news-record.com

Above: The Women's Only Run in Greensboro is one of the state's largest road races.

We've got to go with biggest for The Shorties' Best Event: The Women's Only 5K Walk & Run. 

The field of 3,593 participants at this 3.1-mile race in October represented an increase of more than 500 over the previous year. More importantly, the 19th annual event raised $112,000 for the Mammography Scholarship Fund at Women's Hospital. In 2010, the Women's Only ranked as one of the 10 largest races in North Carolina, according to Running USA.

A handful of other events deserve honorable mention:

The Beerun: The 5-mile race features -- you guessed it -- beer at the finish line. The race, normally on the third Saturday in March, more or less gets marketed by word of mouth. But the race attracted a field with 789 finishers this year, and it's clearly a Greensboro favorite.

Run 4 the Greenway 8K: More than 350 runners took part in the second annual family-friendly event anchored around Center City Park in September. That helped raise more than $9,000 for the Maintenance Endowment Fund for the Downtown Greenway. Like the Beerun, it's a 5-miler on a racing calendar dominated by the traditional 5K distance. Samantha Magill led a running group that trained before dawn on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the weeks leading up to the race. But the group still gathers for early-morning runs, having found camaraderie and just maybe getting a head-start on 2012.

Hit the Brixx 5K and 10K: These dual road races on Oct. 29 included a Halloween theme, but also beer and pizza afterward. (If you start your day with running, beer and pizza, that's a good thing, right?) Because of the starting times, runners could choose to participate in both, and a few leaders in the first-year Greensboro Race Series standings did just that.

Greensboro Gobbler: The 5K at Country Park every Thanksgiving morning keeps growing, with nearly 1,800 finishers this year. You'll see lots of families and a few out-of-town guests take part. But the racing at the front is quite competitive. Greensboro's Matt Rowell took first place in a stellar time of 15 minutes and 54 seconds.

Below: A couple of running pilgrims capture the spirit of Thanksgiving Day's Greensboro Gobbler 5K.