The thread about international marathons for US elites/sub-elites got me thinking about some of our road races closer to home. Back in the 80's, road racing was huge, and all the top runners showed up at the big races. I don't think a lot of our runners are even aware of some of the top road races out there, and it's mostly word of mouth that you hear about them (no comprehensive calendar). Below is a list of some of the top road races in the country (no marathons or halves included on this list--also, these are not races on the USA Running Circuit). These would be great races for a top US runners to run fast times and perhaps win some money. We can add some more races to this list but it would be nice to see some solid Americans taking a shot at the Africans in a lot of these races.
2/26/2011 Gasparilla Tampa, FL 15k
3/26/2011 Papa John's 10 Mile Louisville, KY 10 Miles
3/27/2011 Around the Bay 30k Hamilton, ON 30k
4/2/2011 Monument Ave 10k Richmond, VA 10k
4/2/2011 Cooper River Bridge Run Charleston, SC 10k
4/3/2011 Cherry Blossom Washington, D.C. 10 Miles
4/3/2011 Carlsbad 5000 Carlsbad, CA 5k
4/10/2011 Shamrock Shuffle Chicago, IL 8k
4/17/2011 Vancouver Sun Run Vancouver, BC 10k
4/23/2011 Crescent City Classic New Orleans, LA 10k
5/1/2011 Lilac Bloomsday Spokane, WA 12k
5/1/2011 Broad Street Run Philadelphia, PA 10 Miles
5/14/2011 Healthy Kidney 10k NYC 10k
5/15/2011 Bay to Breakers San Francisco, CA 12k
5/28/2011 Ottawa 10k Ottawa, Canada 10k
5/30/2011 Bolder Boulder 10k Boulder, CO 10k
6/11/2011 Bellin Run Green Bay, WI 10k
6/18/2011 Steamboat Classic Peoria, IL 4 Miles
7/10/2011 Utica Boilermaker Utica, NY 15k
7/16/2011 Crazy 8s Kingsport, TN 8k
7/24/2011 Wharf to Wharf Santa Cruz, CA 6 Miles
7/30/2011 Bix 7 Davenport, IA 7 miles
8/6/2011 Beach to Beacon Port Elizabeth, ME 10k
8/14/2011 Falmouth Road Race Falmouth, Ma 7 miles
8/27/2011 Crim Road Race Flint, MI 10 Miles
9/5/2011 Run into Buffalo 15k Buffalo, NY 15k
Santa Monica 5k and 10k Santa Monica, CA 5k and 10k
9/17/2011 Great Cow Harbor 10k Northport, NY 10k
9/24/2011 Zoo Run 10k Toronoto, ON 10k