JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Every year, thousands of runners take on the 9.3-mile Gate River Run. Each one has a reason to run.<\/p>\n
For Skye McCarley, it\u2019s tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always on the calendar for us,\u201d McCarley said.<\/p>\n
A Jacksonville native and Terry Parker High School graduate, McCarley ran her first Gate River Run in 2017. It was her first race since competing in cross country for the Braves. Encouraged by coworkers, she signed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember still to this day the nerves that I had just going into this big road race that looked vastly different than a high school cross country meet,\u201d McCarley said.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been back every year. What started as a single race has grown into a family reunion, with more friends and relatives joining her at the starting line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really just an ever-growing kind of family and crew that I like to have,\u201d McCarley said. If someone says, \u2018hey I want to start running. What\u2019s a good race to go to?\u2019 I\u2019m like \u2018you got to run the Gate River Run\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the race has marked more than miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt coexists with a lot of things that have happened in my life,\u201d McCarley said.<\/p>\n
In 2022, just steps from the finish line and surrounded by thousands of spectators, her now-husband Justin proposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never forget it because it was probably the most Skye way of a proposal,\u201d McCarley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis person is so perfect to think of the two things that mean the most to me: running and having that little fianc\u00e9 status was something I was so excited for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then in 2025, one month after learning she was pregnant, McCarley ran the race 12 weeks along with her daughter, Leila.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never forget that feeling of knowing like I did something so incredible running with my little beanie baby in my belly,\u201d McCarley said. \u201dThen of course finishing that, there was so many emotions. I just remember crying thinking I spent so many monumental times here at this finish line and now this is like the next chapter of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year brings another milestone. Five months postpartum, McCarley is running her first race as a mom – with her daughter along with her family waiting at the finish line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to just be that I ran for myself and just to get that piece of metal and see how fast I can go,\u201d McCarley said. \u201dNow it\u2019s just seeing the excitement build not only with my husband for being so proud but then seeing my daughter there. She\u2019s only just 5 months old but to see her expression and knowing that mom is so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
She hopes one day Leila will lace up beside her. <\/p>\n
Each time McCarley crosses the finish line, she says she adds another title to her name.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just Skye,\u201d McCarley said. \u201cIt\u2019s mom, wife, coach, friend, sister. I\u2019m interested to see what the next few years hold.\u201d<\/p>\n
All from signing up to run a 15K in her hometown.<\/p>\n
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