Life Time Miami Marathon and Half Marathon off-and-running. Updating as winners finish

The fit folks of Miami (and from 48 other states and 75 countries) are off-and-running!

Thousands of excited runners took off in the darkness on Biscayne Boulevard outside the Kaseya Center just after 6 a.m. Sunday — more than an hour before sunrise — to begin the 2024 Life Time Miami Marathon and Half Marathon.

The 26.2-mile full marathon and 13.1-mile half marathon event, with a combined field of 18,000 registrants, proceed together on the same route until the half marathoners return to the finish down the street at Flagler and Biscayne near Bayfront Park.

Conditions at the start: 73 degrees with a sweat-inducing 94-percent humidity and 3-mile-per-hour winds.

Temperatures were expected to rise to 83 degrees by noon.

The half marathon men’s winner: Solomon Kagimbi, 36, of Kenya, in unofficial 1:04:28.

Kagimbi, who said he dreamed on Saturday night that he would win, took the lead at the 3K point, and “kept pushing’’ as the others caught up a few times. He said it was his “fastest race in America.’’

“It was flat,’’ Kagimbi said of the course, “but it was hot.’’

Dario Ivanovski, 26, of Macedonia finished second in the half marathon in an unofficial 1:05:21. He said he is the Macedonia record-holder for every distance from the 1500 meters to the marathon, and reveled in his first visit to the United States. “All my life I dreamed of coming to the United States and running with the best people,’’ Ivanovski said. “The course was inspiring — beautiful.’’

The half marathon women’s winner: Joselyn Brea Abreu, 29, of Venezuela, in an unofficial 1:15:51.

Abreu, who within three miles of the start was running with a pack of men, acknowledged the extremely warm conditions but said they were “perfect’’ for her. “A lot of humidity and very warm,’’ she said in Spanish, but those are the conditions I like for running. My hydration was perfect and I felt comfortable.’’

Race organizers on Saturday evening sent out an email to all participants, warning them that the “event alert system level’’ was yellow, meaning “less than ideal conditions,’’ regarding the heat and humidity. The “recommended actions,’’ per the race, regarding the “moderate” alert level: “Slow down/Be prepared for worsening conditions.’’

The rest of the field will remain running until they return to the same finish.

Thousands of spectators filled the sidewalks and stairs leading to the Kaseya Center or lined Biscayne Boulevard — the Freedom Tower across the street — as they cheered for their competitors and hoisted hand-written signs.

Race director and co-founder Frankie Ruiz said it would take about 45 minutes for the participants at the back of the massive field to reach the starting line. Their official times wouldn’t begin to be recorded until they cross the start.

The course heads toward Miami Beach over the MacArthur Causeway past lit-up cruise ships, down Ocean drive through South Beach, past the Miami Beach Convention Center, over the Venetian Causeway and back into Miami where the half marathon finishes and full marathon continues into the Brickell and Coconut Grove areas before ending at Bayfront.

The half-marathon winners are expected to cross the finish line a little over an hour after the start.

The marathon winners are expected to finish more than an hour after the half marathoners — at about 8:10 or later for the men and 8:30 or later for the women.

This story will be updated as the winners in both events cross the finish, and also after the event ends in the afternoon.