Hey all:

I'm a Chapel Hill runner registered for the inaugural Knoxville Marathon (www.knoxvillemarathon.com) on March 20th (my second, after doing Richmond last fall). It's quite scenic and challenging (plenty of hills, though not terrible); I lived there during/after grad school from 73 to 77. So if you've been training and haven't yet made plans, you might consider it because some spaces are still available.

I ran the Company Mill Trail today. This trail is run near the beginning of the marathon, and it too was very hilly. The trail twist and turns and rarely is level. You seem to always being going up or down. When your going down you have to be extremely careful with the numerous roots and rocks that are there to twist your angle. We are on this trail for 1.5 miles. Plan on taking this one slow, and note there is little to no room to pass, but if your behind my fat butt and want to pass, just let me know and I'll be glad to step to the side!

When I ran it today, I put in a 5k pace effort and was only able to get a 10 minute/mile!

I plan on running the Company Mill Trail a few times more, and I will include the Sycamore Trail also. Thanks for the heads up on the difficulty.

Also a warning for the Cedar Ridge Trail. This trail turns into a single file trail about a mile into the trail and tends to be muddy in spots with a few steep hills--making the footing a little dangerous since this is run near the end of the marathon.

Well when I signed up I wanted a challege--I would say I got one!

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I'm a running fool, but not a foolish runner.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by swatkins:
The Company Mill Trail isn't too bad if you run it counter-clockwise. Personally, I think Umstead is uphill every direction. Has anyone run the Turkey Creek trail? I tried to run it this weekend but I couldn't find the trail.<HR>

I have run the Turkey Creek trail several times. It connects to bridal trail near the Sycamore trail, but it ends at Ebenezer Church Road on the other end. You then run along Ebenezer for a bit - but there is a huge shoulder where the have recently moved Ebenezer so there is basically a trial beside the road. It seems to be the toughest section of bridal trial in the park, in my opinion.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by RunBobaluRun:
Well I had the chance to run Company Mill Trail and Sycamore trail today. I see your point about Sycamore's long hill at the end. I have to vote Company Mill Trail as the most difficult--though I was able to run the trail faster today with less effort.

I ran eight and half miles in Umstead at a marathon pace and was able to go under 10min/mile pace--great! I run twenty in Umstead Monday afternoon and will try to put a 10:30min/mile pace together. This will be the last super long run before the race. I hope to be ready to finish around 4:20, but I realize much depends on how I feel race day.

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Good luck with your last long run. I ran my last one on Saturday. I will run 14 this weekend in Umstead and I will try out the Company Mill trail. I am not really looking forward to it if it is much tougher than the Sycamore trail.

Good luck in a few weeks.

lesil22, there is a race about 2 and half hours away from Raleigh in Chinia Grove. I got the details from ncroadraunners.org

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Landis ? Ain?t Hogs Great 5K ? 9am - $17 by 2/21, after $20. Info: David Freeze, 3065 Weaver Rd., China Grove, NC 28023 ? (704) 857-4035 (d), 857-3036 (n) ? dlfreeze@salisbury.net

China Grove is off Hwy. 64 south of Lexington.

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I'm a running fool, but not a foolish runner.

http://This message has been edited by RunBobaluRun (edited Feb-16-2005).

thanks runbobularun! are you running that race? leslie

Hey Raleigh folks - just FYI - there's a group of CH's meeting in Charlotte in April for the racefest - 10K and Half. We'd love to have you down. Details (thread)[/URL" target="_blank">, details (thread)[/URL" target="_blank">, and more details (race)[/URL" target="_blank">.