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Texas > Heels and Hills Half Marathon, Relay, 5K
& 1-Mile Fun Run
Irving, TX
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Date
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Event
Details
Like its name suggests, the Heels and Hills Half Marathon &
Relay is a road race event organized by and designed for women, to
promote women's fitness both through participation in running events
and year-round on an everyday basis. More than 500 runners came out in
2008 to run what was just the second annual running of the race, along
a course that takes participants along a hilly out-and-back course
through Irving's Las Colinas neighborhood.
The race got its start in 2007 thanks to the efforts of Paula
Robertson, a local resident who lives in nearby Coppel, Texas, and who
was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1990s. Though she was
told by her doctors that accomplishing anything as physically demanding
as running a marathon or half-marathon wasn't possible for her as a
result of her disease, Robertson instead took up a program of regular
exercise, changed her diet and trained for -- and completed -- a full
26.2-mile marathon in 2000.
Her accomplishment proved to her that
anything really was possible, and she went on to found the Texas-based
Love the Half series of events in 2004 as well as the Heels &
Hills race just a few years later. Both efforts share the same goal --
to promote fitness and an active lifestyle, especially among women, and
to impart the wisdom that many others like Robertson have learned when
facing down diseases like multiple sclerosis -- that anything is indeed
possible, especially when you're motivated and prepared to go the
distance.
As for the Heels & Hills race itself, the course is as
advertised, meaning it's hilly and challenging throughout, with few
flat stretches to speak of. The race follows an out-and-back course
that starts and finishes at Irving's Williams Square, where the famous
sculpture of the mustangs charging through the granite stream on the
plaza greets the many thousands of visitors who make their way here
just to see the statues every year.
From there, the course follows a mostly northwestern route along
Colwell Boulevard, with turns onto Buffalo Boulevard and Las Colinas
Boulevard as runners reach the quarter-way point in the race. After the
curving stretch along Las Colinas, runners turn west onto Royal Lane,
which they follow all the way to the half-way turnaround point (and the
relay exchange point), passing by Irving's Hackberry Creek Country Club
along the way. After they hit the turnaround point near the
intersection with North Belt Line Road, it's back along the course
they've just run toward the finish line at Lake Carolyn on O'Connor
Boulevard.
The race is a hilly one, though the changes in elevation aren't too
severe -- the race reaches a peak of 525 feet above sea level and a low
of 439 feet above sea level -- with the steepest hills occurring
between mile markers 2 and 4, and markers 6 and 7. Runners in the half
marathon start their race at 7:30 AM, followed by those running the 5K
at 7:45 AM and the one-milers at 8:00 AM.
Race
Weather & Climate
Located about 10 miles northwest of the Dallas, Irving tends to
experience weather conditions much like its larger metro area neighbor
-- mild to moderately warm (and occasionally hot) conditions in the
spring, and relatively frequent rain. In May, local average monthly
temperatures range between 84°F and 65°F, while
rainfall amounts average about 5.3 inches for the month -- the city's
highest monthly total of the year on average.
Fees
$40 if registered by September 30, 2007
$50 between October 1, 2007 - February 28, 2008
$60 between March 1 - April 19
$70 between April 20 - May 3
Registration
Online registration is not yet available for the spring 2009 running of
the Heels and Hills Half Marathon or Relay. Please check back later in
the year for updated information on how to register.
Website
www.heelsandhills.com
Course Map
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Your Race Story
Ever run in Irving's annual Heels & Hills Half
Marathon?
Share
your impressions and read fellow runners' stories and tips for the
event.
Discuss it in the HalfMarathons.Net
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