2021 Rocket City Half Marathon – Cancelled Due to Weather

The 2021 Rocket City Half Marathon was cancelled because of bad weather! 🙁 More on what happened and how the race organizers handled it.

The Cancelled 2021 Rocket City Half Marathon

We watched the weather closely and crossed our fingers, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The weather on Friday was fine, but we knew there was a storm brewing. As we walked around after dinner we saw the yellow arrows on the ground showing our route. I’m pretty sure we were to run under the cool tunnel above. The full marathon was suppose to start at 7 and the half at 9am. At 4am they cancelled the full marathon and by default put them into the half.

Our hotel was attached (very convenient!) to the convention center so the lobby was full of runners that morning. Lots of waiting around, chatting, anxiously eating a few bites. At one point they said they were delaying the race to 10am. Later than I’d like to run, but still fine for a half.

At some point after 8am they cancelled it altogether. They had an app, email and social media announcement, but not everyone was notified at the same time. Of course we were bummed, but we were also thankful that we didn’t travel that far. We met people from across the U.S. that were signed up (and trained) for the full.

We were not offered a deferral and from a race organizer’s stand point I totally understand. They did allow us back into the convention center to get our finisher’s stuff. The swag included 2 shirts, a reusable water bottle, a medal (that lights up) and the rest of the usual garb. We all joked that we got a half PR of 1:22:53. 🙂

We waited for the weather to settle down a little bit and went out for a jog. It was drizzling at that point but not windy. There were several branches down and a few of the streets were flooded, making us grateful that they cancelled the race. It would have been miserable (and unsafe!) to run in that weather. We met up with another runner who was attempting to run the full virtually. We ended up running 4 miles with him and later saw on Strava that he finished!

Overall, I’m very satisfied with how the Rocket City folks handled the situation. I know they were short on volunteers and I can’t imagine how many no-shows there would have been if it had been raining and miserable on the course. I’m bummed I wasn’t able to check off Alabama. We resolved to have fun the rest of the weekend with crappy Mexican food, a trip to the Space and Rocket Center, an awesome dinner at Commerce Kitchen and some general hotel shenanigans.

Half Marathon in Every State

I guess I’ll just have to plan another trip to Alabama! I wouldn’t be opposed to trying the 2022 Rocket City Half, or possibly the Mercedes Benz Half, or the Big Beach Half along the Gulf Shores…

• Alabama – 2021 Cancelled Rocket City Marathon
• Arizona – Wickenburg Wild West 1/2
• California – Napa 1/2
• Florida – Amelia Island 1/2
• Georgia – Ironman 70.3 Augusta Relay
• Illinois – Chicago 1/2
• Indiana – Indy Full & Carmel 1/2
• Kentucky – Honor Run 1/2
• Michigan – Ragnar (my cumulative miles were over 13, so I’m counting it!)
• Minnesota – Gopher to Badger 1/2
• Missouri – Creve Coeur St. Paddy’s 1/2
• Nevada – Las Vegas 1/2
• North Dakota – Fargo 1/2
• North Carolina – Asheville 1/2
• Ohio – Flying Pig Full & 1/2 (virtual), Queen Bee 1/2 2018 & 2019
• Pennsylvania – Run for the Elk 1/2
• Rhode Island – 2023 Red Island 1/2
• South Carolina – 2023 Charleston 1/2 (2022 Cancelled Charleston 1/2)
• Tennessee – Nashville Full
• West Virginia – Marshall University Full
• Wisconsin – Eau Claire 1/2
• Wyoming – Jackson Hole 1/2