race report: zooma amelia island (part 1)

I’m so excited to start to share with you the official race report: ZOOMA Amelia Island! Since this is a multi-day event, this will be a multi-day post. Let’s get into it!

Heading to Amelia Island

Meghan arrived at my house around lunch time. We had a few things to do (namely, iron vinyl on to my race tank), but we got on the road fairly quickly.

We checked into the Ocean Coast Hotel At The Beach mid afternoon, and got settled in right away. It was an older property, but it was spotlessly clean, and just about two blocks to the beach.

Of course, we walked right over to feel the sand between our toes.

Properly recharged for the weekend, we devised a plan. We would get changed, attend the complimentary wine tasting at a local shop, go to the ZOOMA VIP party to pick up our swag and enjoy some more wine and light bites and then grab dinner.

The wine tasting was super nice, with a pinot gris, chardonnay, pinot noir, red blend and cabernet sauvignon. It was wonderful to unwind and kick thing off.

ZOOMA VIP Party + Packet Pickup

The ZOOMA Expo was located in the GFWC Women’s Club of Fernandina building. It was a super cute little venue. We arrived just at the appointed time, and got on line. Party guests could pick up their bibs and swag bags, and even the jackets we received complimentary with our early registration.

As we moved through the venue, there was charcuterie, crudite and little desserts, a choice of red or white wine, and lots of shopping from the Be Inspired Brands: Skirt Sports, Momentum, and even SRTT. Four new prints of apparel were launched that night, as well, and guests shopped til they dropped with fabulous discounts.

There was definitely a little something for everyone, but I wish they had a few runner-specific things (think gels, socks, sunglasses: things a runner might have forgotten to pack for what is mostly a destination event).

We ended up staying almost til the end, and scrambled to grab dinner before everything closed. Yay for V Pizza.

Saturday Beach Walk + Yoga

Another event offered by ZOOMA was a beach walk and yoga early on Saturday morning. Meghan and I said “what the heck” and registered for the free event. As a result, we were up super early, snagged a snack and coffee from the hotel lobby and made the short trek to Main Beach.

I’m a sucker for sunrise on the beach, and was thrilled to experience it with Meghan, and get to meet blogger friend Marcia, who works for ZOOMA.

We got organized, and Marcia and some other ZOOMA ladies led us for about a mile walk on the beach. The morning was just perfect.

We then got our mats set up for an amazing flow with Kelly. I haven’t done yoga in ages and I felt every second of it, in the best way possible. There were a few things I couldn’t manage, but I kept up really well.

Breakfast + Lighthouses

At this point, we were hungry and in desperate need of coffee so we made our way into downtown. We didn’t realize a car show was going on, so breakfast took a little while. It was worth it. This was the best cold foam cold brew I have had in ages.

We wandered around the cars, petted some dogs, stumbled across the weekend farmer’s market and finally made it back to our parking spot. Since we were still in activewear, we decided to check out the lighthouse. Unfortunately, it’s not one you can climb, but it was still pretty.

Whiling Away The Day

It was finally time to get back to the hotel and shower and change so we could get on with our day. First, it was cocktails and seafood on a gorgeous balcony, with live updates coming from Mr. PugRunner at A’s band competition.

Then we visited Marlin & Barrel. We were there for a Yelp event a few weeks ago and it turned out that I won a bottle of vodka! I was finally able to claim that prize!

Our evening plans included dinner at a sports bar watching football. We had some yummy shrimp tacos, which were perfect for a pre-race meal.

And then it was off to bed, with dreams of a 12k in our heads.

Have you ever taken part in a multi-day racecation?

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