January 2009 Letter from Donna
Hello Everyone!
We are getting oh so close to the second annual 26.2 With Donna The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer!
Things are in overdrive mode here in Jacksonville Beach and we cannot wait to welcome you back to the best running city in the U.S.!
Confirmation cards are going out next week so look for those. You will need to bring them to the expo to retrieve your race packets.
If you haven’t seen it already, make sure you pick up a copy of the February Runner’s World. They included a nice segment on the race in the RACING AHEAD section of the magazine detailing last year’s successes.
But we aren’t resting on our laurels folks I can promise you that!
We have some new twists for you in this year’s race. Our Memorial Mile debuts in 2009, and we have special shirts and recognition for our survivors. We have more bands and music on the course and have included a tracking system so that your friends and families can watch your pace. Also, we are excited to announce that you can watch the race streaming live on Firstcoastnews.com and it will also be aired locally on the station’s digital channel! So smile big for the cameras and have fun out there!
Our favorite female Olympian Joan Benoit Samuelson has graciously agreed to join us again this year. I recently spent some time with Joanie at her beautiful home in Maine and will be posting an interview with her in our next newsletter. She has a great message to share and I can’t wait to bring it to you!
Joanie will be running with us of course and she will be joined at the Health & Fitness Expo presented by Winn Dixie by four time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers and Olympic heroes Jeff Galloway, our incredible training guru, and Keith Brantly. We also have an amazing Speaker’s Bureau presented by Novartis for the expo at the Hyatt Riverfront along with a great host of vendors who will be joining us this year. And of course we’ll all be loading carbs together at the Pasta Party presented by Nektar Therapeutics Saturday night.
We have an awesome field of elite runners including our winner from last year! All of this and more can be found in this edition of the newsletter.
So dive in and enjoy and we’ll see you in a couple of weeks in Jacksonville Beach!
Donna
