This year I was able to run both Thunder Road Preview runs. In previous years I only made it to one. The second half started at 7am on Saturday and is a lot less hilly than the first half.
The night before the run, I attended a party for the Charlotte Running Club with Adam, Jody and Molly. Adam and Jody are members of this running club. It was a nice, small affair at Dilworth Neighborhood Bar & Grill. They had appetizers that included salad, meatballs, chips & spinach dip and little spiral ham sandwiches. Being a vegetarian, I could eat only the salad and spinach dip. It was tasty but hardly enough to eat before a long run. Jody, Molly and I only stayed for about an hour and a half and then headed to the Evening Muse for a concert.
We weren't out terribly late, but I somehow managed to sleep through my alarm. Molly's early text woke me up at about 10 minutes after my alarm went off and I pulled myself out of bed. Luckily I still had plenty of time to get ready, do my foot exercises and get out the door to the Dowd Y. I found Molly and our friend Christi and spent a few minutes talking with them before we took off at about 7am. Unfortunately, I didn't know anyone there who ran my pace.
This part of the race starts on the flatter section of Morehead and heads west towards a not so great section of Charlotte. We took a left onto South Tryon and headed towards Southend. This area is growing and becoming more residential as the Linx's light rail drives right through it. Though there are a lot of new apartment and condo buildings, the area still remains pretty industrial looking. While it's not pretty, it is flat and that is a nice thing to be at miles 13-18 in a marathon. We wound around Southend on Tremont, Camden, West Blvd and into downtown via Mint St., 4th St., Cedar St. and Trade St. I was trying to keep Christi, Molly and the ladies they were running with in my sight. At about mile 5, along Caldwell, they had stopped at a port-a-potty and Christi told me I was probably keeping a 9 minute pace. My body felt like I was pushing it.
When we started out again, I continued trying to keep up the pace. However about 2 miles later, I knew I needed to slow it down. This section of the course heads towards the North Davidson area, or NoDa. It's the original artsy neighborhood in Charlotte. While it's the most interesting area in Charlotte, it's not pretty getting there. From Caldwell we took a left onto Parkwood, which is a wide four laned street that isn't heavily populated. We passed some new condos that looked a lot like the condos downtown. Charlotte really should branch out architecturally speaking. At N. Davidson, we hung a right and headed towards the art galleries, bars and music venues that define NoDa. The course begins reintroducing hills at this point. There's a large, long hill just past Madison Ave. on N. Davidson that had everyone groaning. This hill would be a nightmare during a marathon coming at mile 19, but at mile 6 or 7 of the preview, it really wasn't bad.
Unfortunately the course turns of N. Davidson at 35th St., just before you get to the heart of NoDa. However, 35th St. has some of the cutest houses in the NoDa area. They aren't new, large houses, they're older with a lot of character. Most have porches. All have very cute front yards with great flowers and shrubs. Some of the houses are hidden by the flowers and greenery in the front yard, but it adds to the character of the place. It's obvious there is no home owner's association sucking the creativity from the street and squashing a sense of community. Also this road is flat, so I really loved it. I caught up to a fellow CRMG club member who was walking due to a calf injury. I walked and talked with him as I was not in a hurry to turn onto The Plaza. He assured me he could make it to the end and I started running again.
We turn right on The Plaza and start heading towards the Plaza-Midwood area. The Plaza is a long street that changes socio-economic conditions twice. The part we start on, reminds me of Pensacola. I didn't live in Pensacola long enough to remember living there, but we traveled back to visit family 3-4 times a year. This section of The Plaza contains a lot of concrete, some run-down stores, some discount stores and a discount grocery store. There are a lot of people walking or waiting at the bus stops and old cars parked in the parking lots. It's not scary during the daytime.
We turn left at a funky intersection that takes us onto the nicer part of The Plaza. This stretch is residential and contains old Victorian houses mixed with small homes that were probably built in the 60s. They're very cute with well landscaped yards and nice sidewalks. It's an extreme contrast from where we had just run. This section is flat and Kristie and Jaclyn from CRMG have caught up to me. I speak with them a little and they stay close enough behind me that I can hear their conversation without trying. From here we loop around a part of Plaza-Midwood I don't usually run through. It's a really cute area with great little houses that are well kept. I stopped and check an information sheet for one that was for sale. There wasn't a price listed, but I'm sure it's out of my range. This section has some small hills, but for the most part is pretty flat. From this section we continue down Central Ave. and back into downtown, hitting one major hill on the way. I'm surprised that I have enough energy to get up it. I took one GU with me and I'm starting to fade as the 'dinner' the night before was not enough to sustain a long run. By the time we get to Morehead, about a mile from the finish at the Dowd Y, I had to walk about a block.
At the finish I'd run about 14 miles. Time to party! We had a larger than normal group at Bruegger's for celebratory bagels and coffee. It was Christi's birthday and she brought a few friends with her. Some other CRMG members joined us and people filtered in and out. It was such a fun way to start the weekend!
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