That Makes 10: Miami Half Marathon Race Experience

Magic and miles.

This year’s running of the Miami Half Marathon marked my tenth straight running of this race. Of those ten, nine have been the half marathon distance (2021 was virtual) and one was the full marathon distance that I ran back in 2015. I consider this race to not only be my hometown race, but also my half marathon anniversary race as it was my first ever half marathon in 2013. As always, this race is a return to myself as I run the streets of the city that raised me.  

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

The best accommodations because it was my home! The biggest perk to a local race is that I am in the comfort of my home and my pre-run routines.

Expo

Expo this year was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center. This has been the location of the expo on-and-off over the years and, I’m not going to lie, this is my least favorite expo location because traffic in and out of Miami Beach can be a pain (I don’t like driving normally, so this might just be me). Aside from that, expo was similar to other big expos with bib pick up in one spot, t-shirt pick up in another spot, and vendors to meet all of a runner’s wants and needs before a big race.

Pre-Race

The biggest race day stressor is traveling to the start/finish area. Race coordinators work with the county to open the metro rail and metro mover at 4:00am to offer runners a public transportation-friendly alternative to getting into downtown Miami. I’ve taken the train each year and this year was just as smooth as in previous years. I was on a train by 4:45am and arrived in the finish area by 5:20am. I had plenty of time to use the bathrooms; a big tip is to take advantage of short lines in the finish area and in the FTX arena. The official race start time was 6:00am and the time between corrals was 5 minutes. I was in corral D and I started my race around 6:15am.

Post-Race

This race is known for it’s spinning medal and, as usual, the race delivered with another beautiful medal in celebration of it’s 20th anniversary. One of my favorite parts of the post-race experience was the meal that was handed out to each runners (“grb ngo” by Deliver Lean). There’s also fruit, Gatorade, and a beer garden to start the post-race celebration. The race makes finishing a true celebration with live music and incredible water views.

On the Course

Water and Gatorade stops were at about every mile. I didn’t notice gels on the course, but I know they’ve handed out gels in previous years, so I’m assuming I missed them somehow this year. There were plenty course-sponsored bathrooms along the course with the bathrooms on Ocean Drive (mile 5-ish) open to the public. The course starts in front of the FTX arena, takes you over the MacArthur Causeway into Miami Beach, down over the Venetian Causeway, and back through downtown to the finish line in Bayfront Park. The course has changed slightly over the years due to construction on the Venetian Causeway, but I was happy with this year’s course as it meant the only real climbs happened in the first 5K of the half marathon race. There was a lot of volunteer support through the course and the crowd support at mile 11 was enough to give a runner an much-needed energy boost to last through crossing the finish line at 13.1. This year’s course was a little long (I came in around 13.3) and I’m assuming that has to do with block size in Downtown Miami.

Race Experience

This is my hometown race and I look forward to running it each year as a celebration of running. With the big climb in the first mile (MacArthur Causeway), my goal is always to make it through the first miles of this race feeling as strong as possible. This race is also probably the most unpredictable race weather-wise in Miami. For me, the weather conditions on Sunday were hot and muggy (weather will always win the battle against me).

The plan was treat this run as a training run workout: first 10 miles comfortable, last 5K fast. I felt strong and steady the first half of the race. Around mile 4 I noticed a woman walking and we kept leap frogging one another over the next two miles. At mile 7 I went to the bathroom and told myself that if I saw that woman again, I would go up to her and ask her if I could accompany her for a bit. I saw her around mile 7.5, ran up to her and asked if I could walk with her. I don’t know what else I said, but we ran the rest of the race together (Hi, Taryn!).

Making a friend on the course was the highlight of this race for me. It was a reminder that running deepens intimacy quickly and that runners are such kind, unique, and generous human beings. After this race, all I could think was that I wanted this year to be all about friendship and cultivating friendships in every sphere of life.  

Overall Impression

The Miami Half Marathon is a challenge that never disappoints and makes me love the Miami running community so freaking much. The course takes you on a great tour of the Miami Beach/Downtown areas. You are surrounded by runners the entire time (even with this year’s event being capped at 15,000 runners) and you can tell that the city is literally running on heart on race morning. Ten editions of this race done and I’m already signed up for next year’s event.

Miami Half weekend memory round up.

Pros

• Sentimentality: this is Miami’s hometown race.

• Expo is celebrated Miami-style with drums and dancers.

• Ability to travel by public transportation on race day.

• Staggered start times so half the runners have to be in their corrals by 6:00am and the other half by 6:15am.

• Lots of on-course support.

• Plenty of runner so you never feel like you are running alone.

• Beautiful city views from the bridges.

• Post-race celebration; free food and free beer is always a pro for me.

• Seeing all of my running friends that I don’t see normally because of different training schedules.

• Plenty of on-course bathrooms.

• Pace groups for almost every time imaginable.

• Beautiful race medal.

Cons

• I wasn’t a fan of the expo location because of the traffic.

• It was a hot year (for me, at least). I know we can’t control the weather, but it’s a consideration to take if you aren’t used to running in the heat.

• The “climbs” on the bridges in the first 5K. What makes this especially challenging is that there can be a lot of slowing down and/or weaving in the beginning of the race (lots of energetic output) due to bottlenecking out of the start line.

• Depending on field size preferences, one might not like running such a big race. The corral was a bit of a mental struggle for me because I was hot and I couldn’t tell if it was because I was around so many people; was it anxiety or just body heat? I don’t know.

• I signed up for next year’s event as expo and it was $115 (plus fees) for the half. I miss the days of this race being $70.

For those of you who like the numbers, this is half #51 and my official time was 2:28:35. Next up for me is the Publix Florida Half on Sunday, February 13th.

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