Key West Half Shell Half Marathon
Key West, Florida
Sunday, January 19, 2014

Weather wise it was a near perfect day when I race walked the Key West Half Shell Half Marathon in Key West, Florida on Sunday, January 19, 2014. The temperature ranged from 60 to 67 degrees with completely clear skies and 10 to 15 mph winds from the NNW, a direction from which almost all the course was sheltered. The course was on paved streets and sidewalks that I thought would be more crowded than it was for the 2500 entries. The middle of the pack did experience some crowded areas, especially between miles 6 and 7 where the turn around for the mainly out and back course was located. I avoided most of the crowding by starting near the end of the field which caused the middle of the pack to be further in front of me. There were six water stations, five of which were used in both directions and the plentiful enthusiastic volunteers did an excellent job of taking care of the needs of the participants. One excellent idea for the water stations was that the approximately 5 tables at each station were separated by 30 to 40 feet which made access to the water easier for the participants. There were also a large number of police and volunteers to control the traffic at intersections and direct participants at the turns which were also marked by arrows on the streets and sidewalks. Last year there was not enough space for the packet pick-up activities and this year that problem was eliminated. The post race area was somewhat crowded this year, however. The event has really grown in size the last couple of years and I hope it does not get much bigger because I want the event to continue to be fun and enjoyable. I also hope that the event continues to use the current course with the section from miles 5.5 to 8 using the sidewalk for the out going participants and the right roadway lane for the returning participants. I also hope that the old course which crossed US 1 near mile 6 not be used as crossing US 1 with a field the size of the current event would require the roadway to be complexly closed for nearly an hour which would block the only way in or out of Key West and would be quite upsetting to the people not participating in the event. As in the past I enjoyed this hometown event that was well organized and fun to do.