Continuing the trend of races that happened long ago, here is a post about the 2009 Heart of the City Half Marathon, which took place May 30, 2009, in Burnsville.

This was the sixth running of this race and I’ve been able to participate in all six. This year I was joined by my neighbor, who was running her first half marathon. The weather was very nice and we finished in 2:10.

Other than the first year fiasco of having the last mile go back up the hill (and running out of water), the Heart of the City has matured into a well organized race. The field is still relatively small compared to other half marathons, but the addition this year of the new Burnsville Performing Arts Center as registration headquarters might help improve race numbers in the future. Too bad the people working on race morning wouldn’t let people use the nice new bathrooms…

Here are the top three finishers this year:

2009 Heart of the City Half Marathon – Men

• 1, Josh Schoen, 28, Northfield, MN, 1:10:48 (5:24 pace)
• 2, David Thompson, 31, St. Paul, MN, 1:12:22 (5:31)
• 3, Scott Roby, 26, Minneapolis, MN, 1:15:49 (5:47)

2009 Heart of the City Half Marathon – Women

• 1, Michelle Lilienthal, 27, Minneapolis, MN, 1:20:23 (6:08)
• 2, Laura Roach, 21, Lakeville, MN, 1:25:19 (6:30)
• 3, Angie Voight, 32, Minneapolis, MN, 1:26:21 (6:35)

All proceeds from this event go to Safe Haven to help homeless youth.