A mellow downtown bike ride at the coast, an audience with a survivor from the days of Mary Queen of Scots and hankie hike up in the hollow. An interesting weekend of choices in North Carolina.
Coast
We love a good organized bike ride. And we have a special fondness for those that don’t cater to the hardcore cyclist capable of riding 100 miles. Or 63. Or even 25. We like the short, leisurely rides that just about anyone could do — even someone without a bike.
Need another triathlon before the season ends? We’ve got one? Another century ride? Got one of those, too, in the mountains, no less. And if you’re just into a good time with food, music and water, water everywhere, we’ve got that covered as well.
The three-day Crystal Coast Paddle Festival opens in Swansboro Friday while the inaugural Green River Games promises to offer some of the most challenging competition the state has seen. Meanwhile, in the Piedmont, it’s the Big Muddy Challenge, big muddy fun for parents and kids.
North Carolina bookends its Saturday with a 100K ride first thing Saturday morning in Raleigh and a pair of runs in the evening, a marathon at the coast and an 8K in the mountains.
Coast
If you just looked at your watch and thought, “Holy cow! Is there still time to qualify for the Boston Marathon!?” the answer is “yes.” Thanks to Saturday’s Last Chance for Beantown Marathon there is indeed one last chance (or one of several last chances, actually) to qualify for Boston 2014. Not only is this a flat marathon (it’s mostly through the Summerhouse community north of Wilmington) but it’s also in the cool of the night, starting at 7:30 p.m. (you must finish by 12:30 a.m.)
The weather people said a cold front was coming. They said the air would be drier. They said the daytime highs would drop into the mid-70s and that it cool off to 60 overnight. After weeks of soggy, sweaty days in the low 90s, it was easy to be skeptical. But when front finally hit it was easy to drop whatever and reunite with the outdoors.