Cocoa Beach Ron Jon Half Marathon

Cocoa Beach, Florida

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Sunday, October 14, 2018 was a hot day to do the Cocoa Beach Ron Jon Half Marathon in Cocoa Beach, Florida as the temperature varied from 79 to 86 degrees with sunny skies and little breeze.  The event is an I Dream of Jennie themed event and saw over 200 people dressed as Jennie or Major Nelson.  The race started on Florida A1A at Patrick Air Force Base and proceeded for 7 miles through Cocoa Beach to Ron Jon Surf Shop.  The right lane of A1A was closed to traffic and dedicated to the 796 finishers of the Half Marathon and 254 finishers of the two person relays.  The first two miles were somewhat crowded.  The next 2 miles used sided streets and a parking lot.  The next 2.9 miles were on the beach along the Atlantic Ocean heading back to Downtown Cocoa Beach..  Normally beach runs are schedules during the last half of a falling tide so that the sand is firm and offers solid footing.  Unfortunately this beach run was on the last half of a rising tide so the solid sand was covered by crashing waves and participants had to choose either to travel in soft sand or use the solid sand between the crashing waves and dodge the waves which was not always possible.  Neither choice worked very well.  My mile pace on the sand was over 6 minutes per mile slower than my mile pace for the first nine miles.  Also travelling on loose sand and through ocean water is very hard on the leg muscles.  From the beach to mile 13 again used A1A heading north in the dedicated lane.  The last tenth of a mile was in Lori Wilson Park on Jennie Lane.  A few military police and Cocoa Beach police officers were utilized along A1A and volunteers were utilized at some business and motel entrances to control traffic needing the enter the highway.  Water/Gatorade station were located from 2 to 2.5 miles apart and were manned by plenty of friendly volunteers.  However, with the heat these stations were a little too far apart.  This is the fourth year for this event and I have done the event the last three years.  My other two experiences did not suffer the sand problem.  The event is well organized and friendly and I enjoyed myself despite the sand fiasco.

The Exposition

Before The Race

Ken Bereski

After The Race

Tawanna Dennis

Chester Kalb