Space Coast Marathon
Cocoa, Florida
Sunday, November 25, 2007

On Sunday, November 25, 2007 I race walked the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa, Florida. The day was sunny and hot with little wind; however, the course followed the shore of the Indian River and offered some shade along the way. The event was well organized with plenty of water/Gatorade stations manned by enthusiastic volunteers, mainly cross country teams from area high schools. In the past the event has been relatively small, only a few hundred in the marathon and half marathon combined. With a new race director and rigorous promoting the event has grown to around 1500. I still enjoyed the event tremendously. This made the fifth year in a row that I have done the event.
As in the past the pre-race pasta banquet was included in the price of the entry. This year’s dinner featured two wonderful speakers – Michael McCulley, who is a former astronaut and space-shuttle commander, and Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the gold medal in the first Olympic woman’s Marathon held in 1984 in Los Angeles. Both did the half marathon on Sunday and handed out the awards after the race.

Pictures from the event can be seen in later postings.