DE LEON SPRINGS HALF MARATHON - 01/05/2014

To answer the burning question, De Leon Springs is located just a little north of DeLand.  Quite frankly, I had never heard of the place before Jen asked me if I wanted to do the race.  She said this was a total no-frills event, but some of the Ocala Turtles had good things to say about the race.  For 40 dollars and a chance to visit a place I would never have to reason to frequent, I was all in.

I left Saturday morning, and got to Jen’s house around 1:30pm.  We did not have much on the agenda, and were pretty “shopped out” from my last visit.  De Leon Springs is around 50 miles from Jen’s house, but it’s mostly back roads.  The start of the race was scheduled for 8am, which is pretty late for a half marathon.  Since it was taking place in De Leon Springs State Park, it would probably be too dark if the race started earlier.

We left Sunday morning at 5:30am, which was definitely too early.  The directions said it would take us around 90 minutes to get there, but it took way less time than that.  When we arrived at Chuck Lennon Park, we were surprised to see that many of the participants were already there.  To my surprise (and delight), the race shirts were very nice.  They were long-sleeve tech shirts, which was quite a contrast to the car rags given out at the Weston Run For Tomorrow Half Marathon.

Of the 218 runners entered in this event, 44 registered that day (this will come into play later on).  The course was your basic out-and-back, with nothing but trees on both sides of the road.  I was hoping for something a bit more scenic, but we could have been running on the Florida Turnpike in terms of aesthetics.  The course was very flat, with water stations almost every mile.  The key term here is “water,” as in no Gatorade.  In addition, the water tasted as if they scooped it out of the river, or even a toilet bowl (not that I have any point of reference on that one).  Around the halfway point, we did run past a few houses, which gave us a chance to take a few photos.

The rest of the race was very uneventful.  It was very quiet, and very peaceful.  As we crossed the finish line, the unthinkable happened…THEY RAN OUT OF FINISHER MEDALS!  I know I’m slow, but there were still many runners out there on the course.  The race director told me that because they did not anticipate so many runners registering the day of the race, they did not order enough medals to compensate for the last minute blitz.  They took our names and bib numbers, and assured Jen and me that we would receive our medal in the mail within a few weeks.  I was very upset, because I felt we were penalized for being slow.  I suggested that the folks who registered that day should have had the medals mailed to them, but it was too late for that discussion.  I later called the owner of Alta Vista Sports, and he took full ownership for the mistake.  All in all, not a bad race, but it was no Tom Walker Half Marathon.

Next up, the Clearwater Half Marathon on January 19th.


KEEP TRACK OF MY RUNNING ON