Willie McCool Memorial Half Marathon

West Texas Endurance built this race around Willie McCool, the Space Shuttle Columbia pilot who graduated from Lubbock's Coronado High School and ran seriously enough that a race in his name makes sense. The half marathon field usually sits in the low hundreds, which makes it a low-pressure fall date for runners who want a fast course without the logistics of a big-city weekend.

Start and finish are at the Silent Wings Museum on the Interstate 27 service road northeast of the city. The route works through the Lubbock Business Park, passes the tree-lined Lubbock Country Club, and then heads out into open country west of the airport before coming back. The South Plains are as flat as advertised, so there is nothing to hide behind if the pace goes wrong early. Exposure and wind decide the day, not elevation.

Early October mornings in Lubbock are usually cool at the start, often in the 50s, and warm quickly once the sun is up. The open sections west of the airport catch whatever wind is moving, and a steady headwind across several miles costs more here than any climb would.