Sunday Miami Marathon forecast: dry, warm, windy with 44,000 churning arms and legs

Susan Miller Degnan
·6 min read

Life Time Miami Marathon and Half Marathon race director Frankie Ruiz refused to check Sunday’s weather forecast until this week.

“All it does is add stress about something I have no control over,’’ Ruiz said. “A destination like Miami this time of year is somewhat unpredictable, so people have to expect just about anything from a place so close to the tropics.’’

Deadpanned Ruiz: “One thing we know is it won’t snow.’’

As of Saturday morning, it appeared it wouldn’t rain, either.

Any of this year’s 22,000-plus registrants (17,000-plus in the half marathon) who witnessed last year’s event remembers the overnight-into-morning deluge that created pools of rainwater along Biscayne Boulevard and pits of slippery, muddy slop throughout Bayfront Park. This year’s forecast calls for temperatures starting at a toasty 70 degrees before sunrise (6 a.m. start) with 8 a 4-percent chance of rain and 76 percent humidity. Temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-70s under partly cloudy skies, by the time the finish line is broken down at 1 p.m.

The biggest nemesis for participants Sunday could be strong winds from the East/Northeast, which are forecast to range from the upper teens and rise to the low 20s by the time the masses head toward the finish — with gusts in the mid-20s most of the way.

The marathon and half marathon takes off from outside AmericanAirlines Arena on Biscayne. Regarded as one of the most scenic 26.2-mile races in the nation, the marathon heads toward Miami Beach over the MacArthur Causeway, through South Beach along Ocean Drive, past the Miami Beach Convention Center, over the majestic Venetian Causeway and back into Miami where the half marathon finishes and the full marathon continues into the Brickell and Coconut Grove areas before returning to the finish adjacent to Bayfront Park.

The Life Time Miami Marathon and half marathon has drawn more than 22,000 registrants and will take off before sunrise on Sunday outside the AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Life Time Miami Marathon and half marathon has drawn more than 22,000 registrants and will take off before sunrise on Sunday outside the AmericanAirlines Arena.

“Plan your pace accordingly,’’ Ruiz said, “because glancing at the expected temperature range, you’re certainly not going to feel the same conditions two hours into the race as when it starts. Definitely respect the weather and distance, but beyond that, thank our volunteers out there as they support you through all kinds of conditions.’’

Heading into the weekend, last year’s winners had not registered, but there are plenty of fast personal bests among the 2020 elite entrants.

Because the event was pushed back two weeks from its normal final Sunday in January to ease logistical complications as a result of last week’s Super Bowl, several elite racers chose to compete in the recent Houston Marathon for one more chance to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on Feb. 29 in Atlanta. The qualifying cutoff date has passed.

Runners take over the MacArthur Causeway in the 2016 Miami Marathon.
Runners take over the MacArthur Causeway in the 2016 Miami Marathon.

Katie Kellner, 28, a full-time running coach and former Cornell All-American in cross-country and track (10K), already qualified for the Olympic Trials and will run the Miami Half Marathon en route to Atlanta. Kellner, who lives just outside Boston, is “in the middle of some high-mileage training for the marathon,’’ but will nonetheless treat Sunday’s 13.1 miles as a competitive venture rather than training run.

“I really want to compete to win,’’ said Kellner, whose half marathon best was 1 hour 14 minutes and 39 seconds at the 2014 Philadelphia Half Marathon. “I don’t like to go into races to try to run goal marathon paces. When you show up to the race you’re making a commitment to race directors to compete. It’s definitely more fun.

“I’m running this race on a little bit of tired legs from my marathon training, but it would be great to finish in 1:15 or 1:16. I wanted to run a warmer weather race because I’m looking to get a little practice in those conditions for Atlanta.’’

Kellner will have some steep competition in Kenyan Caren Maiyo (1:14:19 best) and Israeli Brecha Deutsch, 30, an ultra-orthodox mother of five from Jersusalem who was raised in New Jersey and just missed qualifying for the Olympic Trials with a marathon best of 2:32. Her half marathon best is 1:15:06.

Runners head eastbound on the MacArthur Causeway as the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Empress of the Seas, enters Government Cut to dock at the Port of Miami. On Sunday, January 27, 2018 thousands of athletes - pushrim, handcycle, and assisted wheelchair, elite, and daily runners participated in the 2019 Fitbit Miami Marathon and Half Marathon. The full course spanned across the Venetian, Rickenbacker, and MacArthur Causeways ending at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, Florida.

The women’s elite marathon field is the weakest of all the distances, with Ethiopian Meseret Ali Basa (2:40:41) and Kenyan Leah Jebiwot Kigen (2:40:46) among a handful of top competitors.

The men’s half marathon elites will be led by blazing-fast Kenyan Dominic Korir, 26, who last month finished the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in 1:01:45. The Miami course record, set in 2008 by Brian Sell, is 1:03:46.

The men’s marathon includes Kenyan Bernard Rotich (2:10:18 best), Saidi Juma Makula of Tanzania (2:11:11), Mwobi Cyrian Kiogora of Kenya (2:14:13) and American Tyler Andrews, 29, of Cambridge, Massachusetts (2:15:52).

Male and female marathon winners will each earn $4,500, with $2,000 going to the runners-up and $1,000 going to the third-place finishers. Masters, wheelchair and half-marathon racers also can earn prize money.

The event is still attracting plenty of international competitors. Colombia leads the way with about 1,500 runners, followed by Mexico (about 500) and Canada (300). Florida leads the United States with more than 10,000 participants, followed by New York’s 1,200-plus and Massachusetts (500).

Racers thrive on spectators cheering them along their route, so fans are urged to arrive early and either sit on bleachers near the finish or stand anywhere along the way. Ruiz said. The stretch at Mile 5 along Ocean Drive in Miami Beach is always a fun place to watch (6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.), as is the Omni Metrorail Station at Mile 11 (7 to 10:30).

And runners can feel secure that the marathon will have 23 aid stations along the route, not including a large, comprehensive medical unit at the finish staffed by doctors and nurses. Ruiz said a minimum of two medics/Baptist Health medical professionals will be at every aid station, and eight City of Miami or Miami Beach fire-rescue ambulances will be spread throughout the course.

Ruiz said the city “has been touched up and better polished and even more clean’’ because of the Super Bowl. “Whatever beautification the city needed has been addressed.’’

Now, almost time to take your mark...

Life Time Miami Marathon and Half Marathon

What/When/Where: 26.2-mile and 13.1-mile races that begin together at 6 a.m. at AmericanAirlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami and finish down the street at Bayfront Park. There are bleachers for spectators on Biscayne at the finish.

Registration: $170 for marathon and $155 for the half marathon. Registration open during marathon expo hours.

Expo and packet pickup: Mana Wynwood, 318 NW 23rd Street, Miami, through 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. There is no race-day registration. The Life Time Tropical 5K, at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the Miami Children’s Museum on the MacArthur Causeway, has been sold out.