More than 3,000 runners and walkers cross the finish line each year — including around 640 finishers in the half marathon race alone — at the annual fall running of Riverside’s Mission Inn Run, which features a half marathon in addition to its 10K run, 5K run/walk and its 1K and 1/2K races for kids.
The race’s 2024 running will be its 47th annual, and will take both runners and walkers out again on a tour of this city that lies just an hour’s drive east from Los Angeles.
Set among the area known as Southern California’s “Inland Empire,” Riverside offers a largely fast and flat course with mostly very gradual uphills and downhills throughout the race’s 13.1-mile half marathon route, punctuated only occasionally by steeper hills, most notably in the race’s early going and near the end, between the last couple of miles.
The race follows what is basically an out-and-back course that starts near the intersection of Market and 5th Streets and finishes just a couple of blocks away, along Mission Inn Avenue.
In between the starting and finish lines, the race takes runners through two of Riverside’s major city parks, including Fairmount Park, which was designed by legendary landscape designer Frederick Law Olmstead (who designed New York City’s Central Park and Prospect Park) and features lakes and a golf course in addition to long stretches along the Santa Ana River, which flows through the city past both Fairmount and nearby Mount Rubidoux Parks.
