So my workplace has turned this race into a yearly tradition. One of our employees has a child that was treated by Wolfson's so every year we do what we can to support all the work Wolfson does fo the community. What's cool is that every race announce what piece of machinery they are raising money for and what it does. This race was pretty cold by Florida standards. If I remember correctly, the temperature didn't go above 48 and it was the kind of wet cold that feels as if it's in your bones. I came prepared though with the proper baselayer that I recently purchased for backpacking, wool socks, and my trusty buff around my neck that kept my ears and bald head warm when I needed it.

Race Management: This race is managed quite well. Everything is organized from the course instructions, rules, to the way the tents are laid out. They have the tents organized in rows and each row has a letter assigned to it so if your teammates are having a hard time finding the tent you can simply let them know you're in "Row H" or something. Also, gotta love free coffee and Dunken Donuts in the morning to help warm you up on a cold morning. This run definitely takes being a 'social event' to the next level. They had everyone from the local Star Wars cosplaying club, the color guard, live cover bands, and the University of North Florida Cheerleaders out there doing something or another involving the race.

Parking Access: Parking for this race is extremely accessible. Everyone parks in the Jacksonville Jaguar parking lot and then walks across the street to the baseball grounds where the race is staged. It's very hard to miss, and it's only a hop, skip, and a jump away from all the action. This makes for packing everything up and getting it to the cars quite easy as well. I've been to races where I've simply relied on following the crowd of people because I didn't know where I was going, and marking down what building I parked near to so that way I can look up that building later just to find my car, so parking access is rather important to me.

Aid Stations: One small aid station with tiny tiny cups, but the aid station is filled with joyous and cheering people who were really in the spirit. I was wearing a panda hat and some of the people at the aid station was chanting, "Panda! Panda! Panda! Panda!" My co-worker who was running with me to get extra miles in made note of the small panda fan club that I had gathered at the aid station for just passing through.

Course Scenery: You get to run downtown down one long stretch of road, but that's about it. You do get to see some of the river, but that part of the course is extremely minimum. The run does goes past the Maxwell Coffee House factory, but the area around there doesn't smell like coffee, and kind of makes it hard to breath once you're in the area. Some people love this area, but others(like myself) find themselves having to breathe through their mouth until they are far enough away.

T Shirt/Swag: Not a big fan of the cotton that the put in their race shirts.

Overall: I really enjoy doing this race once a year and hope that we can continue it if I'm still with the company. Next year myself and my co-worker plan on running the 30k associated with this race instead of the relay.