Register early for Kiawah Marathon

Registration for the Kiawah Island Golf Resort Marathon and Half Marathon officially opens at 9 a.m. Sunday, but for those wanting to get a jump on the capped event can sign-up starting at 7 p.m. tonight through postandcourier.com's Running Charleston blog.

Photo Gallery

2009 Kiawah Marathon

Scenes from the 2009 Kiawah Marathon.

At 7 p.m., the blog will provide the link for registration. The cost to participate is $90 for the marathon and $85 for the half.

The 33rd annual Kiawah Island marathon event, which actually had its origins on the Isle of Palms, will be held on Dec. 11 and is the traditional end of the fall road racing season in the Lowcountry.

While the marathon is the title event, the half marathon is more popular and sells out fast. Generally, the cap for the half is 3,000 registrants and is reached after a few days, while the cap for the marathon is about 1,500 and takes about a week to 10 days to fill.

But across the nation, registrations for capped marathons and other race events have been selling out quicker, partly because of an increased interest in running and fitness.

Because of Kiawah's location, it is considered among the nation's "destination marathons" -- races in popular tourism locales.

While postandcourier.com readers will be the first to sign up, Kiawah also is offering an early registration -- starting at 9 p.m. -- to people who have become Facebook friends of the marathon.

Liz King, who helps coordinate the marathon, says the latter is an effort to improve direct communication between officials and participants.

For more details about the marathon, see www.kiawahislandmarathon.com.