Key Biscayne Half Marathon

KB Half is a great race. Multirace puts on great events. You get to run over the bridge and by the ocean. Medals are great.

I really enjoyed this race, despite the truly atrocious weather! The one positive to all that rain and wind was that it kept the heat at bay!
The positives:
It’s great to have a half marathon so late in the «season»! Many races in South Florida are all bunched up in November — February, so it’s really nice to have one last one before the summer sets in.
The course was fantastic! We don’t have enough hills in South Florida, so being able to hit the bridge twice was a GREAT workout!
It was definitely NOT too crowded. At every other race I’ve done this year, the crowding at the start was bordering on dangerous, but not at this one. Perfect amount of people
Race day packet pickup! I did not avail myself of it, but it’s really nice to have that option
Friendly organizers. I finished 3^rd in my age group and since they skipped the awards ceremony due to the weather, they mailed me my award promptly and followed up with an email to make sure I got it!
The negatives:
There was conflicting information about packet pickup times and locations.
The emails all mentioned purchasing a parking pass ahead of time, but didn’t give a lot of information about it. It turns out that Crandon was charging for parking and if you pre-​paid, you could skip the line. I waited in that line for close to 30 minutes! Had I known, I would have just purchased the parking pass. SUGGESTIONS FOR NEXT YEAR — just add the parking onto the race entry as probably 99% of participants are going to drive there.
Food area — I finished pretty early and had no problem zipping through and getting something to eat; however, I saw that it was VERY crowded as more people were finishing the race.
Leaving the parking lot took almost as long as entering it.
I do think that all of the negatives were due to it being an inaugural race and that the organizers will work out the kinks for next year. All things considered, it went off EXTREMELY well given the weather and the big turnout. I will definitely be running it next year!

This was my 3^rd half marathon and I definitely enjoyed the KB half MUCH more than the Miami ING ½ despite the rainy weather and vertical challenge. This race seemed filled with more serious runners and I liked that it was limited to 2500 participants. I will NEVER do the ING again b/​c it’s way too crowded and not enough room for all 50 gazillion ppl to run on one side of the street (and also too many people walked it) but I would for sure do the KB half again come rain or shine… two thumbs up ya’ll! oh btw I also did my best time ever during this half :)

The inaugural 2012 Key Biscayne Half Marathon took place under pretty awful running conditions – high winds and blowing rain – but the organizers managed to keep it together. The aid station volunteers were encouraging and on top of things and the aid stations themselves were well maintained and spaced out nicely along the course. Despite the discouraging weather, there was a good turnout and I was pleased to see so many spectators stoically waiting and cheering under umbrellas and ponchos along the way and at the finish line.
The decision to add the Powell bridge to the middle of the course was an interesting one, to me – I found it manageable because I run that bridge almost every day, but I’m sure people who are unused to it might have been a little overwhelmed. Unlike the Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon, I doubt this will ever be a PR-​setting course for many runners simply because of the vertical challenge, but the views are great and meandering through Crandon was fun.
Four stars because the tech shirt was a little bare (they didn’t even print the year on it!) and the medal was cool, but the ribbon was generic and chintzy. It’s not a huge deal but I have to withhold that elusive fifth star because it seems like they kind of cheaped out there. Still, I’ll definitely be running this race next year if it’s on.