The Gate River Run 15k

What a fun weekend we had in Jacksonville with the Badass Babes and friends! Finishing my second 15k with a PR of 1:34 including concurring the Green Monster bridge made me proud. And the race bling is sweet too. I'm just sad that I'm having some knee issues but I hope I can work to resolve them soon. Next race is two weeks away! 

 

This weekend was exactly what I needed: fun with friends, a great run with a new PR, and time to decompress from a hectic couple weeks of work. Tammie and I set off for Jax on Friday afternoon, way behind schedule. We picked up all the packets at the expo, spent way too much on new race gear and picked up a little something special for our race planner Mitzi. Then we headed to meet the rest of the Badass babes for dinner - which didn't quite go as planned.

Saturday morning we headed to the Everbank field to get ready for the race. Shannon headed to the speedy race corral, Mitzi and I headed to the middle of the pack, and Crystal, Tammie, Amy and JT headed to the third corral - as Crystal calls it, the "caboose" and as JT refers to it, the "turtle corral".

I have never been so excited to see real bathrooms in our waiting area! We may make this race a repeater just for this reason alone. Mitzi and I decided to have a little fun with the camera while we waited for the race to start, and ran into a whole bunch of Tallahassee people in the meantime, including Badass Babes, Betsy and Sarah.

The cannon thundered and Betsy, Mitzi and the rest of our wave took off out of Everbank Field, past the Maxwell Coffee plant, around downtown and over the Main Street bridge. We headed into the neighborhoods but with the packed crowd of runners and the narrow streets I lost Mitzi and Betsy and had to finish the run alone. Thankfully 15,000 runners, some awesome Jacksonville residents with encouraging signs, popsicles, and yes even grilled sausages and beer kept me occupied. We finally rounded the corner of the last neighborhood and hit the onramp for the dreaded Green Monster, a mile long bridge that felt almost as high to climb! It also happens to be the last 1.5 miles of the race.

Finally the crest of the bridge was met and all that stood between me and a medal was my extremely tight right IT band in my knee, and a downhill run to the finish. I picked up some speed and made it across the finish line to rehydrate and wait for the rest of our crew. There were many accomplishments in our group including Shannon's Top 10% finish, several PRs and Mitzi's ability to put a fear of bridges behind (below?) her.

Race bling acquired we got out of there for a fun afternoon of shopping, and relaxing, followed by a great dinner and some adult beverages at Fionn McCool's, an Irish bar at The Landing. It was exactly what we needed after a long week, and a tough race.

It was a wonderful weekend and I am reminded again how thankful I am to have met such amazing and wonderful women who inspire and encourage me, and who help me learn and grow every day. Can't wait for the next Badass race weekend!