26.2 w/Donna The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer

I departed Washington, DC on Friday, February 15th to Jacksonville, FL to take part in the 26.2 w/Donna The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer on Sunday, February 17th.  The 26.2 with Donna is a private non-profit organization in Northeast Florida producing the only marathon in the U.S. dedicated solely to raising funds to end breast cancer. One hundred percent of raised funds and race proceeds for all 26.2 with Donna events go towards breast cancer research.

Arrived in Jacksonville at 2:30 and headed over to the Prime Osborn Convention Center to meet Bill and Donna.  We stopped by the Speaker Bureau to listen to Jeff Galloway, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Bill Rodgers.  We arrived a bit late for the presentation but we able to talk to Jeff for a few minutes and have our picture taken with him before we headed over to pick up our race packet and ensure that our chip was working prior to departing the convention center.  I departed Jacksonville to drive up to Fort Stewart, GA to pick up Aimee who had a four day weekend from her Army duties.

Me and Joan Benoit Samuelson

 

Me, Jeff Galloway and Bill

 

                                                    Bill and Donna Picking up Race Packet

Saturday morning Aimee (daughter) and I went out for breakfast at Panera Bread to locate the parking lot where we would catch the shuttle bus to the start the next morning. The rest of day was spent relaxing in the room until we had to meet Bill for dinner at the Mellow Mushroom.

 

Sunday morning Bill and I depart the hotel at 5:00 am en route to the University of North Florida Parking #18 to take the shuttle to the start line. Where we thought we left the hotel in plenty of time we ended up sitting in the traffic along the A1A for two hours, we finally reached the drop off point and proceed over to the Galloway Tent to stay warm before the race. During this time we learned that the 26.2 w/Donna was delayed until 7:45; which was delayed further until 8:00 am.

As the gun goes off Bill and myself that we would stay together throughout the marathon and would be doing a 1/1 ratio as long as possible since the longest training run we both had did was 15 miles. The run along the beach was nice change but with the wind gusts it was a rough 2 miles. This was my comeback marathon from a summer in a leg cast, and was only given the clearance to start running in early November. We keep our 1/1 ratio until mile 15 and decided to walk the last 10K of the marathon.

Miles 2 through 6.5 was along Ponte Vedra Beach; this also was the first marathon relay exchanged point before you headed for the beach and more strong winds made for a very tough run from mile 7 through mile 10.

The miles from 10 through 16 were through more neighborhoods in the Atlantic Beach area and we transverse our earlier steps. Miles 17 - 22 is a blur for me. Miles 23 – 25.7 were on the Butler Blvd Bridge. This was my comeback marathon from a summer in a leg cast, and was only given the clearance to start running in early November. We keep our 1/1 ratio until mile 15 and decided to walk the rest of the marathon.
 

After finally crossing the bridge we made a right turn and moved over to the left lane where in distant you came upon the most beautiful mile marker in the marathon (mile 26) and I was so looking forward to crossing the finish line.  It was refreshing to finish another marathon after my summer of dealing with a stress fracture in the second and third metatarsals.    

Below is a after marathon photo with fellow Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatic. (Jennifer, Mel, Bill and Myself). Jennifer son Morgan took the picture.

                                                            Jennifer, Mel, me and Bill