Southeast Charlotte Sucks: A Lesson in Land-Use Planning

Distance: 10.67 mi.
Time: 1:21:22.
Pace: 7:38.

I'm in between homes for the next two weeks, and as a result I'm staying with family in southeast Charlotte. I'm eternally grateful for the hospitality and the huge home, but this side of town is nothing short of awful for running. I will never take for granted being able to live and run in Dilworth and Myers Park every day.

I set out through Matthews by the Siskey Y, cheating death as there was no sidewalk for a long stretch of road. I do not understand this at all. So many of the connecting roads out here do not have sidewalks. How is this safe? What happens when a resident wants to walk down the street? I suppose the answer to this is: they don't. This is America, after all; people don't think you can walk around unless you live in a sub-division. Anyone who passed by me probably immediately thought I was either (a) an idiot or (b) running from the law. Maybe both. On the bright side, this led to an exciting moment crossing the I-485 bridge, when I simply waited until there were no cars and sprinted across it as if my life depended on it.

I made my way, alive if not well, down to Highway 51. Here, of course, there were sidewalks. It would seem to me that if you had to pick and choose where to put a sidewalk, then the busy four-lane highway would not seem to need one compared to a short, two-lane connecting road in the middle of a massive residential area. Nevertheless, I ran, on the sidewalk, from Fullwood Lane all the way to the Arboretum Shopping Center - at the intersection of 51 and Providence Road.

The cool thing about this stretch of the run is that I had some massive hills, which served the dual purpose of hill training while also easing my aching left leg. Pushing on the ups seemed to make the numb feeling go away in an area that has been a mild concern to me. I crested the hill and turned left on Kuykendall, where of course I once again would have to run with no sidewalks.

Check that - every now and then, there would be a sidewalk, and then it would disappear into a sub-division. Again, if you can only put sidewalks in certain areas, then I would think the quiet neighborhood streets would be less of a priority than the curvy connecting road. (Ideally, there would be sidewalks on all the roads, but you get the idea.) This is simply horrible land-use planning, and it helps explain why suburban housing costs are at such a great risk of plummeting without warning: there is no sustainability to a community that leads nowhere, means nothing, does not connect. This entire side of town is filled with small sub-divisions that fit that description. The houses are beautiful and the neighborhoods are often very quiet and peaceful, but ultimately there is no sense of place. This is the type of planning that has dominated America since right after World War II, and I think Charlotte has done a fantastic job of attempting to turn that around (see: Plaza-Midwood, NoDa, Phillips Place, Birkdale Village, South End, et al.).

You might be thinking, "But Jason, I don't like to run or ride my bike, so none of this matters to me." Fair enough, but you're still a slave to your car. Some of these people probably spend five minutes simply driving out of their neighborhoods, only to go to a place that looks exactly like the one they've just left. This obviously results in a much higher cost of living, seemingly without much reward.

On the bright side, there's always the McMullen Greenway, and many people don't even need to drive to it!

Geography lesson over. Sorry.

Cold, Lonely, and Awesome

Distance: 20 mi.
Time: 2:35:51 - 7:48 ppm.

For today's long run, I made a point to prepare a little bit better, or at least come close to resembling pre-race preparation. I will not be working til after 11p.m. the night before Thunder Road, as I did last night, but I did take in a good bit of food yesterday and get to sleep at a decent hour. Yesterday afternoon I made a trip to Run For Your Life to pick up some more gel and purchase some new shorts. I needed a longer pair of shorts with a pocket in order to combat the cooler weather and have some room for the gel. Done and done.

I had been invited to join the group of Billy, Kahn, Carolyn, and Megan, but I declined, choosing instead to get an extra hour of sleep and run at my own pace. For the most part I prefer running with a group, as it will always be faster, but sometimes a solo long run can do wonders for the mind and spirit.

I parked at Old Bell just before 7, stretched out a bit, and stuffed some gel into my shorts. I would be taking two decaffeinated packets at miles six and twelve and one caffeinated gel at mile 18. For the race I will probably do another caffeinated dose at mile 24. I only needed one for now as I had planned to return to the car after 12 on the roads. I ran up Sardis in shorts, a tech tee, and a v-neck dry-fit long-sleeve, plus a toboggan. I was cold and it was a bit shocking compared to what I've gotten used to. I made a point not to worry about my pace, and it showed, as it was a good bit into this one before I was able to turn any decent splits. I felt like I was running faster but again, the change in temperature was a bit startling at first. I ran through Lansdowne and up Providence, then went up Alexander Road. This road is always so pretty in the early mornings when it's cold outside. There's one section with a couple small fields on either side and a blind curve that make it look like a mountain lane. It was here that I took the first gel, inadvisably without water.

I ran to the right on Sardis and turned into the Sardis Forest neighborhood, where I proceeded to get lost...story of my life. This could explain several 8:00-plus miles as I never really stopped the watch while I was walking around in the road trying to gather my bearings. Oh well, I made it out and back towards the car, where I caught a glimpse of Compton running by and took another gel - this time with water and Gatorade.

My watch read 7:56 average pace, which was a bit disturbing despite the slow miles in Sardis Forest. I ditched my hat and set off down the greenway, determined to turn some faster miles. I accomplished said goal, with my fastest split being a 7:16 on mile 17. I took the caffeinated gel with water after 18 miles, and it was here that I finally began to slow down, albeit only by a little bit, after successfully getting my average pace under 7:50. The legs were tired but the breathing and energy level had been fine all day, likely a combination of the cooler temps and the three gels.

After struggling to make it through an 18-mile run last weekend I was happy to get this one down in solid fashion. The pace was slower than I would have liked but despite being tired at the end I felt like I could have gone further. I will do one more 20-miler and a 22-mile run before I taper.

This was a good morning on the roads and trails.