Quad Cities Half Marathon
Moline, Illinois
Sunday, September 28, 2014

On Sunday, September 28, 2014, I race walked the Quad Cities Half Marathon in Moline, Illinois. The temperature varied from 61 to 75 degrees with sunny skies and no wind. The course starts in Moline, Illinois, crosses the Mississippi River into Bettendorf, Iowa, goes along the river into Davenport, Iowa, re-crossing the river into the Rock Island Army Arsenal, Illinois, and finishes at the start. The course utilized a mixture of dedicated highway lanes and paved and gravel bike paths. Water/Gatorade stations were located approximately 1.6 miles apart with Gatorade only being served at every other station beginning at station 2. There were plenty of enthusiastic, efficient volunteers taking care of the needs on the nearly 6000 participants. Spectators were only sparsely spaced along to course, mainly due to pedestrians being restricted from the bridges and Army Arsenal or there being only isolated access to the bike paths. There were plenty of volunteers, police, and police aides stationed at every place where a vehicle might enter or cross the highway. There was quite a lot of traffic backup throughout the course but the traffic seemed to be extremely patient. My friend, Bart Yasso from Runner’s World magazine was the featured speaker at the pre-race pasta dinner and competed in the half marathon. The race director, Joe Moreno, did an excellent job of keeping the event well organized and fun to do despite the challenges caused by major road and bridge construction, the utilization of one of two lanes on an interstate highway bridge, and the closing of the Rock Island river locks to commercial barge traffic during the event. This is the third year that I have enjoyed doing this event.