Cocoa Beach Half Marathon - Cocoa Beach, Florida

Florida is not participating in fall this year. That being said, at 6:00 a.m. before the race it was 80 degrees. In mid-October. Good times.

Never the runner to back down from challenging circumstances, I was sure to prepare myself mentally for a steamy, sweat-in-the-eyes, this could turn out poorly, watch-out-for-the-ambulances kind of race.

I drove a little more than two hours on Saturday over to Cocoa, arriving with plenty of time to scoot through the small expo and pick up my bib. They had baskets of Clif Bloks to give away. I’d never tried any of those so I picked out two flavors and took two of each. Free is good. In the expo, I purchased a Turtle Towel with a snazzy little chevron pattern called “Joy”. I had seen them the previous year I was in Cocoa for a different race but passed them up. I have yet to test mine out in the truck, but I’m hopeful it will at least help absorb some of the post-race slime. Most of the time I remember to bring a blanket or towel for the seat, but having something that shifts around less might be a good thing. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I picked up a new keychain inside Ron Jon’s (I’m pretty certain I’m not cool enough for anything else they sell) and drove just a few miles from there to check into the hotel. After filling up my bottles for the next day and tossing them in the fridge, I made the trip to Publix for - what else - bacon and some cranberry scones for race-day breakfast. Back to the hotel, food in the fridge, and then out again for some dinner. I ended up at Coconuts on the Beach and although the service was lovely, I can’t say my burger was too spectacular. I enjoyed a glass of wine and some people-watching before returning to my room to get some shut-eye before race day.

Just when you think you’re having a pretty good pre-race prep, you wake up at 1:30 a.m. and can’t go back to sleep. Maybe it was the noisy mattress springs, maybe it was the ancient A/C unit turning off and on, maybe I’m getting old and I was having hot flashes, who knows. I think I finally drifted back to sleep about 3:30, but the alarm came soon after at 4:50. I was less than half a mile to the bus pick-up, so my plan was to get dressed and out the door by 5:15 so I could be on the bus by 5:30.

The rest of the pre-race routine went along as usual. I ate my breakfast after I arrived at the starting line area. I used the porta-potties before they got gross. I watched people stretch and warm-up (I watched, let’s be clear that I did not participate in said warm-ups, that’s what mile 1 is for). Since this race takes place starting near the Air Force base in Cocoa Beach it has an “I Dream of Jeannie” theme. Folks dress up in costumes like Jeannie and Major Nelson from the late 1960s show. The race even has a Jeannie division. The Jeannies were all gathered together for a pre-race photo, the national anthem was sung, and we were off.

Considering the warmth of the day and the lack of sleep, I had decided (during the time I was not warming up) that I would attempt to stay in front of the 2:20 pacer as long as possible. For most races, I try to have some sort of goal to keep my mind focused on something to do. I had planned to treat this race as just part of marathon training, so even if the weather had been better I don’t think I would have tried for a fast time anyway. My times have been a bit slow these days as well, so I figured if I could stay ahead of 2:20 gal for 5-6 miles then that would certainly be an uptick in the pace department.

The first 7-8 miles was a straight shot down A1A to the park right behind Ron Jon’s. It was fairly uneventful, not too much scenery to be had either. On the bright side, it was flat and it wasn’t overcrowded. I cranked up some music in my headphones. The sweat was dripping off my elbows by mile 2 so I lost the shirt and took extra water as I passed each aid station. I tried out the Clif Bloks two times during the run and was pleasantly surprised. I know the rule is always nothing new on race day, but since I was treating this race like training, and it was 582 degrees, I figured why not. They were easy to chew, didn’t get stuck in my teeth and didn’t leave an awful aftertaste. I plan to try my extras this coming weekend for my 20-miler.

We looped around the roads and beach access park behind Ron Jon’s before hitting the beach for miles 10-12. Yep, you read that right, the beach. From the park, we ran just about 3 miles south on mostly hard-packed sand. This part didn’t faze me much as I’ve run an entire half-marathon on the beach before and I’ve started doing trail runs. To my surprise, I actually passed quite a few people on this part of the course. Guess all that summer beach running while on vacation was helpful! Three miles later we popped back out onto A1A just before the 12-mile marker.

From there it was the same straight road back to the finish in another park. The finish line was decked out in pink carpet, so very Jeannie-esque. Upon crossing the line, I received my nifty genie bottle medal and headed straight for the trough of cold water bottles. Post-race food was limited to pizza, bananas, and maybe some donut holes. I passed on all of those and made my way back to the hotel to shower, check out, and make the drive back home.

In the end, it turned out to be better than I expected. The 2:20 pacer never passed me, so she must have been just off her pace that day. I ended up with a 2:25:42 finish time which placed me 226 out of 750 overall, 112 out of 487 females, and 14 of 51 for age group. That finish time isn’t super stellar for me but considering the circumstances, I was quite satisfied. I think with cooler temps, a less busy life, and a heapin’ helpin’ of more sleep that race could be even better for me. We’ll just have to keep it on the list for a redo someday. Next up is the Battleship Half-Marathon in Wilmington, North Carolina in just a few weeks. It will be the last half-marathon race before my full in December. Maybe by going north, I’ll get to keep my shirt on.