Thunder Road Marathon – Course Preview Run
** Ignore the first and last miles on the profile below. These were my warm up and cool down miles to and from the preview run. **
November came in like a lion this morning but this didn’t
deter a huge group of hardy runners from running the back half of the Thunder
Road Marathon course.
With the rain coming down, I opted for parking at the Dowd Y
and running over to BB&T Stadium where the run was to start. Yeah, I still
had a mile to run back but I could hit the way for a chance of clothes and a
warm shower. This was definitely worth the extra couple miles.
Pulling up to the park next to the stadium, there was with
an awesome scene of runners warming up in the rain. Run for You Life’s training
group organizes these preview runs and our Charlotte Running Club promoted them
throughout the community and our club.
Our course preview run rolled off about 6:30 AM. Each pace
group had a different lead to keep them on pace. I joined with the 8:30 and
under per mile pace group.
Heading out on Caldwell, the wind was blowing without mercy.
In fact, there were several places along the course that had huge head winds.
The NoDa area and 35th street was pretty much an
uphill grind. Plaza and Central were pretty flat and downhill. In fact, our
pace group ran some of its fastest miles in this section.
Heading over to Monroe Rd. by WCCB studios has a nice hill.
Monroe rd. has some uphills all the way back to Presbyterian Hospital. We went
downhill by the Memorial Stadium on CPCC campus.
Then, other than a false flat by the NASCAR Hall of Fame,
Stonewall is all up hill.
Maybe the toughest part occurred when we turned on North
Graham Street. The wind was blowing so hard that it was all I could do to stay
up right.
The RFYL guys get a thumbs-up from me. Pace groups, monitors
out on the course, and water stops make the world of difference. Thank you
for being out on a cold and rainy morning. I know the runners in my group
really appreciated it.
Big shout out to John, Jason, and Clayton, you guys will do awesome on race day.
Sharing one thought at time,
The Cool Down Runner
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