Deconstructing the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon 2009 – Part One
Today I ran what is roughly miles 2-5 in the 2009 Citizen-Times Half Marathon Course. I did not do the first mile or so because it’s generally fairly routine downtown Asheville running. Here’s what I skipped today:
I started around the intersection of Woodfin and Central, near the YMCA in downtown Asheville. Here’s a link to a map of what I ran today:
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=301124
There are a few uphill portions of note, but generally I’d classify this section as relatively easy. All of the turns through lightly-traveled residential areas make this a very interesting part of the course. Some hill notes:
- There is a gradual uphill pull on Central after passing under 240. Nothing terrible.
- A slightly more difficult, but shorter pull up Cherokee just before making the turn onto Canterbury Road North.
- A moderate but short pull up Oak Lane.
- A mild uphill pull on Macon.
- Long but mild uphill pull on Kimberly and Country Club. This is comparable to the uphill section on Kimberly all the way to Griffing on the old course. But the new course moves much of it onto Country Club and does not include the run up Griffing to the top of the Rose Garden.
I deviated off the course (to head back to my car parked near the (YMCA) at Griffing and Kimberly. The course turns north, heading up to Beaverdam but I headed back down Kimberly.
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Thanks Greg. I did part two on Saturday — it was great. Here’s my post about it …
http://carolinarunner.com/2009/06/27/deconstructing-the-asheville-citizen-times-half-marathon-part-two/
Thanks for the feedback on the new course. You never know how a redesigned course will be received. Your statement on the section in the Grove Park area is exactly right: it is more confusing on the map and there will be marshals and course markings pointing the directions.
Looking forward to your comments on the next two parts. As we get closer to the race, more of my blog at the race page, citizen-times.com/race, will be specific to the race.
One more thing – the Cherokee, Canterbury, Oak, Woodland and Glendale to Macon section looks more confusing on the map than on the ground.
It’s always been my favorite long race. It was my first half marathon in 2005. I really like the changes made to the course and I enjoy breaking it down and sampling it at an easy pace to get a sense of the course. The finish is still that long pull up Broadway and a few other chunks in the middle are the same. But there is more variety and more quiet streets. Only one crossing of Merrimon instead of three! What I did this morning was very nice.
That section on Oak, Canterbury, etc. looks confusing. On race day there will be volunteers pointing the way, but on a training run I would surely forget at least one of those turns.
I’m glad you’re blogging about the A C-T half. I guess you can’t know it until you run it, but your blog is going to be a big help.