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West Virginia has 3 great races though they aren't as "big" as they used to be. They will all be half marathons this year as that is the new craze. Wheeling 20k (now half) Parkersburg half marathon Charleston 15 mile (now half marathon) |
| i kinda like running |
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Look into The Bear at Grandfather Mountain in NC. It's a 5 mile race, all up hill, ending at the top of Grandfather (you can see the final ascent during one of the running scenes in Forrest Gump) . It's actually the final 5 miles of the Grandfather Mountain Marathon course. |
| Blowing.Rock Master |
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No it's not. The last 200 meters of Grandfather finishes on the track that marks the halfway point of the Bear and is the only portion found on both courses. The Bear climbs as much in 5 miles as Grandfather does in 26.2. The Bear is ALL uphill except for the short segment on the track. |
| laughingostrich |
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If anyone else has recommendations for races around Pittsburgh, let's hear them. I am planning on doing the Great Race 10k now thanks to this thread. I think I'm a bit too late to do the half in May. |
| i kinda like running |
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Ah. My bad. |
| Mike in HC |
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check out runhigh.com for all listing around Pittsburgh area a couple that come to mind... Firecracker 5k in Brentwood July 4 33rd annual Fools Run 10k in Indiana, PA April 9 Ikea Half Marathon in September |
| The Rocket. |
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Blessing of the Fleet 10 miler (RI) Mews Tavern Beer n Gear 5k (RI) CVS 5k Road Champs (RI) |
| what if I get injured |
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At most of the top races mentioned, be prepared to enter VERY early (lottery) or pay huge amounts of money (rock and roll) unless you are elite. I was looking at Crazy 8s in Wisco coming up. What is up with not being able to seed faster than 36:00 (7:12 pace) the first year. Would a 29:00 old guy be pretty far back if he had to start with the 36:00 runners? |
| Joe Garland |
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Not the NYC HM. For women: NYRR Mini 10K Freihofer's 5K, Albany, NY. What about the New Haven 20K on Labor Day week-end? |
| off road? |
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Smith's Challenge (10K trail race) Lancaster, PA hand's down the best |
| bmcpool strikes back |
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broad st. run (10 miles) in philly at beginning of may! |
| did |
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An amazing site: http://www.arrs.net All data below is from their site and uses their ranking system (which is a good system). Rankings and dates are based on 2010 data as opposed to the past 20 or 30 years. East coast races are in bold - although some will certainly argue that Binghamton, Utica, and Buffalo NY are not East coast but they are right down the interstate so F it. From the site, the best USA road 5ks are: #1 Carlsbad 4/1/10 (Carlsbad, CA) #2 Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 11/25/10 #3 (San Jose, CA) #4 Chris Thater Memorial 8/29/10 (Binghamton, NY) #5 Back In Shape 6/12/10 (Bloomington, IN) #6 CVS Caremark Downtown 9/19/10 (Providence, RI) The best USA road races are: Peachtree Road Race 10 km 7/04/10 (Atlanta, GA) ING Bay to Breakers 12 km 5/16/10 (San Francisco, CA) CIGNA Falmouth Road Race 11.27 km 8/15/10 (Falmouth, MA) Dick's Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder 10 km 5/31/10 (Boulder, CO) Utica Boilermaker 15 km 7/11/10 (Utica, NY) Healthy Kidney 10 km 5/15/10 (New York, NY) Crescent City Classic 10 km 4/3/100 (New Orleans, LA) Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 mi 4/11/10 (Washington, DC) Carlsbad 5 km 4/11/10 (Carlsbad, CA) TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10 km 8/07/10 (Cape Elizabeth, ME) SunTrust Bank Crazy 8's 8 km 7/17/10 (Kingsport, TN) Wharf to Wharf 6 mi 7/25/10 (Capitola, CA) Steamboat Classic 4 mi 6/19/10 (Peoria, IL) Cooper River Bridge Run 10 km 3/27/10 (Charleston, SC) Quad-City Times Bix 11.27 km 7/24/10 (Davenport, IA) here is a breakdown by race distance: 5 Kilometers 729 Carlsbad 11 Apr 10 Carlsbad CA/USA 472 Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turke 25 Nov 10 San Jose CA/USA 392 Chris Thater Memorial 29 Aug 10 Binghamton NY/USA 373 Back In Shape 12 Jun 10 Bloomington IN/USA 364 CVS Caremark Downtown 19 Sep 10 Providence RI/USA 4 Miles 638 Steamboat Classic 19 Jun 10 Peoria IL/USA Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 31 Dec 10 New York NY/USA Subaru Buffalo Chase 16 Jul 10 Buffalo NY/USA Run as One TGL Classic 11 Apr 10 New York NY/USA Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day 25 Nov 10 Fort Collins CO/USA Run for Central Park 17 Jul 10 New York NY/USA City Parks Foundation Run for the Park 18 Apr 10 New York NY/USA 8 Kilometers SunTrust Bank Crazy 8's 17 Jul 10 Kingsport TN/USA FRNY Lesbian & Gay Pride Run 26 Jun 10 New York NY/USA North Coast Challenge 04 Sep 10 Westlake OH/USA Rothman 20 Nov 10 Philadelphia PA/USA Towne Bank 20 Mar 10 Virginia Beach VA/USA NYRRC Club Team Championships 07 Aug 10 New York NY/USA NYRR Father's Day Race Against Prostat 20 Jun 10 New York NY/USA 10 Kilometers World's Best 28 Feb 10 San Juan PUR Peachtree Road Race 04 Jul 10 Atlanta GA/USA Abraham Rosa International 30 May 10 Toa Baja PUR Dick's Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder 31 May 10 Boulder CO/USA Healthy Kidney 15 May 10 New York NY/USA Crescent City Classic 03 Apr 10 New Orleans LA/USA TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 07 Aug 10 Cape Elizabeth ME/USA Cooper River Bridge Run 27 Mar 10 Charleston SC/USA Azalea Trail Run 27 Mar 10 Mobile AL/USA Great Cow Harbor 25 Sep 10 Northport NY/USA 12 Kilometers ING Bay to Breakers 16 May 10 San Francisco CA/USA Lilac Bloomsday 02 May 10 Spokane WA/USA 15 Kilometers Utica Boilermaker 11 Jul 10 Utica NY/USA Gate River Run 13 Mar 10 Jacksonville FL/USA Tulsa Run 30 Oct 10 Tulsa OK/USA 10 Miles Credit Union Cherry Blossom 11 Apr 10 Washington DC/USA Crim Festival of Races 28 Aug 10 Flint MI/USA Blue Cross Broad Street Run 02 May 10 Philadelphia PA/USA Army 24 Oct 10 Washington DC/USA 20 Kilometers Stratton Faxon New Haven Road Race 06 Sep 10 New Haven CT/USA Dam to Dam 05 Jun 10 Des Moines IA/USA Ogden Newspapers Classic 29 May 10 Wheeling WV/USA Half Marathon ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia 19 Sep 10 Philadelphia PA/USA NYC 21 Mar 10 New York NY/USA Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras 28 Feb 10 New Orleans LA/USA News and Sentinel 21 Aug 10 Parkersburg WV/USA Dodge Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach 05 Sep 10 Virginia Beach VA/USA OneAmerica Festival Mini 08 May 10 Indianapolis IN/USA BAA 10 Oct 10 Boston MA/USA Aramco 17 Jan 10 Houston TX/USA Big Sur 14 Nov 10 Monterey CA/USA PF Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona 17 Jan 10 Tempe AZ/USA Straton Faxon Fairfield 27 Jun 10 Fairfield CT/USA |
| did |
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in conclusion, the best races are listed below. You can see the score at the left - this list is all East Coast races receving a score over 300 (except I excluded the half marathons) 855 Peachtree Road Race 10k 04 Jul 10 Atlanta GA/USA 755 Utica Boilermaker 15k 11 Jul 10 Utica NY/USA 744 Healthy Kidney 10k 15 May 10 New York NY/USA 731 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10mi 11 Apr 10 Washington DC/USA 694 TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10k 07 Aug 10 Cape Elizabeth ME/USA 637 Cooper River Bridge Run 10k 27 Mar 10 Charleston SC/USA 542 Gate River Run 15k 13 Mar 10 Jacksonville FL/USA 479 Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 4mi 31 Dec 10 New York NY/USA 474 Great Cow Harbor 10k 25 Sep 10 Northport NY/USA 464 Blue Cross Broad Street Run 10mi 02 May 10 Philadelphia PA/USA ^^^ Top 10 455 Army 10mi 24 Oct 10 Washington DC/USA 392 Chris Thater Memorial 5k 29 Aug 10 Binghamton NY/USA 385 Subaru Buffalo Chase 4mi 16 Jul 10 Buffalo NY/USA 364 CVS Caremark Downtown 5k 19 Sep 10 Providence RI/USA 358 FRNY Lesbian & Gay Pride Run 8k 26 Jun 10 New York NY/USA 340 Rothman 8k 20 Nov 10 Philadelphia PA/USA |
| sadfasd |
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Uwharrie Mountain Run, NC |
| Estrogenously Yours |
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Also for the women, the Tufts 10k in Boston in October, one of, if not the, biggest women's only (or almost only) races in the country. |
| Master of the House |
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Must plug again for the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, followed by rafting the Chattahoochee, followed by the laser show at Stone Mountain. Nothing more 'merican on the Fourth. |
| Chris Wasnetsky |
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Nobody mentioned the Run for the Diamonds in Berwick, Pa. 4th oldest road race in the US according to http://www.arrs.net/LongRunR.htm Usually gets good competition and is a 9 mile race. Thanksgiving day every year. Prizes are diamonds. |
| yowzah |
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You are one of the reasons that these letsrun boards are an amazing resource. Only here will you find someone with the interest, willingness, and desire to (re)produce information like this. Thank you, did. |
| Lip Kitten |
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Two tough races that I have not seen mentioned that have great crowd support. (At least I don't think that they have been mentioned yet.) Berwick (PA) "Run For The Diamonds" 9 Miler. Annapolis Ten Miler |
| Blizzardo |
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Agree, these are all terrific, probably don't make the top 10 except maybe Manchester, but are terrific races year after year. I'll add to that with: Shelter Island 10K Hyannis Half Marathon Run Around Cape Ann 25K Newburyport Homecoming 10M BAA Half Southport Thanksgiving 5M Feaster 5M |