News-Record.com

GREENSBORO -- For athletes who think of themselves as communing with nature, marathon runners have a tendency to leave a few (thousand) footprints behind. After all, those plastic water bottles and rubber-soles have to be discarded somewhere.

Greensboro's marathon is going green.

Race organizers said Tuesday the N.C. Marathon, scheduled for May 2, will have the environment in mind from start to finish: E-mails will replace all paper correspondence. Cups and bottles will be recycled.

There will even be bins at the finish line on North Elm Street for runners to throw out their shoes. Nike and other shoe companies grind up the rubber to make track surfaces.

Race director Melissa Fourrier said Greensboro's running community encouraged marathon officials to go green.

"When you think of all the trash a race can produce, it makes sense and it's the right thing to do," she said.

Greensboro isn't exactly ahead of the curve on hosting an environmentally-friendly race. The Portland Marathon in Oregon hands out bamboo T-shirts to runners. In Connecticut, a 2,000-gallon water fountain lets 40 runners in the ING Hartford Marathon drink at the same time, eliminating the need for 10,000 plastic bottles.

Another big change in Greensboro: Officials rerouted the race map and eliminated the brutal uphill finish. Fourrier said runners complained, saying it hindered their chances to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com