Sioux Falls Half Marathon
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sunday, September 8, 2013

I have a hip injury and was not able to participate in the Sioux Falls Half Marathon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Sunday, September 8, 2013; however, my wife, Gerda, completed the event. The temperature started at 70 and reached 80 degrees by the time she finished which made the event a little hot. The skies were mostly sunny and there was only a little breeze. The course was a point to point journey that utilized half roadways and half bicycle paths. There was quite a bit of up and down that made the course of medium difficulty with no challenging hills. There was a very large number of volunteers, police, and firemen. The police and firemen controlled the traffic completely at every intersection. The volunteers did the rest of the duties, marking the course and manning the 9 water/Gatorade stations, spaced about every mile and a half. The volunteers were very enthusiastic and there were many spectators throughout the course. There were about 4000 participants in the three events, 5K, Half Marathon, and Marathon, with the majority entered in the Half Marathon. For the most part the event was very well organized; there was a little difficulty in finding out results when compared to most events. The one major short coming was the transportation back to the start line, which consisted of only one bus and 2 vans. If I had been able to do the event also, Gerda and I would have had to wait a very long time for transportation back to our car at the start line. I was able to drive the car to the finish area. Overall the event was fun.