Key West Half Marathon
Key West, Florida
Sunday, January 18, 2015

On Sunday, January 18, 2015 I race walked the Key West Half Marathon in my hometown, Key West, Florida, which had approximately 2700 finishers in the Half Marathon and 550 finishers in the 5K. It was a little warm as the temperature varied from 69 to 74 degrees with cloudy skies and no wind. The course was a mostly out an back course utilizing 6 miles of sidewalk/bike paths and 7 miles of roads that was closed to traffic. Police and numerous volunteers controlled the intersections and directed the turns. The crowdedness experienced in last year’s race along South Roosevelt Blvd was alleviated by only having the outbound participants on the sideway/bike path and the inbound participants in the near lane of South Roosevelt Blvd. Two changes to the course had mixed reactions from the Participants. One of the changes went out and back on White Street Pier and the other change zigzagged through Mallory Square. The were water stations spaced every one mile that had plenty of enthusiastic efficient volunteers handing out the water. I was very disappointed that there was no Gatorade or other electrolyte drink offered at the water stations as I sweated very much and really needed the electrolytes. In fact by mile 7 I had to really slow down from a 12:45 minute per mile pace to an over 14:00 minute per mile pace. I was 10 minutes slower than I was in Jackson, Mississippi last weekend and the Key West course should have been much easier. We will see what I can do next weekend in Miami. I have done my home town race many times and I have always enjoyed the well-organized fun event.