Jacksonville Marathon - Anyone want to run together?

no.

I'm gonna be there. Injured myself during training (Achilles) so I'm just doing the half... Plus you're much faster than me anyways

Why would anyone choose to go to Jax?

one reason : the Stones will be in town on Wednesday April 24 at TIAA Bank Field for the 2nd concert on their 2019 Tour of the Americas.

The tour opens in Miami down the road on April 20.

That’s a good reason!!!

I've never personally been to Jacksonville, but I'm intrigued.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/visiting-jacksonville-florida

DUUUUUVALLL

I have been there a few times for races and other events as I live 2 hours away. I was thoroughly unimpressed my first few times there, but I have really enjoyed my last couple of visits. Like most places, once you are able to find parts of the area that are not tourist-focused, you can better appreciate what the place has to offer.

My early trips were all limited to the core of downtown (which basically shuts down outside of business hours) and the Jacksonville Landing tourist area. Pretty miserable.

In subsequent trips, I spent some time in the Avondale neighborhood, which actually has a vibrant, post sunset scene, some pretty good restaurants, some bars, etc. I hope to be fit enough to go back and race Gate River Run again this spring because now it is just a fun trip.

Gate River Run is a blast - one of the best organized races I have ever attended in 20 years. They have some fun things for the youngsters to do while you're running.

Visit St. Augustine some time while you're in the area.

mebert wrote:

Gate River Run is a blast - one of the best organized races I have ever attended in 20 years. They have some fun things for the youngsters to do while you're running.

Visit St. Augustine some time while you're in the area.

Agreed. I have run it twice. I have run in a good number of national caliber races - NYC, Boston and Chicago Marathons, Gate (twice), Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, Houston Half - and my local races are administered by one of the best timing companies in the country. While the marathons are obviously unique events, Gate is at least as well run as any of them.

I’m about 4 hours south, so it’s a great early season tuneup for me. I’ve become fond of the quiet small town races (race actually runs through the suburbs) as opposed to the crazy logistics of big city racing.

As far as a destination race, it is certainly not. What amazed me the most about the downtown/landing area was the homeless population. Some parts seemed to be literally entirely inhabited by homeless people. I’ll check out the Avondale area.

I ate at a place in the Avondale area called Biscotti's a couple of times (including before Gate this past spring) and it was pretty good.

Jeff the fat guy wrote:

one reason : the Stones will be in town on Wednesday April 24 at TIAA Bank Field for the 2nd concert on their 2019 Tour of the Americas.

The tour opens in Miami down the road on April 20.

Which rest home are they staying at?