5 Holiday Halfs You Can Run a Month From Today

© Tvphotos | Dreamstime.com

© Tvphotos | Dreamstime.com

You’ve been running all year, training for races in every season, and you’re still in shape. If this equals you at the end of the year, then you’re probably still have another half in you. Right?

We’ve noticed that people often sign up for races as little as a month ahead of time, so we decided to do a search for some interesting races that might be worth your while — if you have it in you a month from now:

Ole Man River Half Marathon • New Orleans, La. • Sat, Dec. 20

Most of this now 33-year-old race unfolds in New Orleans’ City Park, a 1,300-acre park that’s about 50 percent bigger than New York’s Central Park and is filled with groves of magnificent live oak trees, which runners pass by as they make their way along its winding roads and paths to the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain.

It’s open to runners and walkers, and also serves this year as the Louisiana Half Marathon State Championship in the Road Runners Club of America’s long distance championship race series.

Eugene Holiday Half Marathon • Eugene, Ore. • Sat, Dec. 20

A run along the fast, flat Fern Ridge Path — seven miles of running, walking and biking trails that run alongside Eugene’s Amazon Creek — awaits at the Eugene Holiday Half, which is basically a nice, easy run that unfolds almost entirely along this path. It too is open to runners and walkers.

Mount Dora Half Marathon • Mount Dora, Fla. • Sun, Dec. 21

Its elevation of 184 feet above sea level gives this small central Florida town “mountain top” status, as it’s among the highest of any place in the state. This race, which starts and finishes in Mount Dora’s Elizabeth Evans Park, features long stretches along the shore of a pair of lakes and lies within an hour’s drive of Orlando and the nearby Walt Disney World and Universal Studios resorts.

Jeff Galloway 13.1 Half Marathon • Atlanta, Ga. • Sun, Dec. 14

Okay, so this one is less than a month away. It still promises to be a great race through some of Atlanta’s most interesting neighborhoods, with the start next to the Margaret Mitchell House, the home of the author of “Gone With The Wind.”

Later the race — which makes its inaugural run this year — is set to cruise through the Virginia-Highland neighborhood and the Eastside Beltline Trail, and the last couple of miles unfold entirely within Piedmont Park, the crown jewel of Atlanta’s city parks.

MetroPCS Dallas Half Marathon • Dallas, Texas • Sun, Dec. 14

Another race that’s actually in three weeks and not a month, but also for good reason — this race, one of Dallas’s biggest, had to be cancelled last year due to weather and will feature a completely redesigned course this year.

The half marathon course unfolds through the ritzy Highland Park neighborhood, and starts and finishes at the Dallas Convention Center. You need to hurry if you want to run this one, though — it’s close to being sold out, as of Nov. 23.

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