NewRo Runners, the group that organizes the Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon, will host a “preview” run of the course on October 4th at 9 am. Please arrive 10-15 minutes early so that we can start promptly.
While there is no race this year due to the pandemic for the reasons I discussed over the summer, that doesn’t mean we can’t do a fun run. (But we don’t start at the P2P start line — read this whole message!)
We usually get 50-75 people doing this and I usually have about 10 trail leaders since there are no flags on the course. If you know the course and can lead, please email me privately.
Rules for 2020!!!
Bring a mask!!! First, you will need it for the start area when people congregate.
Second, while many will lower it while running, I fully expect everyone to pull it up when passing civilians (or each other) out on the trail. The trails are narrow, and we are breathing hard, and forcing others to breathe our air is not just potentially dangerous, but rude.
Distancing between groups of runners will happen naturally as the speedier runners take flight. Within your group, please don’t run in each other’s slip streams. Leaders will pause at major junctions so others in their groups can catch up. This is a guided running tour, not a race.
We will have multiple groups – which we coyly designate as fast, medium and slow, because tall, grande and venti didn’t seem right. The groupings will generally (and very loosely) be:
- Fastest – Was training for 3:30 marathon or faster (or 1:40 ½-marathon)
- Medium – Was training for 3:30 – 4:15 marathon (or 1:40 – 2:10 ½-marathon)
- Slower – Was training for 4:15-5:00 hour marathon (All runners should be capable of running a 2:30 half marathon on the street – please, no walkers.)
There are no fees, no services, and you don’t have to be a member of NewRo Runners to join us. We do this once a year as one of our always-changing weekly group runs and invite others to join us so we can show you our playground.
Just send me an email, tweet (@PaineToPain), Instagram (@PaineToPain) or mention on our Facebook page, so that I have a sense of how big our crowd will be, and let me know which group you think you might run with. You can always change groups on the spot, or mid-run if you don’t like the itsy-bitsy, tiger-striped shorts of the guy in front of you.
Important!! We do not meet at the starting line for P2P! We start, instead, at the trailhead for the Leatherstocking Trail. This is at the corner of Pinebrook Boulevard and Hillside Crescent in New Rochelle. (See map) There is parking available on Hillside Crescent.
There is one water fountain along the way, inside the Saxon Woods Golf Club, which has bathrooms as well, and is at the 6.8-ish-mile mark.
Your options are:
- 5.6 miles — Out and back on the Leatherstocking trail, which is marked. (Also some of the more challenging terrain of the race.)
- 10 miles — Stay with the group until we head down the Hutchinson River Trail (after passing the golf course) and then bail out at Pinebrook Boulevard. This is the same street we started on, but two miles to the north. Then run two miles on Pinebrook (going left) back to the start. There are no turns to make after leaving the group.
- 13+ —The full monty. As an extra bonus, instead of running the Broadview hill at the start of the race, you get to run it at the end when you are tired.
Please let me know if you will be able to join us.
