Latest reviews by Jessica

(2015)
"Breast Cancer Marathon - HALF"
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This race had a 5K the day before as well as a Half Marathon, Full Marathon, and Marathon Relay so there's a choice for every kind of runner. In the past I've done this race so I was excited to do this half again. It's always a blast and it's for a great cause.

Registration is pretty easy online. However, the price did go up this year which was a bummer. I was able to join my corporate team no problem.

The expo is always my favorite part about Donna weekend. It's HUGE, at the convention center, and has a ton of free stuff and cute stuff to buy. And there's pink EVERYWHERE which I love!

Photos are pretty expensive but there were a lot of photographers on the course so lots of options to choose from!

The course is awesome, going to residential areas at the beach with a ton of crowd support. 2 or so miles were on the sand which was absolutely beautiful, even to a non-beach runner like me!

Aid stations were well-staffed with no bottlenecking and lots of cheering which was nice.

New design to the medal this year which is really pretty.

Postrun had a great food spread with 2 free drinks, Hardees, soup, Barefoot wine, and other goodies too. I do miss the Panera soup they used to have every year though!

Overall I loved it and can't wait for next year!!

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(2015)
"Best Damn Race 10K"
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This race had a 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon, there's a choice for every kind of runner. I went with the 10K for the inaugural Jacksonville event. I have heard of this race before and was really excited when I learned it would be coming to Jacksonville.

I love the registration system for this race. The first entries $1, then they go up to $5, then $10, until you get to your "day of race registration" costs. So if you act fast you can save a ton.

The expo was outdoors on a freezing cold morning. There were a handful vendors there but nothing too special. It was really organized and packet pickup went really smoothly,

This race offered free photos which was awesome. And they were available online the next day!

The course was the standard downtown Jacksonville route. But the best part was NO BRIDGES!! The 5K/10K started 30 minutes before the half, which prevented bottlenecking. Super flat except for 2 overpasses. Myself and others I know ended up with PR's at this race.

Aid stations were well-staffed with no bottlenecking and lots of cheering which was nice.

I really wish they had separated the 5K and 10K, since the medal says "5K/10K" on it. They do this at their races in other cities. It's kind of disappointing to run a 10K and get a medal that says 5K on it too. But the medal has the Jacksonville skyline which was super unique and cool.

Postrun had a sweet food spread with Dunkin' Donuts, free beer, Pollo Tropical, redbull, and the standard bananas/bagles.

Overall I loved it and can't wait to do it again and in other cities too!

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(2015)
"VyStar New Year's Eve 5K"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
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Parking/Access
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Registration: Easy online registration. The price was $25 when I signed up. There was day of race registration available. Included bib, cotton shirt.

Expo: Packet/shirt pickup at 1st Place Sports the day before the race or day of. Even though I picked up the day before and got my bib I still had to wait in line for my chip at the race site.

Photos: Free by 904fitness. Not tagged by bib number but free is free.

Course: Pancake flat except for the dreaded ramp/spiral thing by the landing.

Aid stations: Water in paper cups.

Medal/swag: Medal was nothing special but cute. Shirt was cotton.

Food: Canned bud and coors. I couldn't find the free pizza but I scored a granola bar.

Parking: Plenty of parking at the Landing.

It's a fun little race. I wouldn't make it a priority on my schedule but it was a fun thing to do on my day off!

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(2015)
"New Years Rockin' 5K"
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Ultimate Racing Inc. does it again with another great race. Packet pickup line wait was about 15 minutes the morning of the race and the expo was outdoors which was nice. There weren't bathrooms before the race so you had to walk about 5 minutes to Academy to use theirs. The course was out and back, flat. No traffic on the road which was nice. Aid stations had water and gatorade. The medal was awesome in that it lights up and the ribbon was pretty. T shirts were standard cotton. Post-run food spread was awesome with biscuits, eggs, and bacon. And free champagne! I would definitely run this one again.

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(2015)
"Zooma Women's Race Series"
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"Soak in the Florida sun and feel the sand between your toes as you enjoy a fit girls weekend getaway in awe-inspiring Amelia Island on north Florida’s Atlantic Coast."

I was really unsure about signing up for this race as it is pretty expensive for a 1/2 marathon but I needed a 1/2 for the month of January for my Half Fanatics streak and decided to go for this one and check it out.

Registration: Online registration. Like I said, it was pretty pricey.

Expo: I got there an hour before it was supposed to be over and most of the vendors had already packed up and left. The line took about 5 minutes to get through and was well-organized. Vendors were centered for females since it is a predominantly female race.

Swag: The were already out of shirts at the expo (even though I pre-registered). I was told that my shirt would be mailed to me. A month later I'm still waiting for it. Also, a pair of Feetures socks was in the packet which was pretty awesome. That's pretty much it.

Race-Day Logistics/Parking: I stayed at a hotel that wasn't the host hotel and had someone drop me off at the start line and pick me up at the finish. Shuttles to the start line were only for guests of the host hotel (that offered a discount rate of $250 per night which is why I stayed somewhere else).

The Course: Absolutely beautiful. About 4 miles was in Fort Clinch state park at sunrise so the rays of sun through the oaks were beautiful. Also a deer ran across the path in front of me so that was a nice surprise. The rest of the run was down A1A so looking at all the pretty beachfront houses was fun! 0.2 miles at the end finished on the sand so it wasn't cool to get sand in my shoes at the end of the race.

Aid Stations: Lots of volunteers from UNF and Fernandina Beach HS so young energy and support. Lots of cheering, gatorade, and water. Didn't see any gels.

The Medal: The race website boasted a removable starfish that could be put on a pendant but you'd need a pair of pliers and it'd make the medal look funky. I kept mine on. Other than the starfish pretty plain.

Finish Area: Best part of the race. Food was boxed lunches from the Ritz Carlton hotel, and free barefoot wine. Live funk band was playing outside which was a cool experience with dancing and fun.

Overall, I had a good experience but I feel this was overpriced for what it was. If you google for coupon codes you can save usually around 10% which it what I did. I may do another of their distances in the future (as I looked at the results I saw I could have easily placed in the 5K or 12K).

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