Space Coast Half Marathon Race Recap

I ran the 2013 Space Coast Half Marathon in Cocoa, FL and had a blast! (no pun intended)

This was my first time running Space Coast, but I had heard from everyone it is a must run.  The race sold out in record time this year, partly because of the new medal series they introduced.  At packet pickup they had a frame display of the next 5 year medals, plus the challenge medals.

Packet pickup was at Running Zone, a running store in Melbourne, FL.  My daughter of course made me take her pic with the astronaut.

The shirt is a good looking long sleeve tech shirt.

The half marathon started at 6:00am and the full marathon started at 6:30am.  I was staying about an hour south, so I woke up at 3:45am in order to get ready and have plenty of time to drive up and find parking.  I didn’t really know what to expect, but I found parking on a surface street not far from the starting line.

On the drive up it had rained off and on the whole time, so I was slightly worried it would rain on us.  Luckily it didn’t because I didn’t bring any rain gear for my ipod (or myself).

The starting line was in the cute little downtown area of Cocoa.  I believe there was 3,000 half marathon runners and 2,000 full marathon runners.  The announcers were dressed in space suits which I thought was a cute touch.  They had corrals set up by pace, but it was self governed and there was a ton of walkers in the 9 min mile section, so I’m not sure how effective it was.  It was quite dark and not a lot of street lights along the beginning of the course.  I was careful to watch my step and follow the crowds.

The sun started to rise when I was at about mile 4.  It was a pretty site because the storm clouds were still in the sky.

The course is an out and back along a pretty little 2 lane road.  There are lots of trees with hanging moss.

One side of the street is lined with gorgeous houses.

And the other side of the street is the river with the houses’ docks.

Running from the starting line out to the turn around point I didn’t notice the wind very much, but once I made the turn and headed back the wind was against me and it was a little brutal at points, I’m not going to lie.  Mile 11 is always a point in a half marathon where mentally I feel like I’ve made it.  If you can make it to mile 11 than you can make it to 13.1 🙂

The finish line was in a beautiful riverfront park and the crowd support was amazing.  Everyone handing out medals and towels were dressed in space suits and it was well decorated.

At the finish line party there were booths set up handing out pizza, sodas and even beer!

The medal is awesome!  It is huge…like runDisney huge.  It is definitely one of my favorites to date.

After I ate a slice of pizza I hopped in the car to drive an hour south to where we were staying.  It started raining like crazy on my way back, so I am very happy we avoided rain during the race.

I wore my INKnBURN Brave Plaid skirt for the race, since the race was right after Thanksgiving I thought it would be festive to get in the Christmas spirit.

When I got back to my family my daughter wanted a pic with me too, of course.

The Space Coast Half Marathon will definitely be on my race calendar for 2014.  I was told the race is always the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I loved the course, the people and the medal of course 😉

Have you ever ran Space Coast?