Key West Half Marathon
Key West, Florida
Sunday, January 17, 2016

On Sunday, January 17, 2016 I race walked the Key West Half Marathon in Key West, Florida. The event was delayed 1 hour to allow a line of heavy rain and wind, possible thunder showers and tornados to pass through the area. This was a very good decision! The 8 o’clock start saw heavy winds from the south and light rain. The winds continued the whole event and shifted to the west then the northwest. Gusts easily reached 35 mph and when they were head winds, they were quite challenging. The sun managed to appear for the last half of the event. The course was completely on paved roads and paved bike paths and had to be modified before the start because of ocean waves flooding the White Street Pier section. Many of the participants do not like that section of the course and were very happy about the change, including me. Waves also put debris on some of the South Roosevelt part of the course but it had to be utilized anyway. Water/Gatorade stations were located about every 1.5 miles and were manned by plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. Unfortunately the last 4 or 5 stations were out of Gatorade when I reached them. Traffic intersections were controlled by plenty of police and volunteers as well as other key sections of the course. This is a home town event for me with a registration of about 4500 in the half marathon and 5K and I enjoy doing it.