolph movie. They used a ‘crowd o meter’ to register the crowds applause to figure out 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd  place. It was a very close call for all of us, but I ended up with 3^rd, the boy from Rudolph in 2^nd, and the shower curtain 1^st.  Guess I shouldn’t have come to the race alone? lol

All in all, I am extremely happy. It was one of the best Savannah trips I have had yet. The Westin is definitely the way to go if you want a relaxing get away. The weather was perfect for running. And I raised $100 all for a day and half worth of work and less than $20 in materials! My employer will match it, and now we have a $200 donation towards the 26.2 with Donna breast cancer org! =)