Ft. Lauderdale A1A Marathon

If you want to run a 26.9 mile marathon or a 13.5 mile half with no mile markers or lane control, this race is fit you!

Everything was great from the organization, to the volunteers, plenty of aid stations, cool medals, and nice shirts. It was very hot and humid and it was not an easy day to run a marathon.

I happened to be in Florida on vacation so I decided to run this half marathon. I had someone pick up my packet so I didn't attend the expo and I used an uber to the start so i didn't use any race transportation. The race itself was nice. I lucked out as it was actually pretty cool for Florida's standards and not much humidity. The race started at 6am which is pretty early but it made it so that we beat what normally would be tough heat/humidity. The course itself was mostly flat. My only issue on the course is that it went through a state park which was completely pitch black for two miles. I mean, you could barely see anything which is tough when you are trying to run fast. The best part of the course honestly came after emerging from the dark park to a beautiful sunrise on the beach. The course itself was well marked and I had it at exactly 13.1 on my watch at the finish. The finish was pretty cool as it was on the beach. The post race party was fantastic, one of my favorites at any race I have been to. They had great food for the race size-hamburgers, enchiladas, fruit, chocolate milk, muffins, cookies, everything you could want to eat and plenty of it. The race medal was great too, a really cool turtle. I also won a nice plaque for my age group and won a giant bottle of olive oil (race sponsor). The only thing I would complain about was a lack of spectators but it is so early, I would imagine no one was going to be on the course cheering us on. Also, the race shirt was kind of boring. I was hoping for some south Florida colors and it was just a boring army green shirt with a turtle on it. A great race, lots of fun, I highly recommend it. Plus I got a half marathon PR in Florida!