Building up for Boston (live in MA too) and wondering what are some of the best half marathons out there in the spring? Fastest courses? Most competitive fields? Looking for something fast with a lot of people in the 1:13-1:16 range to be able to race with
Your best bet for a fast one that's also timed well before Boston is the Shamrock Half Marathon in VA Beach...
Actually, New Bedford Half Marathon is fast too, and closer to home.
New Bedford is the obvious choice.
1:16:58 was 120th place last year.
NYC Half but its closed unless you join a charity, Houston was just last week. That is a great race because you can race it hard, recover, and still have plenty of time to train for Boston, Gaspirilla has a half marathon at the end of Feb. Also there is this small half in Nashville in March, the Tom King half, I know people who have done it and it is a very fast course, similar to Philadelphia.
The Phoenix HM is the one to PR. It is all downhill (gentle gradient).
Fontana half is a fast one. Over 2000 foot drop (most of it in the first half of the race). Course is not record eligible, but fun to run until the end when your quads are destroyed from the steep drops.
New Bedford should have lot's of people in the 1:13-1:16 range. I ran just under 1:14 there some years back and was in about 70th place or so, with lots of people around the whole way.
It's an honest course. The first 3 miles have some hills. The next 5 are fast and down hill. Somewhere around mile 10 is an uphill I believe.
It's a real ol'fashion New England road race. You won't regret it. And the timing in Mid-March should work well with Boston plans.
Good luck!
Is there a rule against attaching a helium balloon to yourself while running a road race?
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?
Move over Mark Coogan, Rojo and John Kellogg share their 3 favorite mile workouts
Mark Coogan says that if you could only do 3 workouts as a 1500m runner you should do these
Matt Choi was drinking beer halfway through the Boston Marathon