RED Episode #52: Half Marathon at Donna, Poe’s Tavern, and Engine 15
This episode continues our series featuring one of our favorite race weekends, the 2019 Donna Marathon Weekend! It’s the Half Marathon!
RUN
The 2019 Donna Marathon Weekend has a race for everyone from 5k all the way to an Ultra Marathon. We participated in the Booby Trap Challenge, which means we complete the 5k on Saturday and the Half Marathon (or you might run the marathon) on Sunday of the race weekend in order to receive a bonus medal. (You know we are all about the bling!) This Half Marathon has such amazing community support. Each neighborhood in the Jacksonville Beach area we ran through had their own block party celebrating and cheering on runners. they had cupcakes, muffins, and beverages for us. Can you say that you have had a beer or a mimosa on a race course before? How about both? These people are amazing and make you go on and push through even when you feel like your legs have nothing left. It was such a flat course, too. No bridge at the end like last year’s half marathon. The weather started out as cold but warmed up over the course of the race so it was important to stay hydrated, and the official water and nutrition stops were plentiful and helped us do just that. 2019 Donna Marathon Weekend is a weekend like no other and everyone should do it at least once to get the amazing feeling we had when crossing the finish line.
EAT
After the 5k, we went into the Runners Village and were introduced to Poe’s Tavern. We had a slider from their tent and as we talked to their friendly staff, and they described all the full-size burgers named after Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, we knew we had to check it out. So after we crossed the finish line of the half marathon, we walked a block to Poe’s Tavern. I had the Black Cat burger with bacon, pimento cheese, grilled onions and Edgar’s drunken chili. The drunken chili has beer in it, so we got to explore burgers and indulge in great beer flavor at the same time! The burger was perfectly cooked (they will do it at any temperature) and tasted spicy, tangy, a little bit of sweetness from the pimento cheese and grilled onions. You should get a burger from here!
Poe was known for his drinking and for his amazing horror stories and poetry, so the menu has an item for every one of his pieces of literature. The restaurant and bar has movie posters from classic films based on his works, and if you go into the bathroom you hear audiobooks of his work as well as see wallpaper made out of pages from his novels.
DRINK
Engine 15 Brewing has been in the Jacksonville since 2014. They have two locations, a beach location and their brewery and tap room in an industrial area of downtown Jacksonville. We were at their downtown location, and we were so lucky we chose that one because it has such rich history, in just the building alone. Their outdoor beer garden often has a food truck and is a huge space where they can host a lot of really well-attended events, some family-friendly and educational, too. Luciano Scremin, owner of Engine 15, took us on a tour and introduced us to a flight of their eclectic beers and cider.
THAT’S A WRAP
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