Presque Isle Half Marathon
Erie, Pennsylvania
Sunday, July 19, 2015

On Sunday, July 19, 2015 I race walked the Presque Isle Half Marathon in Erie, Pennsylvania. My left hamstring is not completely healed but is getting that way. As a result I still did not go all out. I save that for when it is completely healed. It was a hot day with sunny skies and a temperature varying from 75 to 82 degrees and the breeze was blocked for the most part by the numerous trees in the island state park. The course was flat and used dedicated lanes that were closed to traffic. There were only a few places where the traffic needed to cross the course and were controlled completely by police and volunteers. The island has mostly one way roads with two lanes so the traffic had the right lane and access to the Lake Erie water and the 1600 participants had the left lane. Water/Gatorade stations were located approximately every 1.5 miles and were manned by plenty of efficient, enthusiastic volunteers. Since Gatorade was only available at every other station and the day was so hot, I was not able to replace my electrolytes as fast as needed and had to slow down the last 4 miles. The start area definitely did not have enough bathroom facilities for the 1600 participants as there were only 12 porta-potties. There was also a bathroom with 5 stalls on both the men and woman sides; however, the person that was supposed to unlock it never showed up so the bathroom was unavailable. Even if the bathroom would have been unlocked, there would still be way too few facilities available. I do not know who did the math so poorly. If every participant needed to use the facilities and took only 1 minute each, it would require more than 70 minutes for everyone to have a turn. The woods were used for the needs of a large amount of people as a result. The rest of the details for the event were relatively well managed.