Asheville Running Scene

Time: 83:32
Distance: ~13 miles

W/u: 11:45 for ~1.5 miles
W/o: 60 minutes of good solid running with Scott Williams
C/d: 11:30 for ~1.5 miles

I made it up to Asheville this evening with enough time to hang out at Jus' Running. I got to hear all about the Blue Ridge Relay and the battle between Norm's Maggots and the Charlotte Running Club. When 6:30 pm rolled around the store was filled with about 30 runners who all came to run hills. The owner, Norm Blair, gave everyone the assigned workout to mumbles and grumbles from some in the audience.

One athlete in attendance was Scott Williams who I ran with once over the holidays on a cold morning in Charlotte. I could go back and look for that run, but I am too lazy. However, I remember there being Spada, Scott, Paul, and a few others starting out at PDS. Anyway, I was glad to have someone to run with and help during their workout. He was needing to run hard for an hour around about a .85 mile loop on the UNCA campus. It turned out that one loop was just about 5 minutes so the goal was to run 12 loops. Boring yes, but hopefully we would find a rhythm and just zone out as the sun set.

Splits (taken every two loops):
10:16, 10:12, 10:16, 10:14, 10:09, 9:07 for 60:17 total and Scott was 1:22 back at the end for 61:39 total.

The two of us worked together throughout to just click off some decent paced laps. I think we were running just around 6 minute pace for most of the run. With 3 laps to go, Scott fell back just a hair for me to get antsy. I decided to hammer the pace on the final two circuits and split over a minute faster to bring the total time to a little over an hour. I was pleased with the solid running and loved being in a mountains.

We all went out to eat at La Carreta after the workout and had a fun time telling running stories. Taylor Little was gracious enough to play host despite not being on the roads that much these days. I take that back, he's on the roads with his bike much more than he is with his running shoes. We had a fun visit for the rest of the evening, but both of us had to be up early for runs and a ride in the morning.