Urban Wildland Half Marathon

Richfield, Minnesota

Saturday, July 28, 2018

On Saturday, July 28, 2018 I race walked the Urban Wildland Half Marathon in Richfield, Minnesota.  It was a nice day for the event as the temperature varied from 58 to 68 degrees with sunny skies and no wind.  The course was flat for the most part and was 7 miles of paved roads and six miles of either paved trails or sand, dirt and fine gravel trails that were well maintained.  The trails did have quite a bit of up and down that was not very challenging or long.  The roads had a dedicated lane that was completely closed to traffic and police officers and volunteers controlling cross traffic.  The course was very well marked, especially on the trails where without great marking, it would have been easy to get lost as there was plenty places where a participant would have a hard time deciding which branch was the proper way.  The water/Gatorade stations were located at miles 2.5, 5.5, then approximately every mile thereafter.  Each station had a large number of friendly efficient volunteers that took care of the needs of the 596 finishers in the half marathon and also functioned as cheering crowds.  At quite s few of the homes along the course there were many people cheering and often had a sprinkler if one wanted to cool off.  This is the eighteenth year for this event and many years had much hotter weather than I experienced on my first time doing the event.  The event is very well organized and also has a 5K which had 324 finishers.  They have a 3.5 hour time limit which is enforced strictly.  I enjoyed myself and even managed to win an award for third place in my 70 and over running age group even though I walked the entire way.

 The Exposition

Before The Race

After The Race