Deconstructing the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon – Part Two

Deconstructing the Citizen-Times Half Marathon - Segment Two

I picked up where I left off on segment one, at the intersection of Kimberly and Griffing.  Here is a link to what I ran today:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=301450

The course heads north on Kimberly and for about three miles there’s nothing new as compared to the previous course.  We run up to Beaverdam, cross onto Elk Mountain Scenic Highway and enjoy a rolling run in and around the Country Club of Asheville.  Cross Merrimon and run around Beaver Lake and then we get into some new portions of the course, with some rolling hills and find our way into Woodfin, heading down Elkmont, generally downhill to Riverside.

But what goes down must come up.  When the course hits Riverside, it travels south a short distance before turning left on Lookout.  This is a long uphill pull — probably about 3/4 of a mile.  Although there are many little houses along this road, it feels remote.  During my run on a Saturday morning at about 8:30 I only saw one car, two human beings, one dog and one cat.

You’re rewarded at the end of the uphill pull with a great view from the northwest over UNCA and towards downtown Asheville.  Lookout turns into Barnard and intersects with Edgewood.  The course turns right at Edgewood but I went left to head back to my car.

If you’re thinking about running this, a good place to park is at Jones Park:

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