Baltimore Half Marathon

Baltimore, Maryland

Saturday, October 21, 2017

On Saturday, October 21, 2017 I race walked the Baltimore Half Marathon in Baltimore, Maryland.  The temperature varied from 58 to 71 degree with sunny skies and no wind.  There were a total of just over 40000 entries spread out through all the events with 11000 entries in the sold out half marathon which had a late starting time of 9:45 AM and consisted of five waves starting at 3 minute intervals.  The course was on city streets that were completely closed to traffic and had police at all intersections to control cross traffic which in some places was back up quite a bit.  About 1/3 of the police officers were friendly and acted as if they were enjoying helping with the event.  Another 1/3 of the police officers acted as if they did not want to help with the event and the other 1/3 showed no emotion but did their duty.  This surprised me as in most cities which I have done races, the police officers are friendly and seem to be enjoying helping.  The course was somewhat challenging as it was almost completely up and down with very little flat sections.  Water/Gatorade stations were located at varying distances with tables on each side of the road; however, there were not enough volunteers to make the handing out of liquid go smoothly.  This is the third time that I have done this event - one marathon and two half marathons.  The other two experiences where better that this one.

Exposition

Before the Race

After the Race