De Leon Springs Half Marathon
De Leon Springs, Florida
Sunday, January 5, 2014

On Sunday, January 5, 2014 I race walked the De Leon Springs Half Marathon in De Leon Springs, Florida. The temperature varied from 59 to 70 with mostly sunny skies and almost no wind. The approximately 200 participants saw an out and back course, 12.5 miles of paved roads and the rest a sandy road. The roads were open to traffic; however, there was very little and most respected the participants by driving slow and carefully to keep everyone safe and happy. There was one police officer patrolling the course which had no crossroads and very few side roads and driveways. For the most part the course was flat with almost no change in elevation. There were four water stations along the course which served participants in both directions, making the spacing every 1.5 to 2.5 miles between the stations. There was only a need for a few volunteers at each station to take care of the needs of the participants. The volunteers were friendly, efficient, and offered encouragement to the participants. Only the station at miles 6 and 7 served Gatorade in addition to water. I would have preferred to have Gatorade at all stations. The race was very well organized and used chip timing. Because of a large number of last minute entries, there were not enough finisher’s medals for the finishers that took more than 2:45. The race director took names and promised to send medal to the ones that did not receive theirs upon finishing. I enjoyed the event and have now reached a total of 250 race walking marathons (135) and half marathons (115).