- February 8, 2025
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Registration for the Daytona Beach Half Marathon has officially opened, which means Port Orange runners are already making plans for the 2018 race.
Some runners, like Morgan Hathaway, will be taking to next year's racecourse for the first time. Others, like Susan Kurtz, have made the half marathon a permanent fixture in their running routine.
Hathaway, who is also walking the 5K with her boyfriend, has been running for about 10 years and plans to run the half marathon solo. However, she does have friends participating in it as well.
For Kurtz, who will be participating in this local race for the fourth time, the Daytona Beach Half Marathon has a special place in her running career. It was her first half marathon and since then she has gone on to complete more than 40 others. Her goal is to race in 50 half marathons by the fall of 2018.
"It was a challenge to see if I could do it so I trained with the local running group and I went out and I did it and I kind of became addicted to half marathons," Kurtz said. "So it's kind of like my homecoming race. I try to do it every year."
Another Daytona Beach Half Marathon veteran is Votran General Manager Steve Sherrer who started running the local race three years ago. He has been running half marathons for about five years.
Sherrer said he finds the local race an interesting one due to its course, which starts runners off at the Daytona International Speedway.
From there, participants make their way across the International Speedway Boulevard Bridge before running on the beach. The race ends up back at the race track.
"It's virtually flat. You get to see the beach, it's a scenic route, you get to see the track and experience that," Sherrer said. "I think that the county does a real good job of making sure there's things along the way for you to look at besides just the buildings."
Sherrer, like Hathaway, plans to run the race solo this year, though last year he participated with a relay team. The team finished in about one hour and 59 minutes—just under their goal of two hours.
Sherrer's goal for next year is to finish the race in two hours or less. It's a time he has yet to clock in at during his running career.
Kurtz said it takes her about three hours to complete her half marathons. She usually runs the races solo but does train with the St. Johns River Runners club. The group helped her prepare her when she was first planning to do the half marathon.
During the summer Kurtz said she takes some of her workouts indoors and starts a more intense running routine as race day approaches.
"I try to get back on my training plan I'd say about two months out," Kurtz said. "I try to get a long run in on Sunday, I do about five to eight miles during week. Normally, I would go out in the early morning and then days that I get out early I try to go at night and get a couple, like three mile, runs in to warm up my muscles."
Sherrer said he runs all year long, many times with the Port Orange Running Rats, and starts to intensify his runs around 10 weeks before the race. He said he tries to work on speed and staying consistent, running 15 to 20 miles a week.
Hathaway's race training plan is less of a training schedule and more building up to the race. She explained her pre-marathon routine consists of increasing her mileage until she is running the same distance as the half marathon—13.1 miles.
As for what Hathaway sees as the biggest challenge, that would be the ever-changing weather.
"You never know what to expect in Florida," Hathaway said. "But I enjoy challenging myself to complete these races in a shorter time than I have done previous races."
When it comes to challenges on the Daytona course, Kurtz said the bridge is both the most difficult part and a section she enjoys.
Difficult because runners have to cross it about midway through the race, something she explained can be frustrating after getting into a rhythm.
However, Kurtz noted the bridge is also a motivator. Because it's around the halfway point she sees it as a way to push herself and other racers to want to finish the rest of the course and make it to the Speedway. It's that final leg of the race at the Speedway, where the half marathon ends, that Kurtz looks forward to most.
"I'm a big NASCAR fan so to me it's fun because I feel like I'm winning the Daytona 500," Kurtz said, adding that in past years "I felt like I won the whole thing. I think that most people that run this race feel that way."
For more information and to register, visit www.daytonabeachhalf.com.
