Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon 2009

Lately I’ve been looking for a race to do after my first one so that I keep up training. It lead me to think about how I want my running future to progress. Right now, I want to do Half Marathon distances. If I want to do a whole Marathon, I’ll just sign up for one in the summer. Also, I wanted to do a race that was local to me. One that I didn’t have to drive five or more hours to. After searching on Active.com for awhile, I found the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon on May 9th, 2009. The course takes you through “vineyards, lavender farms, fruit orchards and horse ranches on your way to the finish down Copenhagen Drive in the Danish village of Solvang.” The elevation isn’t very much at all:

 

 

 For my age category, 21-14, the fastest time was 1:11:25 (5:27 pace) and the slowest time was 3 hours (13:41 pace.) The course is certified by the USATF and has a ton of big name sponsors like Clif and Luna. In the past, there have been hundreds of participants and, currently, the race is 70% full.  It supports the Breast Cancer Fund.