F3 Caffeine – perpetual preblast updated!

The BackBlast:

Pax of F3 Metro and beyond: Consider this a perpetual preblast for Sunday’s finest and original 5 mile run in Metro, Caffeine. We keep getting older but the route stays the same … every week. Hence, if you’re reading this now or sometime in the future, this preblast still stands.

The Thang:

Updated in 2025: Meet in front of the GameStop store in Cotswold.

There are two start times, based on pace:

7:07 start: for guys who plan to run 8:30 min/mile or slower
7:15 start: for guys who plan to run faster than 8:30.
The route is as follows:

Run from GameStop across the parking lot past where Brueggers used to be to Sharon Amity and turn right on Sharon Amity.
Turn right on Woodlark.
Take first left on Ferncliff.
Follow Ferncliff around the bends and cross over Providence.
If you’ve been in Charlotte a while, you may be smart enough to know that after you cross Providence, Ferncliff technically turns left when actual pavement continues straight. Put this knowledge to the side and ignore this turn. Instead, continue straight on this same pavement even though it’s now curiously called Knollwood.
Take your next left onto Wintergreen.
Take a right onto … Ferncliff. Yes, you could have technically turned left onto Ferncliff earlier as discussed two bullet points above and ended up in this same place, but that would have screwed up the distance slightly and would have robbed you of the hill on Wintergreen.
Turn right onto Rothwood.
Turn left onto Foxcroft and get comfortable as you’ll be here a while.
Cross over Sharon Ln, which for those of you interested in Charlotte trivia is the same road that’s called Sharon Amity earlier in this preblast.
NOTE: to make this a 4 mile run, take a shortcut and turn left on Red Fox Trail, then a left on Arborway, then a right on Pelham and pick back up onto the main route four bullet points below.
For the 5 mile version, stay on Foxcroft till the bottom of the hill and turn left onto Sedley.
Turn left on Arborway.
Take a quick right onto Abingdon. Hope you like hills.
Take a right onto Pelham.
Take a right onto Sharon Lane, run a mile, and head back to the start.
When the last man is back we all gather for COT, usually around 7:55-8.

Stick around afterward for Q Source, which starts at 8:15 at Panera.

Ruckers also start and stop in the same place, launching at 7:00.

And last but not least, the last Sunday of the month, we run the above route in reverse direction.

Aye! See you in the gloom!

5 mile route: https://www.strava.com/routes/16682620

4 mile route: https://www.strava.com/routes/16682614