Stuff-Ur-face ½ marathon
Latter part of last week Facebook seemed to be blowing up about an event in Charlotte called the Stuff-Ur-Face run. I was marginally interested until I just so happen to get an email from Peter a.k.a "Mr. Vac&Dash" himself. He would be coming over to time this event. His email included the full details about it. At about the same time I was putting together my weekend plans. Suddenly, 13 miles with a bunch of runners and tons of food afterward sounded like an awesome idea.
That's when I tracked down the Facebook invite and added my name to the list of those attending this event.
We met at the McMullen Greenway entrance off of 51. By the time, I arrived the parking lot was already full so I knew a big crowd was coming out.
There were quite a few familiar faces in the crowd. Picked up my number and shirt. Peter was making this unofficial race as official as possible.
Dropped my stuff at the car and then headed back to the start.
Phyllis and Kate need to be given all the credit for this event. From what I understand this came together in the last two weeks.
For our course, we ran to the end of the McMullen Greenway and back. We then did a little out and back on the side walk to almost 485 to make the distance 13.1 miles.
Events like this are what I find enjoyable these days. ¼ mile marks on the greenway. Water stops were available along the course. However, in place of the usual gels at the 7 miles, donuts were made available.
And for every donut consumed, a runner's over finish time would be reduced by 2 minutes. My stomach doesn't handle sugars that well during a run. A donut or worse a creamed filled donut would have destroyed my tummy. That's why I sipped a little Gatorade and water but skipped the donut option.
Rob and Brian did some talking after the race about me not catching them. But hey, I was cruised out at something like 8:40 pace for the first mile. Then, I worked it down to some 7:30s and followed it some 7:10s over the closing miles. I was enjoying chatting it up with people along the course.
I watched those guys pass me by at the turn around. They were taking the whole donut thing and race thing seriously.
My time was a 1:37 and change which brought me home 7th Overall and the same as the number on my bib.
Everyone just hung out for a while for some food and runner talk.
In all honesty, I cannot say enough good things about this event and the organizers. How could you do anything but applaud them after they put so much of their time and effort into give Charlotte a signature event
Sharing one thought at time,
The Cool Down Runner
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