Sarasota Music Half Marathon

Sarasota, Florida

Sunday, February 3, 2019

On Sunday, February 3, 2019 I race walked the Sarasota Music Half Marathon in Sarasota, Florida.  The temperature remained about 65 degrees with mostly cloudy skies and heavy fog with calm winds.  I have done other events in Sarasota but this event was not as well done as the others.  The course was on city roads and paved bike paths being mostly flat except when it crossed a high level bridge after mile one and returning after mile 5.  The roads were completely closed to traffic except in some residential neighborhoods where there was a slight amount of traffic.  Police were stationed at intersections where their cars blocked the way and the police for the most part were socializing with each other.  The total distance for the half marathon seemed to be about accurate; however, mile markers were nowhere near where my GPS watched said they should be.  Some were as little as 0.7 miles apart and as much as 1.25 miles apart.  There was no consistency to their locations.  Water stations had no electrolyte drink and also had no consistency to their locations. The first was near mile three and form there they varied from 0.75 miles to three miles.  The volunteers at the stations were mostly junior high students who lost interest in what they were doing making the 1550 finishers in the half marathon and 979 finishers in the 10K not having their needs taken care of in an efficient way.  When I reached the third station there were no volunteers anywhere.  There were some cups of water filled, sitting on the tables; however, most cups were spilled and empty cups were spread all over the ground.  It was lucky that the skies remained with a heavy overcast because if the sun had broken through  causing the temperature to sky rocket, the lack of electrolyte drinks would have probably cause several medical emergencies.  I probably will NOT do this event again.

 The Course

Post Race Band

Packet Pick Up

Before The Race

After The Race