Friday, March 05, 2010

Green Jewel tomorrow

Saturday marks the third running of the Green Jewel, a 50-km road run connecting the westside paths of the Cleveland Metroparks. The run starts near the mouth of the Rocky River on Lake Erie and follows the river south and west connecting the Rocky River, Mill Stream, and Brecksville Reservations.

I was there for the inaugural running in 2008, when the event was 100-km and continued east through Bedford and South Chagrin Reservations before heading along Chagrin River Road to complete the "Emerald Necklace" with a finish in North Chagrin. Sore muscles lingered from running the Boston Marathon twelve days prior, yet my search for the Green Jewel was a memorable one.

Last year in 2009 the course was shortened to 50-km with a finish in Brecksville. I ran conservatively as part of training for the MMT100.

This year the course stays the same. The mostly docile paved route shows it's teeth after about 21 miles of gentle grade. Miles 23-27 offer the steepest climbs through North Royalton and Broadview Heights before a gradual downhill finish.

The weather outlook is not bad compared to the recent weeks but will be cold at the 7:00 a.m. start with a forecast of 20F and reaching into the low-30s by noon. It might take a couple extra miles to warm-up.

With course knowledge, I've identified a few road crossings for checkpoints:

- Bagley Rd (13.5 miles)
- Pearl Rd (17.0)
- West 130th (21.0)
- Ridge Rd (24.0)
- Broadview Rd (26.9)

I have no idea what I'm capable of but after last year's run in 4:14, perhaps a sub 4-hour is possible? Just in case, I've calculated the splits at the above checkpoints for a 7.5 minute pace.

We'll see what happens.

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

All I can say is my friend that you have made incredible strides in this running journey of yours. 3:50/50K on a cold day even. And you just nearly missed the win as I saw on the video. I still remember when we first ran into one another at the Pig around mile 20. Stay healthy and keep it fun. Good luck GC and beyond. -Craig

1:24 PM  

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