Upper Cumberland Haunted Half

Set for its 15th annual running here among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee, this Halloween-themed race takes runners on a loop course through the small city of Cookeville, where runners and walkers will start the race on the campus of Tennessee Tech University.

From the starting line near the intersection of North Dixie Avenue and B Street on the Tennessee Tech campus, runners head south on what is basically a clockwise loop through the city’s downtown and out into some of the more rural areas just outside town.

Runners make their way through mostly city streets and retail shops in the first couple of miles, and then head into more residential neighborhoods in the later miles.

As mentioned above, the Haunted Half is open to both runners and walkers, provided they can reach the finish line within 3.5 hours — which means they’ll need to maintain a pace of 16 minutes per mile or better.

Runners who don’t want to cover all 13.1 miles of the race by themselves should know the race also features a three-person relay event. The first leg of the race is 4 miles, followed by the second leg (4.7 miles) and the third leg, which is 4.4 miles.

Entrants must be at least 12 years of age on the day of the race in order to participate in the half marathon or 10 years of age on the day of the race in order to participate in the 5k.

Race Weather & Climate
Located along the Upper Cumberland Plateau of eastern Tennessee, about 80 miles east of Nashville and roughly 100 miles northwest of Knoxville, Cookeville typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in October, while rainfall totals average just over 3.4 inches for the month, making October the city’s driest month of the year.

On race day (Oct. 21), the average low is 42ºF and the average high is 69ºF.