Jetty to Jetty 35 Mile Beach Run
Mayport to St. Augustine FL
Mar. 18, 2000

At sunrise on Saturday, March 18th, we gathered at Hanna
Park, near the northern end of this barrier island in
Northeast Florida. We were there to run 35 miles of beach
between the St. Johns River entrance at Mayport and the St.
Augustine Inlet. This event is called the BEST Jetty 2 Jetty
Beach Ultramarathon, and it is believed to be the longest
beach run in the world. For me, this was to be the 6th race
of marathon or ultramarathon distance in the past 11 weeks,
and my last "long run" before going to North Carolina to
race in the Umstead 100-Mile Endurance Run on April 8-9.

We started the Jetty-2-Jetty about an hour after high tide,
so that later in the race we would have the best chance for
a wider, flatter beach. The southern half of the course
toward Vilano Beach is often much steeper, with more coquina
shell than sand. Throughout the course, the conditions
change and the footing varies, too. In some areas the sand
can be flat and firmly packed by the waves and wind. In
other parts of the course, the surface is steeply banked and
the sand and shells can be loose and provide limited
traction. For the first time in nearly twenty years on this
coast, I found two dead porpoises washed up on the beach.
One had just recently come ashore and looked magnificent
even in death.

The support team, made up especially of Anita Lerch, Stacy
Carnine, and Ruth Hatten did a great job, in spite of how
spread out participants get in a point-to-point event this
long. Though the announcements suggested minimal aid, plenty
of liquids, foods, and other goodies were at the 6-7 aid
stations. This year, John Pretzel rode his bike to accompany
some of the runners during the first half, as well as
assisting with support along the course.

It is remarkable how much time one has to think during a
long race like this one. The view is constantly changing,
though the ocean is always on the left and the sand
stretches forever into the distance. There is time for
reflection about one's life, time to wonder about what
others may be doing, plenty of time to consider quitting and
going home for a nap. During this race, the nap suggestion
was strong for me, but I was able to keep moving forward.

After running for the first mile with the eventual winner
(at a pace I did not want to maintain so early), I was
fortunate to run with David Hatten for much of the race,
from about mile 4 to about mile 24. At that point, I was
joined by Kim Ball, one of our area's best women runners,
who was willing to go at my pace to the finish line -- or in
this case, the finish rocks. Both David and Kim kept me
inspired and determined to carry on to the finish.

Frank Sutman was the first to finish at the Vilano Beach
jetty in 4 hrs. 49 mins., averaging about 8:15 mile pace for
the 35 miles. Unfortunately, he had to leave before any of
the other runners had finished, but I heard that he seemed
very comfortable and looked ready to run some more.
Unfortunately, my running partner, David Hatten, had to drop
out at about 23 or 24 miles, due to a pain in his foot. Kim
Ball and I finished together in 5:40. Mike Martin, running
in his first event over a marathon, went the distance alone
and finished in 5:52. Gail Huecker from Hernando, FL came in
at 7:10 -- her longest run ever. Prior to Saturday, she had
never run more than 16 miles at one time! Franz Lerch, Mona
Krasienko, and Craig O’Neal completed the course in 7:33.
This was the first Ultra run for Franz, too. We each got a
red finisher T-shirt, courtesy of Fun Run Sports Company,
and wore them to go to dinner in St Augustine to celebrate
the completion of this very challenging event.

As Frank said, "Anyone who finishes this endurance event is
a winner!"

The day after the Jetty-2-Jetty Ultra, I had a great 7-8
mile run at sunrise on Sunday morning, and then took Monday
off completely. Today was just too beautiful to sit out
another day, so I went for a quick 5 miles to run on the
beach. I will run some 10-15 milers for maintenance and to
keep limber during the next few weeks. There are just a
couple more weeks to go before starting the next one --
Umstead 100-mile Endurance Run in Raleigh, NC, on April 8th.

Run Happy,

Jakson
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                        Jakson Badenhoop
Performance MultiSports -- USATF-FL Men's LDR Chair
     Ph.904 / 285-1552 -- mailto:JaksonBa@ilnk.com
         WEB: http://users.ilnk.com/Performance
                      Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
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