The 49th San Blas Half Marathon of Coamo

The best excuse to party if there ever was one!

I reported last year about the fact that Coamo’s San Blas Half Marathon was as much about the ‘party’ as it was about the ‘race’. I wanted to capture that essence in this story.

10.5 gigs of still photos and 2 videos later, I got the goods.

This feature will be spread across 3 posts… the 1st containing all the still images (with extra pages of even more images), the 2nd being a video shot from the roof of my SUV, of the entire ‘Race Route’ on the Sunday morning in question and a video shot of the runners just before they reach kilometer 15.

I’ve created a new map of the route with important roads and points of interest along the way. It is drawn to scale so it’s reasonably accurate. You are free to share this with friends, but not for commercial use.

A larger version can be had from the MAPS Page in the Menu Bar.

The weather for the day was broken overcast in the low 80’sF. Exactly what the runners needed. It sprinkled a couple times, but never really ‘rained’.

A PARTY to REMEMBER

Folks from all over Puerto Rico come to watch and play and party the Saturday and Saturday night before Sunday’s big race.

I had wanted to shoot the fireworks show on Saturday night so we set up on the hill overlooking the Stadium and baseball field. This was on Highway 138 and gave a commanding view of the activities below. It also gave us a front row seat to the stuff going on in the road proper. We met a couple who drove in from Aibonito, just to see the fireworks.

A continuous string of hot cars, open top Jeeps, ATV’s and ‘Rice Rockets’ rolled by with a steady stream of folks milling around on the side.

Then there were the horses. I had seen horses in the area before, but never so many… At one point an old converted school bus (still painted yellow) pulled up on the other side of the road and let out at least 8 horses. I have never seen as many horses in one place as I saw Saturday night. I’ve been to a few rodeos as a kid in Texas and this topped that, hands down. They were everywhere.

After the fireworks show ended, we headed home via Highway 150. It turned into a major jam. It took most of an hour to go from the corner at Hwy 150 and Hwy 138, out to the intersection of Hwy 150 and Desvio 5559. We were well ahead of anyone leaving from downtown or the Velodromo (the stadium) so I pity all those folks trying to get home. That section of Hwy 150 was one massive party spilling into the road from both sides… thousands of people of all ages. The same thing was happening on Hwy 14, Hwy 138 and parts of Hwy 545 as well.

The video shot on Sunday morning will give you a good idea of what I’m talking about. It will follow in a few days.

Regarding the Fireworks Show-

I have a complaint to make. If ‘the powers that be’ are going to stage fireworks for the public at a baseball park-

PLEASE TURN OFF THE DAMNED STADIUM LIGHTS BEFORE YOU START THE SHOW

The lights are so over powering, they light up the smoke making it hard to view the fireworks. Especially the ground effects fireworks that did not go higher than the stadium lights. I speak from having run a show just like the one I witnessed on Saturday night.

Three Kids on a Bike During San Blas Marathon Celebration in Coamo, Puerto Rico

I was involved with the Jaycees in Anchorage, Alaska and I chaired the 4th of July Fireworks Celebration in 1985. As project chairman, I ran the show. It was also staged from the town’s main baseball park. What’s more, I was ‘once up on a time’, a licensed pyro technician with the State of Alaska and had a BATF certificate to legally handle low explosives. That was a long time ago.. I do not do that any more, but it means I do speak from a position of knowledge on the subject of fireworks and public events.

Public safety always comes 1st,
no matter what, but the stadium lights are not a safety issue.

I also have a question.. why is there no corporate fireworks sponsor?

This is a huge crowd draw opportunity being missed by ‘the powers that be’. I have no clue what the budget was for the show, but it looked pretty lame from my vantage point. I’ve been to private parties in Alaska where we shot more fireworks than that.

I only hope that the 50th Anniversary of the San Blas Half Marathon produces a fireworks show that the public will be talking about for years to come. An opportunity to wow the crowd… something that can be seen from all over Coamo, not just the baseball park.

I’m done with my rant, thank you.

We finally made it home about 11PM. The partying in the streets went on until well after 3AM.

Sunday Morning, February 6th, 8AM

I hit the road early to shoot the video and will go into more detail about it when I post it up in a few days. I chose to go out Hwy 153 past the Coamo Mall to connect with Hwy 138 so I could get over to where the race actually starts on Hwy 14. There was no traffic going out of town, but it was 2 lanes of bumper to bumper coming into town on Hwy 153. It took me right at 2 hours to drive the 21.1 Kilometer Route running out to Los Llanos via Hwy 14, then Hwy 545, then via Hwy 150 back through town.

Many people come and camp out along the side of the Route on Saturday night so as to avoid the traffic on Sunday.

It also means they have secured ‘their spot’ for the day of the race. Some folks have been coming to the same spot for years and will drive in a few days (or weeks) early to mark off ‘their spot’ and clean it up as need be. Most are courteous enough to leave it cleaner than they found it.

Cops, Cops and More Cops..

I, for one, am glad for the heavy presence of police working the Marathon.

If I could thank each and every one, I would. This could not be the family event it is, without their presence. I’ve been told stories of the old days when the locals took it upon themselves to enforce the law and that seldom goes well. Considering the size of this event, it seemed like it went pretty smoothly.

Roadside camping is a very Puerto Rican thing

It’s something I had not seen before. Families will set-up a tent or carport like tent complete with propane stove or charcoal or wood fired grille. Lots of folding chairs, boom boxes driven by generators and coolers full of beer and wine. Some come with their own port-a-potties too.

The smell of roasting pork and chicken fills the air… loud Latin music can be heard no matter where you go.

The bars and pincho stands along the route do well and there are plenty of them. Artesanos are set-up selling their crafts as well. Festivities continue on, right up to race time.

4:30PM Sunday..
Let the Marathon Begin!

The race starts later in the afternoon so the runners can take advantage of the low afternoon sun. There is almost always a breeze about then too. The high point of the race, ‘Cuesta del Ajoguillo’ (290 meters) is at about the 13th and 14th kilometer mark. A little over halfway. It’s a steady trudge up hill, but mostly downhill after that. My vantage point was at the 15Km mark. The runners are pretty tired by this point and somewhat spread out. It takes the leaders about 45 minutes to reach this marker. In fact, many of the runners would see the 15Km sign and quickly check their watches. I caught several of them doing that in the shots I took. As can be seen in the photos, folks of all ages, of both sexes participate.

The guy with the empty baby carriage from last year was back with a real baby this time and I saw the COAMO Letters run past as well. Five guys who run the race, almost arm in arm. Media was out in force too. Video crews were shooting the leaders and a helicopter was tracking the runners from above.

As with any race there are always stragglers who bring up the rear. I overheard one guy say, “the last runner is as important as the first runner” and I agree. It’s a major accomplishment to even finish a race like this. Several of the runners were older than me.. really.

By 6:30PM, almost all the runners had been past our spot. Folks were starting to mill around again, many were knocking down their campsites for the trip home. There was still plenty of partying going on, but not like the night before. Some actually have jobs to go to on Monday.. some are retired like me.