1st Place Sports

Meet Our Management Team!

Store Staff

JJ Porter

JJ has lived in Jacksonville, FL his entire life and attended Wolfson High School. He then went to the Univeristy of Central Florida where he was working towards a degree in Forensic Science.

He began working at 1st Place Sports 4 years ago, starting during his junior year in high school. He has been dividing his time working between our Baymeadows and Orange Park stores.

JJ has been running for the last 6 years, starting with middle school track at James Weldon Johnson Middle School. He then ran all 4 years of cross country at Wolfson High School, where he was All-Conference his senior year. He also spent a summer running summer track for the Police Athletic League. Now, he runs road races for our 1st Place Sports team. His personal records include a 4:44 mile, 16:30 5K, 1:01.02 10-mile, and 1:26.56 ½ marathon.

When JJ runs, he prefers the 8 mile range, but when he races, he enjoys a longer distance, such as the 10 milers like the Evergreen Pumpkin Run (which is his favorite race), the 15Ks like the Gate River Run, and the ½ marathons like the Jacksonville Bank. He prefers running in off-road places, his favorite being the Timacuan Preserve near Fort Caroline. JJ's favorite workout is one known as the “Oregon Drill”. Its done on a football field, and every time he has ever done it, he ran it barefoot.

His advice for beginner runners, is to "Try not to do too much too soon. It is the quickest way to an injury. You have to gradually work up to running certain distances, or for certain amounts of time."

When JJ is not running, he loves to play soccer or teach himself new things on his guitar. Next year, he would love to try and travel to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup!