Shamrock Half Marathon
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Sunday, March 20, 2011

I race walked the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach on Sunday, March 20, 2011. It was cold and windy as the temperature varied between 42 and 48 degrees and the wind was 10 to 20 mph with higher gusts. The skies were clear. The course is almost flat, never getting over 20 feet above sea level. The first 6 miles were on a highway, then 3.5 miles through Fort Story Military Base, followed by 3 miles of highway and 0.6 miles on the Virginia Beach Cement Boardwalk. The finish line was near the 26 foot statue of Neptune. Except for a couple of vehicles on the military base, there was no traffic allowed on the course which was controlled by plenty of police and military personnel. Water/Gatorade stations were located every two miles approximately and had plenty of enthusiastic volunteers tending to the needs of the competitors. There were about 24000 participants in the two day event which saw 9000 in the half and 5000 in the full marathon on Sunday and the other 10000 in the 8K and kids’ races on Saturday. The event has really grown over the years. I did the marathon in 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 and the half marathon in 2011. The event has always been very well organized and fun to do.