Race #571 - Eastbound Trail Half Marathon - Charlotte, NC - 09/07/24


Lord knows I'm not a trail runner, although I've been trying to impersonate one for the last few months. In July, I ran the Harbison Trail Half Marathon, the first singletrack trail half marathon I've ever run. In retrospect, I kind of enjoyed it even though I was slow and spent most of the time just trying not to trip over a rock or a tree root. I did the same thing in this race; just hoping I didn't trip and break an ankle or do a faceplant. Luckily, I came out unscathed and didn't fall or twist anything that shouldn't be twisted. 

The U.S. National Whitewater Center is about a 15-minute drive from my house. It has 50+ miles of trails, but I haven't been there in over 10 years because trails have never appealed to me. This week, they had the only half marathon within 100 miles, and since I'm trying to run every half marathon I can reasonably get to this year, I figured I'd give it a go. 

From what I've heard, the trail races at the Whitewater Center are notorious for being the wrong distance. One Facebook runner said he's run half marathons here that range from 9 miles to 16 miles. I signed up for the race, hoping it would be closer to 9 miles than 16 if the distance was incorrect. My Garmin measured it at 12.18 miles, which didn't hurt my feelings. 

Since I registered for the race less than a month before race day, I couldn't get a shirt or a finisher medal. Since they cut off the awards at 61+, I also didn't get an age group award even though I was the only finisher over 70 years old. They didn't win me over, but that's okay since this may be the last trail half marathon I ever run. 


Race Name:  Eastbound Half Marathon

Location:  Charlotte, North Carolina (U.S. National Whitewater Center)

Date: September, 7, 2024

Course:




Elevation Chart:

Kinda like a roller coaster!

Weather at Start:

Mile Splits:


Run/Walk Graph:

I thought I walked about as much as I ran, but the Run/Detection (below) says I only walked about 40 minutes. Not great, but better than I thought.

Run/Walk Detection:



Click Here for Race Results


My Stats:

  • Time:  2:53:39
  • Pace:  13:15 
  • Age Group:  5 of 6
  • Overall:  111 of 137
  • Age Grade Percentage: 47.59% 


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