- When: 01/19/2020
- QIC: Half-Pipe
- Pax: Aquaman, Arkansas, Backhoe, Bono, Brass Monkey, Bud-weis-er, Charlie Brown (RESPECT), Cold-Cut (DOUBLE RESPECT), Cousin IT, Duff, Fruity Pebbles, Haavaad (RESPECT), Half-Pipe, Made Me Late, Novocaine, Patch (RESPECT), Ratched, Slim Jim (DOUBLE RESPECT), Stabler, String Bean, The End (RESPECT), Tonka
- Extra Credit: Patch, Cold-Cut, Made Me Late, Tonka
Coming up with a different route in uptown G-vegas always poses a challenge just because it’s run so much and with several running AO’s in the area, crossing or using the same courses are pretty easy to do. So to get away from the grid and monotony, I decided to hit up the west side. 22 Pax made the effort to get out in the rain and wind for some quality miles.
With a number of Pax training for a marathon in the coming months, I knew most would be using this for their Sunday recovery run. While the ruckers plotted their own course, the rest of us took to the streets. Taking off down First St, then a left on South Pitt St, we then made a right on 3rd St to give everyone a little warm up and to go a little easy on the legs with a downhill to get the blood flowing. This would soon prepare everyone for what was in store (Did anyone look at the route I posted on Slack?).
I believe to get stronger you have to save the harder stuff for the last. I found this to be true on last weeks 50K at South Mountain State Park where the last 4 miles was full of calf-burning, mile plus climbs and quad-crushing descents to finish out a brutal, beautiful and sloppy-wet course. But I would definitely run it again.
The Thang:
We followed 3rd St out towards Memorial Dr and took a left to follow Memorial and then a right to crossover on to 5th St. The modified route for the slower Pax followed Memorial Dr to turn left on 10th St, and follow to Dickinson Ave, then left on Evans St back to the flag for almost 4.5 miles. We continued to go back for the six at key intersections that I shouted out along the route as I went back for the six. Although, this is somewhat of a gradual descent, I was preparing the Pax for a little steady climbing. At least as much as you can get in Greenville without running stairs. While we have run a similar course clock-wise, I decided to run it counter to get the hill work.
After some steady climbing on Arlington Blvd, we took another left on to Stantonsburg Rd back towards Memorial Dr. Once we crossed over, this turned in to 10th St heading towards the new bridge connector. This is the highest point in Greenville you can run (about 75′ of elevation gain) without hitting a parking deck. Again, saving the best (or the hardest) for last, I knew there would be some mumble chatter given this would tax the Pax a little and make those quads burn. With just a click over the 5 mile mark, I knew some were probably cursing me while others where running like fire. Budweiser was a beast as he lead most of the time. Some of us had a little more mileage when we went back for the six.
Lastly, we took a left on Evans St and headed back to the flag. All-in-all I believe the Pax got a good workout and were challenged as I know I was. The course was plotted for just over 6.2 miles. I finished with 7.44 miles while others had some EC before and after posting. The spitting wind and rain made for a memorable time in the gloom. The Pax really pushed hard!
COT:
- Cold-Cut’s niece, Jamie.
- Cousin-IT is thankful that 3 Ibuprofen is stronger than 2.