Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon & Freedom 5K

It seems like I have hopped right back into the road racing scene. This weekend was the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon & Freedom 5K. Initially my plan was to do the half marathon with dad so I could take some time off my Miami Half Marathon time but my dad and I concluded that I wouldn't do the half marathon since my training has shifted to focus on shorter distances. But coming off a fast 5K last week, I wanted to see if I could match my time. The accompanying Freedom 5K was the answer to my plea. Dad would go ahead and do the half marathon. We had to wake up at 5:15 AM for the 7:00 AM start. It was a cool and crisp morning as both the Freedom 5K and Marine Corps Half Marathon started to a rising sun. The gun went off after the star-spangled banner, and I bolted to the front of the pack. The first mile was a straight away that led to the Main Street bridge, where the half marathoners left to run over the Acosta bridge and the 5Kers (that's me) headed to the Jacksonville Landing. After the midway water stop, the 5K course took us to the boardwalk, inches away from the St. Johns River. The split for my first mile was the usual 6:45. The second mile went on and on and the thought that the course may have been measured improperly entered my mind. I came in through the second mile in 14:15, which almost made me certain that the course was long. The third mile I decided to take it easy, not caring about my time and just wanting to hear the race director say at the end of the race that the course was long. My finishing time was 22:35, good enough for 5th in my 3-19 age group. I received a nice looking medal for my efforts and was also set to indulge in all the post-race refreshments. After about an hour of waiting I decided to go over the last mile of the half marathon course as my cool down and cheer people on. I noticed a lot of familiar faces in the crowds of finishers. Finally I spotted my dad, huffing and puffing in agony. I joined him at his side and told him there only was a half mile left in his 13.1 mile journey. I was inspired by all the distance runners and longed to do a race (or training run for that matter) that exceeded 7 miles, the limit of what I am allowed to do now. I was somewhat amazed yet sympathetic for my dad. I was amazed that he pulled off a decent time and overall finish (he ran a 1:45:24 and placed in the top 15% of the 1300+ runners in the field) and he met his time goal for the race, while being the weekend warrior he is and accumulating most of his weekly mileage on Saturdays and Sundays. Now all he will have to do is hold that pace for another 13 miles and he will qualify for the Boston Marathon. But I pitied him because the poor sucker thinks he'll qualify for Boston on his crazy training regimen (refer to the past sentence) and erratic, fast food frenzy diet in Tallahassee. But I can leave that for him to take care of. After I came home in all the anguish that I was in, I decided to map out the 5K course online and it turns out that it was an extra tenth longer. The official distance was 3.22 miles. And that means that I ran an identical pace to the Children's Way 5K last week. I also learned that I finished 16th in a field of 430 runners. So that ended my roller coaster day on a high note. Next week I will take on the AAU National Cross Country qualifying meet in Altamonte Springs, FL, my first taste of a real cross country race. So long and keep training consistently!