The Charlotte Ten Miler is a road race in South Charlotte, covering large stretches of the McAlpine and Four Mile Creek greenway trails. I ran the 10 mile race, but there was a four mile option.

I loved the course layout. The scenery was a little bland, as we alternated between greenways and the surrounding neighborhoods. It was a run you might have done on any given Saturday with your run club (in fact, we passed many people doing just that). It was a really fair course though. Their are two decent hills, one in the first and one in the ninth miles, and a few smaller hills getting on and off the greenways. These are punctuated by long, relatively flat stretches on the greenways that let you recover and get into a flow. Most of the last mile slopes downhill, allowing you to build speed to the finish and feel good about your effort. I used this as a test to see where I was while training for my first marathon, and it was perfect for this.

There was a good crowd at the end, along with pancakes and other breakfast items. The free beer was a little small, and while water was easy to find it was harder to locate sports drinks at the finish. It was really about the run, though, and the fun I had running the course eclipsed any criticisms of the after-party.

Ten mile runners received a really nice hooded t-shirt and a medal as a reward (Start2Finish, the organizers, usually do a really good job with this). Four milers received a t-shirt but could upgrade to the long sleeve for a fee.

Especially if you live in the Charlotte area, I would recommend this race.