Running in K-Town

I officially arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon and recovered enough from the drive to plan out a run for Thursday morning. I had missed my Tuesday run this week due to so much business at work so I wanted to make sure I got my run in this morning.

I mapped out a 5-mile route along the Neyland Greenway (2.5 miles there, 2.5 back) using Google Pedometer. Apparently, they (the Satellite picture-taking people) are a lot more intersted in Knoxville than Tupelo because the Satelite images are very detailed, whereas you can't hardly make out the big mall on the Tupelo map.

Being a big University of Tennessee fan, I love running the Neyland Greenway. I started at Calhoun's restuarant and ran down the riverwalk where the Vol navy usually parks on big games. You then cross under Neyland drive and run right beside the stadium, which brings chills to a orange-blood fan like me who sees it mostly on television.

The route is not incredibly scenic but it is a nice change from the boring neighborhood I usually run in. It rejoins the side of the Tennessee river about a 1/4 mile down and you have a chance to run down a more scenic route at about 2 miles. I felt really good during the run. I didn't pay attention to pace and ran just what felt good. It came out to about a 9:28 pace for the 5 miles.

That was at 7:00 this morning. I then came home and got ready and the family went to Dollywood! Woo hoo! They had fun and we probably walked another 5 miles, pushing a fully loaded double stroller along the hilly way. Tomorrow will include even more fun at Splash Country!8-0 I hope to run an easy 3-miler before we go but I am bone tired right now.

The hike Saturday turns out to be a little over 10 miles all together. We are hiking along the AT (Appalachian Trail) out to a rocky place called Charles Bunion, apparently named after somebody's nasty feet (named Charles). I am looking forward to the break from civilization, even if it is a short one. These ten miles will probably count as my long run, which doesn't make me feel too bad considering there is some elevations gains involved. I plan to take plenty of pictures and will post them next week!