Eisenhower Half Marathon

Abilene, Kansas

Saturday, April 6, 2019

On Saturday, April 6, 2019 I race walked the Eisenhower Half Marathon in Abilene, Kansas.  It was a nice day for the event as the skies were cloudy, the temperature varied between 57 and 61 degrees with 5-10 mph wind.  The course was an out and back journey on paved rural roads that for the most part had gentle up-hills on the way out so naturally for the most part had gentle down-hills on the way back.  The course was completely closed to traffic and had no cross traffic.  When the course was on the main highway the east side of the road was for the participants and the west side was for the traffic which alternated from each direction by following a pilot car.  Police were stationed at a few places to insure that traffic was not able to go on the course.  Water/Gatorade stations were located about a mile apart and had plenty of friendly volunteers taking care of the needs of the 56 finishers in the full marathon, 107 finishers in the half marathon, 33 finishers in the 10K and 34 finishers in the 5K.  The event has been held for 16 years and I have done the event 4 times (1 Marathon and 3 Half Marathons).  It has always been fun, well organized, and relatively small as Abilene, Kansas is in a very rural section of Kansas.  I even managed to earn second place in my running age group (70+) even though I walked the entire way.

Packet Pick-up and Pasta Dinner

The Original Race Director

Linda Viola

The Event

Chester Kalb

June Deweese, the current Race Director

Chester Kalb

Tim Mesbacker

The Marathon Winner