Girl Be Trippin' - Gate River Run 2017 Race Report

Aww, yeah! It’s time for the Gate River Run! I’ve had some interesting times with this race. Hopefully this year, there are no issues!

This time around, our Garmin told us to go up Normandy Blvd, instead of going to I-10. Weird, but okay… Turned out to be a great idea.  I’m terrible with explaining things – especially traffic, but here goes… - Normally, we take I-10, cross over I-295, continue on I-10 and meet up with I-95.  At  that meeting area is the exit we need. Basically, as soon as we ‘merge’ onto I-95 from the left, we have to cross over multiple lanes of traffic to get to the exit we need, on the right. Pretty much every time we try to go this way, I miss the exit (because of the people coming at me 80mph), and have to take the next one and backtrack. It’s really stressful (for someone who doesn’t do “big city drivin’” all that much, at least!).

Anyway, this time, it took us via Normandy and somehow we ended up in the right-hand lane of the interstate (rather than having to cross over), and it was smooth sailing. We got off at the correct exit, which put us on the correct side of the stadium, and we parked at the Sports Complex Garage on Palmetto and E Duval Street. Yeah, it was farther than many of the other parking lots, but it worked well for us. We didn’t have to walk all the way around the stadium to get to the start or finish lines, and it’s right across the street from the Expo and the after-party! (I always like to park near the END of a race, rather than the beginning, when possible).

We headed to the Expo and got my bib, then my shirt and goodie bag. This year we got a pint glass, a plastic cup and a coozie too! I have become addicted to race pint glasses. I have 5 now. I’m going to use the plastic cup as a pen cup at work, so I’ll see it on my desk all the time.

Heading to the Expo!

Female-Cut Race Shirt (almost fits)

Yay... sling bag

Coozie, Plastic Cup, Pint Glass, various stuff from the bag

It is a long walk from the Expo to the starting area. At one point, we passed a guy from the chocolate milk truck pretty much just throwing sweat towels at people. Both my daughter and I grabbed one, so, yay! More sweat towels for my gym bag. 

Walking towards the corrals

You get a towel! You get a towel! Everybody gets a towel!

Construction Crane and The Green Monster

Because of the time I entered when registering, I was placed in Wave 3 again. I like that wave. I’m not fast enough for 2, and I refuse to be in Wave 4 again, so I generally hang out in the back of 3.

This year, they’re doing a lot of construction on this area; it looks like they are removing an entire section of parking lot to make some sort of outdoor amphitheater area? It’ll be called Daily’s Place (Daily’s is a chain of convenience stores in the area). 

Hello, sexy soldiers! Love those thighs!

I gave Hubby a kiss and got a hug from the Kiddo, then I headed into the corral. It wasn’t as busy as I remembered from last year. I hit the potty and stretched near the back of Wave 3 (near the back of Wave 1), drank some water and ate my Clif goo.

He's a great Sherpa

Mooooo... getting into Wave 3

Shoo-fie

The Green Boppers

After a while, Wave 1 takes off, and Wave 2 moves forward. And then… Wave 3 moved forward. Um… we don’t usually do that, right?  But, we’re moving, so I move forward with it. A lot of people are kind of just standing around, trying to figure out what’s going on, but I just go with it. The gate that keeps us in the corral is still closed, but some people are slipping around it and filing in with the back of Wave 2, that had since begun to go. So… I did too!

Just chillin'

Squeezing out of the fence

Poor volunteers were trying really hard to stem the flow of people, but a bunch of us already slipped out, so they just let us go.  I surprised Hubby because (of course) he wasn’t expecting to see me that quickly. With a wave, I was off!

Sorry Volunteers - I know you tried!

We're all just going at this point

We're out! Where's the start line?

I can almost see it!

I’m gonna spare you a play-by-play… I’ve done this race now 4 times, and… well… they all kind of run together!  

The first 3 miles were great. I made it over the Main Street Bridge (along with a soldier with a FULL rucksack – props to you!). It wasn’t too hot, nor too chilly. Today was a good day for a 10 mile tour of Jacksonville.

Maxwell House - the Coffee of Champions

Mile 1

"Mush, Humans, Mush!"  and   "Running a 15k? Where's Your Sled?"

Bridge #1 - Main Street Bridge

Ugh, up is hard

Okay... He's got it a LOT harder than I do

So does she! You two rock!

Action Shot on the Bridge

Mile 2

The Kiddo went to a convention at that hotel. Small world!

Oh, girl... that's just a bad look.

Mile 3

After the 5k split, we turn on to a road that parallels the river, and I was sad to see that a new, and ugly, fence had been installed. Like really new.  I wonder if they put it up because of the race, or if it will be there all the time. If I owned a home on this street, I’d be ticked!

This is also the area where Drunk Spectators start showing up. Jax is very serious about this being a party race.  One group of spectators were giving out Munchkins – or from the look of the gutters, maybe they were throwing Munchkins. I don’t know. I didn’t get any.

5k Split - 33.3% done!

This is a really ugly fence. At least it's green

Why did they fence off the park? Is the park in time-out?

Let's get this drunken spectator party started! Throw me a Munchkin!

Oh... I guess that's why they ran out of Munchkins

I feel like the flag is backwards, but maybe they are orienting it towards the river?

Mile 4 to Mile 6 was also very uneventful. Lots of spectators, which I love. Lots of families set up camp at the end of their driveways and drink while we go by. Little kids give out high-fives. I’m pretty sure I walked right by the Sausage & Beer Tent this time!
 

Mile 4 - finally some shade

This looks correct

Mile 5

Many thanks to The Armstrong Agency for their big sign

Mile 6, way up there

There's some kid up there with a hose, spraying everyone down. he left before I got there.

10k Split - 66.6% Done

Around Mile 7, I decided it was time to move my ass. I knew the bridge was coming up, but my Garmin said I was making great time, and I could possibly PR this race if I sped it up a bit. So, after I took my “soon” selfie, I settled down into my hips and began to run. I was passing walkers left and right, and even though I know I probably not even topping 4mph, I felt like a fast bitch!

Mile 7

Soon... oh, wait... where's the bridge?

That's better... (ahem) SOON!

Okay, time to turn off Atlantic and onto the entrance ramp to The Green Monster. A lot of people were taking advantage of guard rails to stretch. There was some guy there, shirtless, wearing a huge sombrero. Uh, okay…

This photo doesn't adequately show just how MANY stretchers there were!

¡Hola! ¡Mira mis enormes tetas de hombre!

Up we go, this bridge is my bitch. 

And success! 

Top o the world, ma!

It’s (literally) all downhill from here. I put my head back down, used the decline to my advantage and began running again. 

I look so happy!

And then… I almost died. 

I don’t pick up my feet much when I jog. Apparently this road isn’t very smooth. My left foot caught a bump in the road (like where two pieces of asphalt jut together) and I thought to myself, this is it… I’m goin’ down.  I stumbled and stumbled and pin-wheeled my arms and stumbled some more before… finally… I caught myself and kept running. I was inches away from barreling into the runner in front of me, but luckily, I didn’t! 

Mile 9 (so close!)

I hit Mile 9, and thank you Lord, I’m off the exit ramp and rounding the final turn to the stadium, then into the finisher chute and success! I completed the Gate River Run for the 4^th time!

My official time was 2:43:14 - PR BABY!!!!  I shaved off 1:16 from my 2015 time (and over 3 minutes from my time last year!).  I  was 13359th out of 14232 total finishers, and 1243rd out of 1311 in my age group.

I got my medal and found the family. We skipped even going IN to the after-party this year; they have the entrance on one side of the large park area, and the exit on the other, but the exit was on the side we were currently walking on, so I just said fuck it, let’s go get lunch.

Kiddo wanted a cheeseburger, so we decided to hit up a TGI Friday’s. There were a few to choose from in the Garmin, and sadly we chose the wrong one. I won’t go into agonizing detail - you can read the email below, if you like - but it was bad. Service was slow. Every single order was wrong. The manager was a class-A dick to us when we finally complained. I don’t often complain on business’ websites, but this was an extreme situation. So I did, a few days later. I didn’t want to do it as soon as I got home, because I know I can have “tone” when I write. I tried to be partial, but still convey how amazingly bad my experience was. 

 Apparently, it was conveyed, because within 2 days, I got emails from two different people within the chain of command, with each one offering compensation for my problems. I never ask for compensation, so I was heartened by this response. I won’t write off TGIF as a whole, because of this one experience, but I’m certainly not going to be going to THAT Friday’s any time soon!

After our disastrous meal, we headed home and I vegged all evening.