Sunday, September 14, 2014 • Tacoma, WA • Course Map
More than 800 runners crossed the finish line in both races combined at the 3rd annual running of Tacoma’s You Go Girl! Half Marathon & 10K in the late summer of 2013, along a point-to-point course that takes runners along the shoreline of Commencement Bay and features spectacular views of Mount Rainier off in the distance.
As you probably guessed from its name, the You Go Girl! race is designed especially to honor and encourage women’s athletics and health, and to benefit women in the Tacoma area. The beneficiary for the race is the locally-based YWCA of Pierce County, which started the first domestic violence shelter for women anywhere in the state back in 1976 and continues to provide a wide range of services for an estimated 12,000 women and children every year today.
Runners will start the race — which also features a “Little Girl 1K run” later in the morning in addition to the 13.1-mile and 10K race distances — at 8:45 AM near the corner of 9th and Market Streets in downtown Tacoma. From there, the race takes runners and walkers — the race is open to both — first on a quick out-and-back stretch down Market Street, all the way to the race’s first turnaround point at the intersection with 27th Street. From there, it’s back up Market all the way to the turn on South 4th Street, which takes the field over toward Wright Park.
Built in the late 1800s and designed to mimic British urban parks, Wright Park is a 27-acre public park filled with wide-open green space, an arboretum with more than 700 trees and the Seymour Botanical Conservatory and greenhouse near the park’s center.
Runners make their way all the way around the park’s four edges, running along South g Street, South 6th Street, I Street and Division Avenue before turning again onto South G Street, after which they re-join the route they just ran on South 4th Street by turning left.
The next mile or so unfolds along a quick downhill as runners make their way between the mile 4 and mile 5 markers along South 4th Street and St. Helens Avenue. Runners remain on St. Helens for about a mile, passing by the Children’s Museum of Tacoma along the way, all the way down to the left turn onto South 13th Street, where they then head toward the waterfront and out onto Dock Street.
Here, runners begin the stretch that will take them out to Puget Sound, and which will remain virtually flat for the entire remainder of the race.
Race Weather & Climate
Nestled along the shores of Washington’s Puget Sound in the state’s northwest corner, roughly 30 miles south of Seattle, Tacoma typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in September, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 34°F (in 1983) and as high as 89°F (in 1987).
On race day (Sept. 14), the average low is 51°F and the average high is 72°F.
Course Map
See the course map for the You Go Girl! Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
8:45 AM
Fees
- $70 for the half marathon, if registered by April 1, 2014
- $75 between April 2 – June 1
- $80 between June 2 – August 1
- $90 between Aug. 2 – September 10
- $95 at the race expo
Registration
To reserve your spot in the late summer/early fall 2014 running of Tacoma’s You Go Girl Half Marathon or 10K race, register online at the event website.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
Ever run in the You Go Girl Half Marathon? Share your impressions here, or post your review in the Comments box below.
[fbcomments]
