A1A Half Marathon Race Experience
Third half marathon in February and, I’ve got to be honest with you, I am tired. I had a thought on race morning that I need I figure out different ways of challenging myself because this particular challenge gets harder each week. Training runs are one thing and I’ve done plenty of them, but there is a whole different mentality and level of stress that comes with races.
This past weekend I ran the A1A Half Marathon in Fort Lauderdale, FL and I am calling this race “The One Where I Didn’t Blow Away.” Read on to find out why.
Note: there are links below that I am sharing in support of the businesses I personally interacted with; I do not receive any commission or perks from those businesses.
Accommodations
Once again, the best accommodations because it was my home! The race itself was about a 40-minute drive away from my house, so my first alarm was set for 3:30am. This gave me some serious Disney running vibes.
Expo
Expo was held at the Broward Country Convention Center. My biggest issue with this location was that my GPS directions took me through Port Everglades and their security checkpoint, which I later found out was unnecessary (note: coming from 95S the most direct way to avoid Port Everglades would have been Federal Highway to SE 17 St to Eisenhower Blvd). Packet pickup was straightforward with bib pickup at one set of tables and shirt and swag bag at a near set of tables. The swag bag at expo was some of the best I have seen in a long time; lots of full-size freebies from various vendors. Speaking of vendors, there were running, food, drink, and title sponsor vendors. The best part of this expo was that I got to lead a 15-minute Runners Stretch as part of expo programming. Thank you Mind Body Social for creating this connection.
Pre-Race
I left my house at 4:05am, picked up a friend, and was parked by 5:15am. My friend had done this race previously and knew all about staying near one of the host hotels for bathrooms. As a runner, clean bathrooms with toilet paper, soap, and water are perks of race morning. We walked over to the start area around 5:40am and I went to the port-o-potties for one final tank emptying. These bathrooms, while plenty in number, unfortunately, didn’t have any toilet paper.
Corrals were pretty informal and you got in place based on what you thought your pace would be for the day. We walked right into a corral that was setting off and were running near the official start time of 6:00am.
Post-Race
Start and finish are in the exact same spot. The post-race area felt like a big celebration with a ton of vendors handing out food and drinks (so many options with water, coconut water, sparkling water, beer, and pressed juices). There was no rush moving runners out of the chute, so it was easy to reconnect with friends post-race. Also, this race finishes along the beach, so once you are done in the finisher’s area, you can walk onto the beach where there are plenty of picnic tables.
On the Course
There were water stops at about every 1.5-2 miles and bathrooms at almost every water spot. There was a stop with gels, but my mind is blanking on where along the course the stop was and the gels that were distributed. This course has a lot going on, distance-wise, as runners for the marathon, half marathon, and 6K share the same course. Marathoners and half marathoners start together, while the 6K runners start after everyone. Regardless, the course was full of runners from start to finish. The half marathon course itself was almost an out-and-back: runners head south for the first 2 miles or so, then run north along A1A until mile 8 or so, and back to the finish line along A1A. This is a mentally grueling course for marathoners as they do two loops of the course with the course being shared by runners moving in both directions.
My biggest issue with this course is its proximity to the beach and ocean. Yes, it makes for beautiful views, but I was concerned about the how close race-related trash was to the beach. There were plenty of volunteers picking up discarded cups and gels, but I wished this race took on a cup-free approach like Vacation Races.
Race Experience
This race was hard. I was worried about the weather, but for all the wrong reasons. I thought it was going to be a hot and humid run, but weather turned out to be windy as windy can be. There were times on the course where I couldn’t tell if I was getting a headwind or if the wind was knocking into my side and trying to push me over. For me, the experience was of a ton of resistance to my forward motion. I tried to run behind people for most of the race in hopes of drafting off them, but that only helped when there was a headwind. The number of “fucks” I said were astronomical because the wind felt relentless.
The plan for this race was to run the first 10 miles at a comfortable aerobic pace and pick up the speed in the final 5K. However, by mile 9, my glutes were so sore from trying to stabilize my body against the wind. I tried to pick it up in mile 10, but there was no gas in the tank and I remembered that I still had one more half marathon left in my 10 Year Runniversary February challenge. My goal became to finish and focus on finding ways to be grateful for my body.
Like I said earlier, the course has beautiful views and it is mostly flat, but I was distracted by the number of cups at the water stations and by the looping marathon runners. I mean, seeing the marathoners was motivation to get me to finish, but I started thinking about what mental challenges they were facing and how some of them had to navigate weaving around the back-of-the-pack half marathoners. Perhaps my brain was overwhelmed by wind sensations and was looking for any way out of thinking about my particular race experience. I’ll have to sit on this one for some time to figure out if this kind of distraction was helpful or not.
Overall Impression
The A1A Marathon & Half Marathon was a windy challenge that made me question my why for doing four half marathons in February. In all honestly, I wanted to cry at the end of this race because it felt so hard and I’m tired of things feeling so hard. Miami is always a challenge for me in some way, the FL Half in Melbourne was a challenge because of the bridges, and this race was a challenge because of the wind. I just want a race where everything clicks and feels easy; is that too much to ask for? What I realized after a momentary pity party is that my hope for a race where everything clicks and feels easy is exactly what keeps me showing up to my training and keeps me excited for new racing experiences.
So, would I do this race again? It would have to be under different circumstances as a stand-alone racing event. It’s one thing to feel challenged by one race and it’s a totally different thing to feel challenged three weeks in a row. It is a beautiful course that is well supported and it is an opportunity to catch up with running friends from all over South Florida. For these reasons, I would recommend others give this race a try.
Pros
Semi-local for those in the greater Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas.
Start and finish are in the same place.
Plenty of course support.
Pacers for half marathon and marathon distances.
Incredible views along the course and for post-race celebrating.
In-and-out expo experience with free parking.
Mid-size field size with about 3000 runners for the half marathon, so you never feel alone on the course.
Post-race drinks and snacks.
Cons
Windy weather conditions. Obviously, race directors can control for this but it’s a reminder of how wonky the weather can be in South Florida this time of year.
Depending on course preferences, long stretches of the course are on A1A and it feels like you share the course with looping marathoners and runners that are behind you.
Depending on course preferences, the first 2 miles or so are in a residential neighborhood.
While there were plenty of volunteers picking up race-related trash, I didn’t like how much trash there was on the course so close to the beach (especially that it was a windy day).
Race day parking: we had a VIP parking pass at a hotel across the street from the race area. This parking pass cost extra and the next nearest parking area was .7 miles away from the race area. If you got there early enough, there were metered spots available.
Professional race photos are not free. (I still bought them though because I’m a sucker for photos of me running)
For those of you who like the numbers, this is race #3 as part of my 10th Runniversary; race #1 was the Miami Half Marathon and race #2 was the Florida Half Marathon in Melbourne, FL. My official race time for the A1A Half Marathon was 2:19:33. The final race of this quadruple February half marathon celebration is the Run Gasparilla Half in Tampa, FL on Sunday, February 27th.
Update: My excel-loving self went back to my spreadsheets to review how many half marathons I have done (I am only counting the ones I have paid to participate in) and this is what I found: I have ran a total of 56 half marathons with 49 of them being in-person and 7 of them being virtual races (thanks pandemic!).
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