The fall racing season is just around the corner…but this time with no races! We know many of you are in great shape and want to prove your ability. Also, as many of you know, what you see on your Garmin is far from the perfect indicator of what distance you actually ran on race day. This discrepancy comes down to a combination of our inability to run perfect tangents and Garmin error.
In the past, we only have allowed certified races on the HPWR website. However, a pandemic isn’t a bad reason to break this rule. That being a said, we also want to ensure we keep things fair enough that previous athletes and future athletes who will rely only on certified courses and official times are not at an unfair situation. I wish my half PB was 1:11:35, but it’s not. It would have been nice to actually break 1:12, but the Garmin is wrong, and the course and official time is correct. We are normally spoiled having so many solid, certified races with Run Waterloo!
SO, if you plan on hammering a marathon or a half and you want it on HPWR to commemorate your achievement, and to give more validity to if you hit a PB, here is the criteria you must include:
(1) Your start and finish point must be within 2K of each other
(2) Your total Garmin distance must read 42.4 and/or 21.25K
(3) Your data must be clear of any obvious flaws/glitches like we see in big city marathons (one major glitch and you’re out of HPWR)
(4) Your course must not contain a large number of tight turns. We don’t have a set criteria for this, but for instance a track or the small loop course at Bechtel really tends to not be accurate. However, a few out-and-backs would be fine. If in doubt, send us your planned route.
The other option is to find an INDEPENDENTLY TIMED, CERTIFIED COURSE.
Of course, it is totally up to you if you want to satisfy these criteria. If you want to plan a crazy downhill, tailwind course and stop your watch at 42.2K there’s no shame in that, it’s all about personal challenge, health, and fun. They key is, if that’s how you do it, it just shouldn’t be compared to HPWR and other performances independently timed, certified courses.
HERE IS THE GOOGLE SHEET that will be added to HPRW. Fill out your information on your own and let us know if you have questions!
That’s it for now, happy training!
