Race Review From One of My Favorite 13.1s: The Miami 305 Half!
“Miami Beach is a place where anything can happen, and often does.”
This past weekend I had the absolute pleasure of running one of my favorite half marathons in the world: the Miami 305 Half!
It just so happened that this half fell on the weekend of my birthday, and my wife and I had a planned birthday/babymoon celebration planned, so in typical Kelly fashion, I decided that it would also be a perfect opportunity to sign up for a race (don’t worry, Emily knew what she was getting into when she decided to marry me)
I have run this half twice before in the past, but never fully remembered to appreciate the beauty of the course and the sights of one of my favorite cities in the world. The last two times I ran (in 2023 and 2024), I was in the middle of training for spring marathons for time and was focused on my pace. When I ran in 2023, I had no idea what I was getting into in terms of the course and the challenges of the route and the weather. As someone who has family in Miami and grew up going to South Beach almost every year, I assumed the course would be very similar to the boardwalk runs I had been doing since a teenager. The boardwalk has minimal hills, a lot of palm tree shade from the sun, and the breeze is usually a welcome reprieve from the heat and humidity. However, I was immediately humbled as soon as I got to the start line of my first 305 half. Even though we gather before the sun comes up to start the race, the humidity is THICK and the sweaty bodies are packed in tightly. I learned that the sun does not need to be up in south Florida for it to be WARM.
On top of that, the course weaves along Ocean Ave (which is the flat boardwalk side of the beach) just for a couple blocks before heading inland toward Washington Ave and some rolling hills along a golf course before starting our first of many long bridges to take runners into the city. I’ll be going into mile by mile recaps of the race shortly, so will hold off on the details, but I’ll just say that my expectations for course and weather difficulty were completely wrong. I was humbled immediately by this race, but simultaneously loved every second of it. My 2023 race was my slowest in a very long time at that point, but couldn’t wait to come back the next year.
In 2024, I felt like I was slightly more prepared than the previous year, but emphasis on the word slightly. Coming from training in the bitter cold of Boston in January and February to running 13.1 miles in the heat of Miami is a tough transition. I once again was humbled by the course and the weather… but just like the previous year, couldn’t wait for the next one.
We skipped our Miami trip in 2025 as I was running the LA Marathon a couple weeks after our usual scheduled birthday trip for me, so deferred my registration to 2026, which brings us to the present day.
Going into this race as a 40 year old came with a new set of expectations, or rather, a lack thereof. This winter in Boston and my training for the Boston and Maine Coast Marathons has been particularly brutal. Ask any runner in New England this year and they’ll wholeheartedly agree: the combination of colder temperatures than normal (I don’t remember seeing the temperature above 20 degrees in weeks), some massive snowstorms, and black ice that simply will not melt has led to a lot of treadmill miles and long runs cut short. I had been counting down the days to sunshine and warm weather runs, but there’s truly no way to prepare your body to adequately acclimate to the humidity in Florida. I truly went into this race with zero expectations or time goals, just to cross the finish line feeling good and proud of myself.
I knew going into race weekend that was not the main event and the purpose of the trip. I wanted to enjoy myself with my wife, work out at the CrossFit down there, take long walks on the beach, run the boardwalk every day, and enjoy all the food. I did know better than to be conservative with my hydration, and luckily being out in the sunshine all day reminds you to hydrate early and often. I tossed a few extra packs of electrolytes into my water and opted out of tacos the night before the race for obvious reasons.
The morning of, I set my alarm for 4:30am, braved the trek across Washington Ave for coffees from 7/11, giggled at some entertainment from drunken club revelers trying to decide which revolving hot dog looked the freshest, and went back to the room to start my pre-race routine. A little coffee, a protein bar, and some electrolytes were my best options at this hour - keep in mind, more people are still awake from the night before than they are starting their day in this city on a Sunday morning!
Our hotel is conveniently located just two blocks away from the start, so a 6:10am corral close meant we needed to leave the hotel by 5:50am - a runner’s dream! Even if you’re not as close as we were, the race starts at the intersection of 12th Street and Ocean Ave, so relatively easy to get to for anyone staying on that side of South Beach.
I stepped into the corral with thousands of other bronzed, slightly sweaty, excited runners. The race is very well organized with time-designated corrals (but no verification, so there will be some slower runners choosing to start in faster corrals), and knowledgeable pacers for every 5 minutes, starting with a 1:30 pacer. The pacer near the group I started by was giving runners a pep talk while we waited for the race to start as well as a mile by mile breakdown of the course, which I loved and clearly made the runners around him feel more at ease.
At 6:16am the wheelchair division went off, and at 6:18am the rest of us runners were crossing the start line. The race is pretty congested for the first half mile, but opens up fairly quickly as we turn left from Ocean Ave onto 15th Street, and immediately right onto Washington Street. This part of the race is very spectator friendly, as Emily was able to say goodbye to me at the start line and find a great spot to stand on the corner of 15th and Washington - I was able to run across the street and give her a high five!
The course then winds through South Beach and the golf course, and while spectators are sparse, this is about the time the sun is starting to come up and the sky looks beautiful against the palm trees. It’s also when you realize that it is going to be a sweaty race—right at the 1.5 mile mark is when I realized I had already completely sweat through my sports bra. The race organizers are prepared though; there are Gatorade and water stops every one mile (and even more frequently in the back half of the race).
Coming off the golf course and Alton Road starts our first bridge climb around mile three. And the bridges in Miami are LONG, but beautiful. The first bridge gives runners a beautiful view of the Biscayne Bay and the city of Miami across the water. Cars are allowed on the bridge and spectators are not, so while there is very little cheering, there was a DJ blasting tunes and the views were breathtaking. The hill was long and strenuous, but I love a good challenge. And keep in mind, what goes up, must come down.
At mile five, runners exit the first bridge and have crossed the water into the Wynwood section of the city of Miami. Known for its murals on walls and buildings and unique stores, this section of the race is very entertaining—and very flat, which is a welcome reprieve from the long hill we just tackled. There are always people either starting or ended the day here—this race featured a group of club goers holding bottles of Don Julio and offering shots to runners right next to an annoyed-looking cop next to them. The city of Miami never ceases to amaze me with all its stark contrasts.
After winding through the city for a couple miles, runners turn left at mile 8 to head back toward South Beach via the MacArthur Causeway. This two and a half mile (perhaps slightly more) bridge stretches across the water and is sneaky hard. This was also what got me in the last two races. Instead of one giant up and down like the other bridge, this behemoth is a set of rolling hills. And by the time runners make it to MacArthur, the sun is shining and the shade is nowhere to be found. However, because my approach this time was to focus on taking in the sights and having fun with it, I knew better than to try to send it on the rollers. Instead, I grinded up the hills and cruised on the way down. I looked at all the cruise ships and Jungle Island, admired the yachts by Hibiscus Island, and kept telling myself that I was getting an awesome tan. Miles 8.5 through 11 of this race are grueling, but the view of the water and South Beach feels surreal.
Coming off the never ending MacArthur Causeway leads runners to the very tip of South Beach. Sadly, the course changed this year; in prior years, we looped around the docks and stayed on the water to get to the boardwalk, but this year’s race was moved to the inland at this point, so the views were not as scenic. I am hoping this was due to construction and the old course returns for 2027!
At mile 12, the race meets the boardwalk, and runners finish the race among the palm trees along Collins Ave and the famed Lummus Park. The finish line is packed with screaming fans, and the post-race celebration village is hopping.
While this year’s half marathon was my slowest time logged in recent memory (1:53), I had the absolute best time out there. The city was alive, the sun was shining, and running in warm weather has never felt better after leaving single digit temperatures in Boston.
This race and this city will forever be one of my favorites. After all, finish lines with palm trees just hit different.
Xo
Coach Kelly