26.2 w/ Donna: The Do-Over

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After last year's disaster at the 26.2 w/ Donna (my first marathon in which I injured my knee and ended up limping for miles to the finish line), I decided the I had to go back and conquer this course.  Quincy and Maura also wanted to do this race again, so they signed up to run the half.  We went down to Jacksonville on the day before the race to pick up our packets and visit the expo.  We made sure to put our names on the large "signs" of encouragement.  These signs are taken and put on the course to inspire the runners during the race.  We were so involved with all of the goings on at the expo, that I didn't really notice my race number until we got back to the hotel.  I had been assigned in the last wave.  This is generally the "walker" wave.  I was a bit concerned about this because I knew I'd be weaving in and out of people for the first couple of miles- and I was.  I literally passed a man who had his foot in a boot and was doing the half marathon on crutches.  This was not a good start.  Luckily, things went well and I found a group of similarly-paced runners around the 5k mark.  The race was every bit a fabulous as I remember.  The course winds through the beach communities of Ponte Vedra and Neptune, Atlantic, and Jacksonville Beaches.  There are even a few miles that are run ON the beach.  The people of these beach communities really go all out.  Many houses were decorated in pink ribbons.  I was offered so much food and drink that I couldn't possibly take it all.  And my favorite part- a lot of the residents tried to entertain us as we ran.  There were several houses where bands were playing, two different guys had a karaoke machine going, one had an accordian, one guy was dancing in a blue "puffy" suit, and two teenagers were doing flips and breakdancing-type moves in their yard.  It was definitely NOT a dull race.  Toward the end of the race, the weather began to turn bad.  It rained on me for the last couple of miles.  They ended up having to cancel the race and pick the remaining runners up off the course due to lightening.  BUT- I was not one of them.  I finished the race prior to it being cancelled with a time of 4:33:37.  This is a PR for me (by like 15 minutes).  I feel really bad for those runners who did not complete the race.  I would cry if I ran 24 or 25 miles only to not be allowed to finish.