I last ran Patrick Henry 4 years ago on a hot August morning. It was my 1st half marathon and I swore I would never do another. Out of the blue I decided to run halves again and I'm loving them. Recovery and training is so much easier then preparing fora full, so I decided to go back to Ashland, VA and tackle mile 11.
There's no expo, just packet pick up the night before/morning of and parking can be difficult as Ashland is a small town but over 800 runners showed up to tackle the course. In years past the weather has been, hot, humid, raining then humid. To get to the point it's miserable. This year the starting temp was 60 and the sun was out. They had plenty of port o potties out but there's still a line (there's always a line) and bag drop was nice and looked to run smooth. The start /finish was right along the train tracks and they had a train whistle sound the start of the race.
The course is nice, winding through town before heading out into the countryside. Mile 5 and 6 are rolling hills and highly cambered country roads so staying toward the center is best. Mile 11 is almost all uphill.
After race the food tent is well stocked and the local brewery opened early and offered discounts to all the runners.
Over all Patrick Henry is a fun tough half marathon that is a good benchmark for your fall marathon training. I will do it again next year.