Moved from Jan 31 to Feb 7. Please update your RSVP if this changes whether you can attend or how far you plan to run. I will only be able to run the 9 mi route on Feb 7 but hopefully there will be others willing to run longer.

Hi All

Since several of you are planning to run the Tobacco Road Half or Full Marathon, I thought I'd schedule a practice run. If you respond "maybe" for now, please ensure you reply either "yes" or "no" by Saturday so I know for sure who is coming.

I have already run part of the course with a friend (THANKS PAULINE!!!) a few weeks ago and I can say that it's a bit tricky in the last few miles due to some construction and road name changes. So given that I strongly recommend that you arrive early, at 8:15AM so that I can hand out maps and we can organize into small groups who want to run similar distances and paces. We will start running at 8:30AM.

Please let me know if you are willing to lead a group in your reply to this meetup (please state distance and approx pace).

If this is successful (ie: folks attend and we don't lose anyone!) we'll do this again at the end of February.

Here are some ideas of distances we may want to break into groups for. Pace will depend on who attends but I'd suspect the pace would be from 8:30 to 10 mm. If you think you'll run significantly slower or faster than this pace, just email me ([masked]) and I'll see if we can pair you up with someone.

9 mi loop - This loop is the part of the course that overlaps the full and half so it will give you a good idea of what both courses are like. This is really the minimum distance that can be run in this practice run since it's a loop and not an "out and back" course.

13.1 mi course - This would be the entire half marathon course. You could do a bit less by not going as far north on the ATT as the course map indicates.

16 to 20 mi - The exact distance will depend on interest. I am planning on 20 miles that day, so depending on interest, I'll either do the 13.1 course and then keep going or do 20 by adding more distance on the ATT by doing part of the full marathon course.

Again I'll print out maps for the run but in the meantime you can check out the website for the race for course details and maps. www.tobaccoroadmarathon.com.

It's also important to note that the first and last 3 miles of the course (both half and full) are on the road and the road is not blocked off so we'll need to run single file for most of those parts. Please wear something bright so cars will spot you and bring water if you want it, as there is none on the trail. There are bathrooms at Thomas Brooks Park and also at one point on the ATT.

Hope to see you there!

Mary

Here is a link to where to park once you get to the USA Baseball/Thomas Brooks Park area.

http://maps.google.co...