Tomoka Marathon Race Recap 2015

The second annual Tomoka Marathon

I decided after running Miami and qualified for the Marathon Maniacs I was going to take a break from marathons and work on strength and speed with hopes of running a sub 4 and getting closer to a BQ. After running Jax Bank (Dec 28) a bunch of my running friends from FCR decided they were all running Tomoka, so I thought I better too! Unfortunately, unlike most of my friends in FCR I didn't continue training after running Miami. My longest run in the past 8 weeks was 14.5 miles... My best friend flew in for spring break and we were so busy every single day leading up to the marathon including; 5 hour snorkeling tour in the Keys, kayaking the Springs, the day before the race we were up in Savannah GA site seeing all day! I didn't get more than 5-6 hours of sleep the entire time.

Race: Tomoka Marathon
Date: March 29th, 2015
Finish Time: 4 hours, 08 minutes
Distance: 26.2 miles
Gain: 639 ft

The marathon got underway around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, the half started at 7am and the 5k started at 7:30am. The staggered start was awesome. It cleared so much of the congestion at the beginning of the race.

The temperatures hovered in the lower to mid-40s, and most of us locals were freezing. Most of us were still wearing our shorts an tank tops praying we would warm up once we started running. The course was gorgeous. We ran what we call "the Tomoka loop" which has some of the most diverse, natural "Old Florida" scenery.

You get to see a little bit of everything including unobstructed vistas of the rivers, inland creeks and marshes, barrier island dunes and beach. We ran over high bridge (a small draw bridge) where in my opinion had some of the most beautiful views on the course. We ran under the huge trees that were covered in spanish moss, down John Anderson road which has a lot of big beautiful houses and finishing down Beach Street. At mile 25.5 we had to cross over the huge bridge to reach the finish line. The start line (an finish line) were at "The Casements" which is a historic former winter home of John D Rockefeller. The post race party was also held there in the beautiful Rockefeller Gardens on the Halifax river. FCR had a tent area setup with food and drinks for a post race celebration.


I started the race with the 4:15 pacer which I felt was a little ambitious with my lack of training the past 2 months, but thought it was achievable as long as I didn't walk. I stayed ahead of her the entire race. My FCR friend met up with me around mile 10 (ish) and ran with me pacing me to the end. She was amazing. Without her I wouldn't have been able to finish as quickly as I did. Miles 18-21 were on packed dirt which I have a really hard time running on, and it wiped me out. I tanked at mile 23 and without her there pushing me, I don't know that I could have gotten myself running again. My lack of training hit me hard there. The support of a friend who knows how you feel and what your goals are was so amazing. With her push, I got a new PR of 4:08:08.

The best part was coming around the corner to the finish line and seeing (heading) a crowd of FCR friends cheering me on to the finish. The support of this group (FCR) is beyond amazing. People were riding their bikes back and forth on the course offering us water/Gatorade/cliff bars/ibuprofin and just all a round giving us their support. They were hopping on the course running with others (race directors encouraged people to join in to support other runners, FCR group is awesome at not clogging the water stations by bringing their own hydration and they did not cross the finish line or take anything from the race) Then when I crossed the finish line I saw my husband (unexpectedly) standing there cheering for me. He got to see me PR at this race and I couldn't wait to tell him about the whole course! We went over to cheer on the a last few people from FCR that were finishing, than met up at the FCR tent to hear how everyone's race went. Several from FCR got BQ's and most of the others met or exceeded their goals they had for the race. It was an amazing day.

The course was so gorgeous, it was flat and shaded. They had enough water stations but if it had been warmer out they would have needed more. I loved the oranges and fruit they had as well, that is always such a pick-me-up the last 10 miles of the marathon. I am excited it run it again next year. 

Gate River 15k race recap

Gate River 15k

Along with almost 15,000 other runners beat the green monster today. If you haven't run the Gate River 15k you might not know what that means, but I am here to tell you all about it. 

For being such a large race Gate River was extremely organized. Probably one of the most organized races I have participated in.  On race day, the police did a great job of funneling cars to several different parking lots which kept the lines moving and got everyone parked pretty quick.  There were tons of port a potties all around for your last minute restroom needs. Bathroom lines  (when there were lines) took about 2 minutes. So short! The starting line was clearly marked with the different wave starts.  With a submitted time I was able to qualify for the seeded corals. Wave 1 - Yay! I have never been so close to the start line before, it was crazy.


We took off right on time and hit our first bridge at mile 1. I was very surprised by the amount of elevation change there was on this race... I mean, this is FLORIDA!

The course wound through several "higher end" neighborhoods and the community involvement was spectacular. People lined the roads through the entire course of the race. People had their BBQ's out and were offering sausage and pancakes, donuts and pastries, several areas had sliced fruit, popsicles, even whiskey shots and ice cold beer! People had music playing in front of their houses and made signs cheering as we all ran by. It was really fun. At mile 8 we came up to the Green Monster. The 1 mile incline of a bridge (Hart Bridge), and it was very unwelcome when it arrived! Haha. I knew about the bridge and thought I was prepared but I don't think you can prepare for that until you have experienced it first hand. It was SO LONG! All of mile 8 was uphill, but then all of mile 9 was down! Yep, they had a 1 mile-timed downhill section of the course. That mile for me timed in at 7:27. Not bad considering I had just ran uphill first! The final .30 seemed to take forever, finally came across the finish-line at 1:21:16. Not what I had originally hoped for, but considering I have an abscess tooth (diagnosed Friday afternoon) and we were running "bumper to bumper" with other runners from start to finish, and it was SO WARM and humid out... I'll take it :)

I finished in the top 10% of all female runners and earned myself a "top 10% finishers hat" in addition to my metal. That was pretty cool! I feel like the finishers area was very spread out, I actually missed all of it. I walked forever and finally found some water, walked quite a bit more before finding my metal and the photo-op area... Then that was it. No muffins or bananas or Gatorade or anything. I walked through the parking lot to find the my running group to see how everyone else did. I guess there were other items in the finishers area, but I somehow missed them. I was so in need of more water and some Gatorade because it was so warm out. 

FCR (Flagler County Runners) throws an amazing "after-party" with mimosas, bloody mary's, beer or all different kinds, breakfast casseroles, bacon, sausage, eggs, breads, fruit - it was awesome! We had a lot of fun just hanging out with everyone. Can't wait to run it again next year!!