Just wanted to tell you a little bit more about the half that I’m training for on March 21st!
Not only is this race exciting because it’ll be the first time I’ve done a half in 10 years (yikes), but it’s the inaugural running of this race!
The race is being held in Cary, North Carolina. Seven miles of the half marathon will be on the American Tobacco Trail.
The trail follows the path of an old railroad that was used to transport tobacco leaf from local farms to a processing plant in Durham, NC (The American Tobacco Company). While I think it’s entirely ironic that a marathon is being held on a tobacco trail, it looks like it will be a beautiful place to run.
The race starts (and finishes) at Thomas Brooks Park’s USA Baseball training stadium then heads out on 3 miles of paved road towards the American Tobacco Trail, which I believe is a crushed gravel surface. (The description says “compacted screenings”-no idea what that is, but from the picture above it looks like dirt and gravel.)
It looks like technically the half marathon is now going to be the Bay Six Half Marathon due to sponsorship, but I’m not sure-we’ll see. (That’s all part of signing up for a brand new race!)
The race benefits the Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy (an organization to turn abandoned railroads into recreational trails or sites of future transportation) and the Wounded Warrior Project (a group providing services to severely injured service members). I love knowing what a race is supporting. Finding out why the organizers chose such beneficiaries can be really interesting as well.
Course map:
And elevation:
Looks pretty good to me!!
(See now when I do my race recap I can leave out all the boring details! ;))
I’m very very excited to be doing this race with two of my great girlfriends from college. We live 512 miles apart, so I never imagined we could train for a race “together”, but it’s been great support! I can’t wait to see them at the starting line!!!
I’m following a training schedule that has me running only three days a week so I can minimize the impact on my feet. Hopefully including cross training will help me be race ready!
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