Ron Jon Half Marathon

Cocoa Beach, Florida

Sunday, October 23, 2016

On Sunday, October 23, 2016 I race walked the Ron Jon Half Marathon in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  It was a nice day for the event as the temperature ranged from 64 to70 degrees with sunny skies and a 5 to 10 mph wind.  The course was completely closed to traffic and consisted of 10.2 miles of paved roadways and 2.9 miles of sandy beach which for the most part was solidly packed sand; however, the exit off the beach consisted of loosely pack sand that was hard to traverse.  Water/Gatorade stations were located from 1 to 2 miles apart and were manned by plenty of efficient enthusiastic volunteers taking care of the needs of the participants.  The event is a Jeannie themed event based on the old television show: “I Dream of Jeannie”.  This is the second year for the event and there were more than 100 participants dressed in Jeannie costumes.  In the first year, Barbara Eden, whom played Jeannie on the TV show, attended.  This year Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island, attended.  The event is well organized and fortunately was able to be held less than 2 weeks after Hurricane Matthew went through the area.  I enjoyed myself and even managed to win third place in my running age group even though I walked the entire way.