Mad Half Marathon

Waitsfield, Vermont

Sunday, July 7, 2019

On Sunday, July 7, 2019 I race walked the Mad Half Marathon in Waitsfield, Vermont.  It was a nice day for the event with temperature varying from 57 to 68 degrees with sunny skies and 5-7 mph winds.  Located in the Green Mountains of Vermont, the course for this event which saw 367 finishers out of 412 entries in the full marathon and 224 finishers out of 262 entries in the half marathon was very challenging with 8 miles of paved rural roads and the rest dirt roads.  There was almost no flat areas and the half marathon had three steep up-hills of more than a mile in length each as well as three steep down-hills of more than a mile in length each.  The rest of the journey had a mixture of shorter up and downs of varying difficulty.  The full marathon was even tougher than the half marathon.  Volunteers were at all of the turns to ensure that all of the participants followed the correct path.  One police officer was needed at one key intersection to control traffic.  Almost none of the roads were closed to traffic; however, traffic was sparse and respected the participants.  Water/Gatorade stations were located at the top and bottom of all the major hills and there were also a few at other key spots along the course.  There were plenty of friendly efficient volunteers to take care of the needs of the participants.  To give some insight into how difficult the marathon was, my friend, Chuck Engle who has won a marathon in each of the 50 states strained a muscle in his leg and finished in 3:39:09 and Bart Yasso of Runner’s World  fame finished in 6:03:08. This is the second year in a row that I have completed this very well organized challenging event.