I ran a rainy half marathon sometime in the spring and was looking to improve on my time with an early fall race and was so pleased to find the Cherry City Half! I love an inaugural race and was especially drawn to a new race somewhere I don’t typically run.
I had only ever been to Minto-Brown Island Park once before (fun fact, it was on a run with the Run Oregon owner!) and remembered it being lovely, so this race, I knew, would be beautiful.
I met one of the race directors at packet pickup – which was at the cute and locally owned running store in Salem, Gallagher’s Fitness Resources – and got a little insight into how big this inaugural event was going to be: let’s just say it was a roaring success with over 700 runners total across all the distances! Amazing turnout!
Our swag bags had a cute gray, white, and pink shirt, coupons for local businesses, including the running store and a winery, and some other little goodies to try, as well as the bib (of course). The race is chip-timed by our friends at Eclectic Edge Racing.
The half marathon started first at 8 AM from Riverfront Park and I arrived around 7:10 to be able to park (the lot was full already but there was ample street and garage parking just across the street), as well as do a little warm up jog and, of course, find the port-a-potties…