Coast

What the heck, it’s flat: why not do a half marathon — or a full! — at the coast this weekend?

The Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon has become a big event, in part, we gather, because it is a flat course. Also, if you aren’t ready for the big runs, this race offers options: there’s the marathon relay, a 5K and a 1-mile run as well. And according to the forecast, there’s good incentive to run fast: the chance of rain hits about 50 percent by noon.

Logistics: Sunday, March 22, 6:35 a.m., Wrightsville Beach. $17.50 – $100.70. More info here.

Sunday forecast: High of 62, rain developing throughout the day.

Piedmont

It’s a Haiku Hike
Reedy Creek is putting on
C’mon, sounds like fun

Logistics: Saturday, 2 p.m., Reedy Creek Nature Center, Charlotte. $2. More info and to register: 704.432.6460.

Saturday forecast: High of 73, sunny.

Mountains

Warming temperatures mean it’s time to Get in Gear in Asheville — at a festival of the same name this Saturday at RiverLink Park in the River Arts District. There’ll be a lot going on, including product demos, gear clinics, beer from local breweries, raffles and, writes the Asheville Citizen-Times, “the opportunity to try out things you might never have done before, from a sling shot range to a pump track to a ‘squeeze box.’” A portion of proceeds from beer sales benefit RiverLink, a nonprofit that works to revitalize the French Broad River.

Logistics: Saturday, March 21, noon-4 p.m., RiverLink Park, Asheville. More info in this Citizen-Times article.

Saturday forecast: High of 70, mostly sunny.

* * *

Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

The post This weekend: a run, a poetic hike, a festival of fun appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Coast

Lots of people go to Merchants Millpond State Park, almost all to paddle the cypress- and tupelo-peppered millpond. But the park, nestled in the swampy northeast corner of the state, also has hiking trail (it even has backcountry camping). Saturday, you can tag along with a ranger on a nature hike through the park, a good opportunity to learn about the swamplike environment. Bug spray recommended.

Logistics: Saturday, Oct. 19, 1 p.m. Free. More info: 252.357.1191.

Saturday forecast: Overcast, high of 72.

Piedmont

For much of the year, Medoc Mountain State Park exists in blissful anonymity. Even on a brilliant fall weekend you can hike the 10 miles of trail in this northern Piedmont paradise and hardly see a soul. That will change this weekend with the 6th Annual Medoc Mountain Trail Races. The races consist of a 10-miler and a marathon on trail that is gently rolling (though there is a pretty good short climb up 325-foot Medoc Mountain).

Logistics: Saturday, Oct. 19: the marathon begins at 8 a.m., the 10-miler at 8:30 a.m. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Overcast, high of 72.

Mountains

We night hike regularly, ride the mountain bike at night during the cold weather/short daylight months, and have night paddled exactly once. We have the opportunity to double our experience on the latter Friday night when the Western North Carolina Alliance holds a full-moon paddle on the French Broad River near Asheville. The trip is led by French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson. (Incidentally, the WNCA informs us, Friday’s full moon is the third to last of the year, and is also known as the Full Hunter’s Moon and the Travel Moon. Thanks for tuning into GetGoingNC’s Know Your Moons segment.)

Logistics: Departs Friday , Oct. 18, at 6:15 p.m. from  Jean Webb Park, 30 Riverside Dr. in Asheville. Fee is $20 for WNCA members with their own boats and gear, $30 for members without gear, $45/$45 for non-WNCA members. To RSVP or for more information, make contact with WNCA education and outings coordinator Isabelle Rios at Isabelle@WNCA.org or 258-8737, ext. 201.

Friday evening forecast: Partly cloudy with an overnight low of 52 following a daytime high of 63.

* * *

Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

Like us on Facebook and get health, fitness and outdoors news throughout the day.

GetGoingNC.com

Promote Your Page Too

The post This weekend: Fall for the outdoors appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

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.)

Logistics: Saturday, Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m. $80. At the Summerhouse community north of Wilmington. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Daytime high of 84, cooling to 68 overnight. 60 percent chance of rain.

Piedmont

Our friends at Trek Raleigh are sponsoring the 4th Annual Five-O Memorial Bicycle Ride this Saturday. The 50K and 100K routes will both explore North Raleigh and rural northern Wake County. Rest stops, SAG support and lunch at the end of the ride! Proceeds benefit the Raleigh Police Memorial Foundation.

Logistics: Saturday, Aug. 24, 100K begins at 7:30 a.m., 50K at 8:30 a.m., walk up registration begins a half hour before each event. $35. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 84 and sunny.

Mountains

Here’s another night run, the Maggie Valley Moonlight 8K Race and Sunset Fun Run. It begins at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds, goes 1.2 miles up the valley to Ghost Town, goes 2.4 miles in the “opposite direction,” then returns to the Festival Grounds. The Sunset Fun Run is confined to the FG.

Logistics: Saturday, Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m. $35. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Daytime high of 79 cooling to 61 overnight. 70 percent chance of rain.

* * *

Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

The post This weekend: Ride in the morning, run at night appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

A biathlon with running and standup paddleboarding, a half marathon on a NASCAR track, a hike in the snow — can a weekend get more North Carolina than that?

Coast

Running and standup paddleboarding — that’s a combination you don’t often see under the biathlon umbrella. But you will Saturday at Wrightsville Beach for the 4th Annual Wrightsville Beach Biathlon. Four miles of standup paddleboarding on a flatwater course followed by a 4-mile beach run, all in the hopes of scoring “the soon-to-be-coveted Masonboro Trophy.”

Logistics: Competition begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning from near the Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach. Individual $45, teams $250. More info here.

Sunday forecast: High of 61, 70 percent chance of rain.

Piedmont

Not all of Sunday’s North Carolina Half Marathon takes place on the track at Concord’s Charlotte Motor Speedway — you get to run on the nearby drag strip, too! The chance to start and finish on this 1.5-mile oval alone should inspire thoughts of a PR (though don’t expect to match Elliott Sadler’s qualifying record of 193.21 miles per hour).

Logistics: 7:30 a.m. Sunday, March 24, Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord. $85, here.

Sunday forecast: High of 55, 60 percent chance of rain.

Mountains

When I think of Kitsuma Peak near Old Fort, I think of mountain biking, specifically the Off-road Assault on Mount Mitchell. Sunday, though, the focus will be on hiking as the Carolina Mountain Club takes on Kitsuma and Young’s Ridge for its great views of Graybeard Mountain, Green Knob, Mount Mitchell and the Swannanoa Valley. A 10-mile hike with 1,150 feet of total climbing.

Logistics: Sunday, March 24, 9 a.m. Details, contact hike leader Lenny Bernstein at 828.236.0192 or lsberns@att.net

Sunday forecast: High of 37 with a 60 percent chance of snow.

* * *

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges
Rundown, by month, of regular activities at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuges in North Carolina.

The post This weekend: S’up? Plenty! appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

The post A 26.2-mile education appeared first on GetGoing NC!.