Hershey Half Marathon

[Disfan11]

Has anyone run this race?
How was it?
Where did you stay?
I'm looking for a place that's less expensive than the Hershey hotels (although I'd love to stay there, but it's too much).

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Tiresius]

We did it the past two years with the relay option. Although the transportation for the relay portion was confusing/problematic both years, everything else about the race was great. The town is super welcoming, the kids from the school came out and cheered on all the runners, the organization in general was pretty great (including course video so you can see where you will be running before the race, even better than just a map), and the included park/party tickets were generous for the entry fees. After doing it twice in a row, I think we are taking a break this year (family wedding conflicting with our usual fall travel timeline), but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Hershey event.

As to where we stayed, I think the first year it was the White Rose (??) since the rate was the best, but the rate increased by last year and we picked the Rodeway Inn. Definitely not fancy, not a nice hotel by any standards, but it was close to everything, had been recently refurnished, and for just a place to stay one night, worked out fine. Don't know that it would be somewhere I would stay if I was making the weekend more into a vacation, but just to have a clean room before the run, it worked fine for us.

 

[DISaholic's]

I ran the Hershey half last year for the first time and it was really a nice race. Nice medal and lots of nice people. Good crowd support, beautiful area and pretty well organized.

I didn't stay at the Hershey hotels either (too much $$), I stayed less than 10 minutes away at the

Comfort Suites(PA554)
320 Milroy Road, Hummelstown, PA, US, 17036
Phone: (717) 566-3000


Huge very clean room with nice free Continental bfast that was open early enough for me to grab a bagel and coffee before the run. I didn't do the free park the night before, but gave my ticket and one extra to my husband and adult son. I read and went to bed early while they enjoyed the coasters at Hershey. They said it was great and got like 8 rides in on the larger coasters in less than 2 hours.

My only complaint was not with the race but with PA. I just wanted a big plate of pancakes on the way home and at 11:30am on a Sunday morning we couldn't find anywhere that was still serving breakfast! PA is weird, in NY we can get breakfast at most diners all day!

 

[Disfan11]

Thanks for the reviews and advice!
Now I just need to convince my sisters and neice to go!

 

[cobbler]

This is something I was looking into this year. Do either of you previous posters have pics of the medal you wouldn't mind sharing?

 

[Tiresius]

This is something I was looking into this year. Do either of you previous posters have pics of the medal you wouldn't mind sharing?

I have never set up an account share pictures, and that would probably take longer than googling the images. I searched for Hershey Half Marathon Medal image and photos of both the last two years' medals came up quickly, but let me know if that doesn't work, and I can try to navigate my way to being able to post photos.

The medals are big, heavy, and definitely pretty high quality. Not quite as elaborate as say the working compasses for the Expedition Everest Challenge medals, but they are some serious medal/metal.

 

[mrebuck]

I ran the Hershey Half last year. It was a fun race. Lots of crowd support along the way. One complaint (from my DH and kids) was that it was very difficult for supporters to follow you along the route as lots of roads were closed. I did see several people biking from spot to spot along the route - that would probably be the best bet for anyone interested in following you. The medal is great - heavy and in the shape of a Hershey Kiss, as is the 13.1 sticker they gave out (with a Hershey Kiss in place of the ".").

As for hotels, I am local and whenever anyone comes to town, I recommend the Country Inn and Suites on Route 39 (a.k.a. Hershey Road). The hotel is very new, and everyone who I have recommended it to has been very pleased. Another good option is the Marriott SpringHill Suites, which is just up the road from the Country Inn and Suites and also fairly new. Both have good free breakfasts in the morning.

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

Just a reminder for anyone who was interested in this race, registration opened today.

 

[mime4jesus]

I will be running this race for the first time this year with a friend. We're staying at the Residence Inn Harrisburg/Hershey. Not sure exactly how far of a drive it is. It says on the hotel website that it's a 'short drive to Hershey' whatever that means. I think the cheapest night rate is $150 for a studio. I was lucky enough to have a couple of free nights that I earned on vacation this year. They have a free hot breakfast and also a full kitchen in the room which will be nice. Of course I don't think we'll be able to do the breakfast the morning of the race because they usually start serving it at 7:00am on weekends. Does anyone know how crazy the traffic is the morning of the race? Trying to figure out how early we will need to be up.

 

[Tiresius]

I will be running this race for the first time this year with a friend. We're staying at the Residence Inn Harrisburg/Hershey. Not sure exactly how far of a drive it is. It says on the hotel website that it's a 'short drive to Hershey' whatever that means. I think the cheapest night rate is $150 for a studio. I was lucky enough to have a couple of free nights that I earned on vacation this year. They have a free hot breakfast and also a full kitchen in the room which will be nice. Of course I don't think we'll be able to do the breakfast the morning of the race because they usually start serving it at 7:00am on weekends. Does anyone know how crazy the traffic is the morning of the race? Trying to figure out how early we will need to be up.

Because the race goes right through the park and surrounding roads, it seemed like navigating to the parking lot at the start of the race was a bit of a nightmare. A ton of roads were closed for the race, and since walkers started on the course 1 hour before runners, the roads were truly closed to traffic quite early. Second, because the race starts/ends within the parking lot for the park, the normal road signs for navigation become useless. Theme park parking lots are designed to be one way - you enter on a one way road (which is marked), you go through the payment booths, you exit out at the other end. Well, for this race, the runners are using the entry road, and drivers have to enter through an alternate entrance (which is NOT what all of the roads are designed for). So, it wasn't so much traffic that slowed us down, it was figuring out where to go. We had to make several loops around the area to find roads that were open and then to get into the parking lot. Even when we could see where we needed to be, the "how to get there" wasn't at all clear. So I would give yourselves extra time for that...