Local running club Run Chattanooga continues to stand behind their belief that fitness should be free by hosting a free half marathon.
Their first free half marathon, FREEze Your Half Off, was held in January. “FREEze Your Half Off was a lot of fun for everyone involved, even though most of the race was done while temperatures were in the teens,” commented Courtney Bird, founder and executive director of Run Chattanooga. “We decided that day that we needed to host the other extreme six months later, and Burn Your Half Off was born.”
The “Burn Your Half Off” half marathon is billed as a ‘no fee, no frills, no shirt, no time limit’ event. Run Chattanooga, in conjunction with race presenting sponsor Transitions Adaptive Sunglasses, will provide cold water, Gatorade, banana smoothies, and other “cool” perks for participants. Runners simply need to bring a bottle or cup to put their drinks in, their own energy gels, and whatever else they think they’ll need to cover 13.1 miles.
The course will be done in short sections on the Tennessee Riverwalk. Runners will pass each other - and the start/finish where their gear will be - multiple times. The post-run food will be done potluck-style, with everyone bringing something to share.
Run Chattanooga will keep track of laps and time and will be providing ‘medals’ to finishers. Ms. Bird explains, “Since Burn Your Half Off is part of our month-long Christmas in July, the medals for this race fit the holiday theme.” There is no time limit, so walkers and beginners are welcome. “If you happen to be fast - great. If not, you are still completing the same distance and that deserves to be celebrated. Most of us are never going to win a race, so we focus on the fun, the camaraderie, the experience.”
All abilities are welcome at Run Chattanooga’s events and workouts. “At any given workout or group run, you can find people running a six-minute mile to people walking 20 minute miles, and they come from as far as Etowah and parts of Marion County to join us,” says Ms. Bird. “We’ve talked people into doing more than they thought they could. There’s magic in something we call ‘positive peer pressure.’ Having a group of people encouraging you and being genuinely excited for you when you accomplish a goal is priceless.”
Run Chattanooga hosts free workouts and group runs every week, along with special events like flashmob 5K runs throughout the year. They do not have membership fees and, unlike other clubs, their staff are all volunteers and they receive no support from the city or county. Their
major source of funding is the Raccoon Mountain Marathon and Half Marathon, which sold out in its inaugural year and hosted runners from 26 states. Registration for the 2016 Raccoon Mountain races is open at www.runchattanooga.org/rmm/.
For more information visit Run Chattanooga on Facebook (www.facebook.com/runnooga) or Twitter @runchattanooga. Registration for Burn Your Half Off is at http://burnyourhalfoff.eventbrite.com