For 2021, 8K is in-person, half marathon is virtual. *** For the past 58 years, runners have flocked to Delaware from around the country to raise money for the American Lung Association while taking on the notoriously challenging and scenic American Lung Association Half Marathon (formerly known as the Caesar …
MORE
For 2021, 8K is in-person, half marathon is virtual.
***
For the past 58 years, runners have flocked to Delaware from around the country to raise money for the American Lung Association while taking on the notoriously challenging and scenic American Lung Association Half Marathon (formerly known as the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon) course through Wilmington.
This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the country and changed the landscape of events, including the American Lung Association Half Marathon. While this year’s race will look different, your support is more important than ever. Funds raised from this year’s event will not only benefit our important work of saving lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through our pioneering model of education, advocacy, and research – but will also benefit the COVID-19 Action Initiative; the American Lung Association’s $25M initiative to end COVID-19 and defend against future respiratory virus pandemics.
*** CHANGES FOR 2021 ***
To preserve this race’s historic standing as the oldest half marathon in the country while engaging in a fun, lively, safe, and socially distant in-person event, we have pivoted and re-imaged the 2021 race.
As the trusted champion of lung health for the past 116 years, we are proud to highlight the new event name which aligns with the American Lung Association’s refreshed and renewed focus on the future of lung health. This year’s race has also been moved to June at Bellevue State Park in Wilmington, Delaware, and will feature a challenging in-person 8K (capped at 200 runners) through the scenic grounds of Bellevue State Park and a virtual half marathon that you can complete whenever and wherever you are! We know these are big changes for this event but, it is our duty to protect the lung health and safety of our runners and the thousands of Delawareans our work directly impacts.
We hope that you will join us for this re-imagined historic race while helping us to continue raising critical funds for our life-saving work.
LESS
Scenic with combined flats and hills
I’m glad that I included the Caesar Rodney Half in my quest to get to as many states as I can. Course: The first 6 miles of the course are … MORE
I’m glad that I included the Caesar Rodney Half in my quest to get to as many states as I can.
Course: The first 6 miles of the course are flat and the route through town was scenic and enjoyable. The tough part was miles 7 to 9 which was a gradual incline for about 250 feet of elevation. However, there is a payoff at mile 9 as the course works back downhill. There is an interesting park and tower at the top and overall there is plenty of room to run in the size of the field of runners. Do be prepared for the final .2 miles which is a fairly steep hill to the finish. There was an out and back between miles 2 and 4 that got tight with two-way running traffic as the elite runners came back. This is my only gripe about the overall course.
Experience: I liked the fact that the race didn’t start until 9:30am which gave the temperatures time to rise from a low of 32 to around 40 at race time. Caesar Rodney Square was a nice location for the event start and finish. The challenge with the time is completing the race and getting checked out of a local hotel as a traveler. I stayed at the Doubletree downtown and although they had no availability for late checkout, they did allow me an extra half hour from 12 noon to 12:30 to cleanup and depart.
The race shirt and medal are both nice, although nothing special. However, they are a good balance to keep race costs reasonable. They had extra perks for drinks and food afterward, but I wasn’t staying long enough to partake.
Tough race
This was the third time I have ran this race. Each year, I am hoping that race conditions improve, and each year I am proven wrong! This year, it was … MORE
This was the third time I have ran this race. Each year, I am hoping that race conditions improve, and each year I am proven wrong! This year, it was unseasonably windy and chilly, for an April race date (this is usually a mid-March race). This made the already challenging and hilly course even more difficult. I managed to finish, but probably will need a lot of convincing to do this race again–I want to love this race, as it is local and relatively affordable, but I have never had a great race here due to the course and weather. The race shirt was nice and so was the medal. Post-race food is decent as well.
Hilly but pretty
I was looking for a race in March when I came across the Caesar Rodney half in Delaware. It’s been called the oldest continuously running half marathon in the nation. … MORE
I was looking for a race in March when I came across the Caesar Rodney half in Delaware. It’s been called the oldest continuously running half marathon in the nation. I picked it because it was a short drive from New York and perfect for a short weekend trip.
The first mile was a nice downhill which provide some momentum and excitement for me. After the downhill the first couple of miles were fairly flat. These first miles were through the streets of Wilmington. There were many people outside cheering the runners on.
While the first couple of miles were quite enjoyable, that was shortly lived when I hit mile 6. From mile 6 to 9 there was a steady incline that was not fun. The only benefit was that from mile 9 to 12 was the downhill portion of that.
The last part of the course finished with another uphill. At the end of the race they had pizza and drinks for the participants.