20 Reasons To Love Heels and Hills Half Marathon

As we count down to the end of Early Registration pricing on February 28, we'll be giving you a daily reason to love Heels and Hills Half Marathon, beginning February 8...

1. Because the name is deceiving (Hills, what hills?) – There were some fun hills the first two years of the race, but since the course redesign, you’ll find a nice fairly flat course!
    
2. Not the generic white race t-shirt – pink race shirt with black vertical sides for half marathon and 10K participants (note: men’s shirts aren’t pink)!

Here's a pic of the 2009 Heels and Hills Half shirt -
v-neck and semi-fitted in women's sizes

3. Affordable race entry fees – Getting fit and having fun shouldn’t be limited to those with big bank accounts! Early registration pricing doesn't end until February 28, a little over 2 months before the event. Half Marathon is $55, 10K is $30, and 5K is $15! More savings if you sign up for the Sept 26 Heels and Hills and Him event at the same time.
    
4. Focused on women – women make up 85-90% of race entries, making for a unique race both for Dallas and nationwide since there aren't very many women-focused races. So fun to see everyone motivate each other on race day as you're surrounded by hot pink & high heels!

5. Pretty course – The majority of the course is on the City of Irving’s paved Campion Trails.  Some of this trail is less than a year old.  Winding along and through wooded areas, enjoy running along creeks, by canals of Trinity River tributaries, next to small lakes, and by neighborhoods of beautiful homes.
    
6. Fun motivational surprises on the course – if you don’t know about it, ask someone who ran Heels and Hills and Him Half in 2009! Guaranteeing that you’ll find your spirits lifted and maybe even crack a few smiles a couple times on the course.
    
7. We are a non-profit organization dedicated to our participants and we donate to local charities – Our number one non-profit cause is our participants - we are focused on running outreach and creating a fun and unintimidating environment, and we retain proceeds as needed to do that outreach and keep entry fees affordable. We also love to give back to the community - our major charity partner is Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas, who received about $5,000 as a result of our 2009 events. We also donate to Team in Training with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
    
8. Location, location, location – Being in North Irving means we’re no more than 20-30 minutes away from all the following local cities with big run clubs: Dallas, Fort Worth, Grapevine, and Plano.  We’re also only about 15 minutes from DFW International Airport!
    
9. What a way to end Spring training season – After May, it really heats up as Texas enters summer. End your spring season on a high note with us!
    
10. We love runners and walkers of all speeds – We offer a generous course time limit of 4 hours. And about 15% of half marathon finishers in the last Heels and Hills event completed the race in 3 hours or more.
     
11. Motvation comes cheaply – No $200 training program, no $35 online training plan. We just want to help you get active. $13 for group runs and coaching all season. And motivation and encouragement from all the great runners and walkers out on our Facebook page is free!
     
12. No excuses with a distance for every fitness level – Tackle the 1 Mile, 5K, 10K, or half marathon. Even better, when you register, any of your spectators can do the 1 Mile Fun Run at a $5 discount - race days are better when your family and friends spectate AND participate!
     
13. Pace teams to help keep you on track during the race – We're not unveiling all the details yet, but we'll have pace teams led by some awesome individuals to help you reach your goal finish time! An exciting addition to this year's event!
     
14. No big corporate interests here – This is just two gals putting in their own time and having friends and caring folks help us create a fun approachable event to help people to get motivated to change their lives and get and stay active.
     
15. We love moms - What races honor mothers? It's a hard job, especially when trying to balance staying fit and active! So we have award categories for mothers of infants, mothers of toddlers, mothers of Pre-K'ers, and mothers of multiples (twins, triplets, etc.). See the new award categories here...
     
16. Cool personalized bib - Race bibs should be as colorful as everything else in the race! And sign up before April 1 and we'll put your name on your bib!
     
17. Our shirts aren't covered in logos of corporate sponsors - If you've seen our past shirts, we have only the race logo on there. It's not cluttered tons of corporate logos. Why be a walking billboard for a ton of companies you may not know anything about?
     
18. We're runners too - H&H Founder and President Paula Robertson has run 17 marathons and 2 ultras (50K & 50 Miles) and countless half marathons, and H&H Executive Race Director Libby Jones runs many half marathons each year. So we try to incorporate things we enjoy in races we've attended into Heels and Hills. Read more about how Heels and Hills came about in our event history.
     
19. Awesome finisher medal for all half marathoners - Our finisher medals and ribbons are as colorful as the rest of the event! Who doesn't want a hot pink finisher medal with a high heel on it?
     
20. Focused on having a fun and unintimidating atmosphere - with about 25% of the half marathoners finishing their first half marathon, it's a great environment with all the excitement in the air!

More reasons to be posted in the coming days!

Last revised February 8, 2010