SLR #4 Ugly Sweater Run

We runners of Charlotte need to make sure that we thank the people who organize and support our social running events. We need to start with people like Phyllis and Peter. Phyllis puts in a yeomen's effort making these little Greenway efforts happen and Peter who drives over from Albemarle to time the events.

Last Sunday was Phyllis' 4^th SLR event this year. I have personally run in 3 of them and always walked away having a good time.

This one was the "Ugly Sweater" run and there were a number of "ugly sweaters" in the starting line crowd. Long with them were a number of people in holiday costumes or decked out in some holiday attire including one "Santa Claus".

As for me, I was sporting my typical cold weather running clothes since it was close to 28 degrees. Mike and I were looking for a little tempo effort that morning so we met up around 7 AM. We started out with a 4 mile warm up and then

met up with the "Ugly Sweater" run group.

Starting from Rea Rd, the greenway feeds slightly downhill. Mike and I ran a couple of miles before being joined by Dennis L. Dennis was looking for an 8 mile effort. We were on the greenway for about 3 miles when we made this little neighborhood detour. Phyllis changed the course so we stayed away from the major traffic. And this neighborhood loop was hilly but perfect and added just the right amount of distance to our race.

Dennis turned back after the neighborhood loop and Mike and I headed for the 51 entrance of the greenway. We made the turn around and headed back. About a half mile in Mike slowed just a little and I looked back to check if anything was wrong. His calf was bothering him and he gestured for me to continue on. Even with this cold that I had been fighting for days, I felt like running.

The next mile was 6:08 and the cold morning air felt great. I made the 2^nd loop of the neighborhood and was finally headed for home. I noticed only a slight twinge in my right hamstring over the final mile. Cruising to the finish in 1:26:09, my body felt like it still had

more miles in it. By the way, my Garmin measured the course in 13.11 so it was definitely pretty close to being a full half. Mike and I did a very easy 3 mile cool down. Our total miles for the day were 20 with 13 at a pretty hard pace.

Afterwards, I hung out and cheered people coming to the finish and chatted with Peter.

Wrapping things up, one cannot say enough – big thanks to Phyllis and Peter for stepping up to make these events happen.

 

Sharing on thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner