Easy Peasy wrote:
This is actually a good question. I've run on both sides, and they definitely do tape down the middle of the road. Orange is supposed to be left, blue/green right side. As others have pointed out, it's not like you gain some advantage. I'm not sure what race directions are given to those in the orange sub elite corral, ie can they cross over?
The courses don't merge until mile 8, but I don't know if that's actually the rule or not.
I was in Orange on the left and saw a bunch of runners going under the tape to go to one side or the other, mainly to zigzag around slower runners.
Personally I think it's a huge waste of energy and people who do it are silly. But it's definitely not a DQ or against the rules.
Congrats to Girma, who I used to line up in corrals with at races before he dusted me with sub-5-min/mile paces at NYRR races. Sorry to see he had to move back home.