Quiet Week

Ninesprings 10k

The Club's Ninespring 10k is on the 21st May at 6:30 pm. If you wish to race the forms can be downloaded off the website here.

Sunday Run

Today saw the Sunday run groups meeting at Goldenstones nothing special really happened apart from Debbie O'Neil trying to get into her Car with a few of the Club trying to help her. This went on for a bit with not much like thinking the Battery in the Key fob might be dead but the lights of the Car did flash when Debs pressed it. Not even a certain engineer with a Blue BMW could work it out. Then Debs mention she had another set of keys that might work. They did as these were the correct keys and the ones they were trying to use were for her other car. Easy mistake. 

Whilst we were out on our run, a gentle 14 miler with Marsh Lane thrown in near the end, I got a bit thirsty so as I was passing a Club member's house who did wave as we ran past I thought I would ask for a glass of water. The first response from the window was sod off I am not running then I said I wanted a drink of water which the said person did get for me but when the door was open I just didn't know where to look as still in PJ's with just a thong was on.  No names 

A Runner's High (literally) – The Colorado Marathon

From Marathon Mike

An opportunity to visit friends in Fort Collins Colorado saw us arrive in a blizzard in Denver on Friday evening. Bad luck with the weather continues in my quests, springtime had given way to a late winter storm which was due to last until Monday when the birds would start chirping again and the buds erupting. Fort Collins lies on a plain about 5 miles east of the Rocky Mountain foothills and is a very nice little city indeed, a small clean college town with quaint buildings housing many fine bistros and bars. The town is also known as “The Craft Beer Capital of Colorado” since it produces more than 70% of the craft beer made in the state in its 20-odd micro-breweries. Most offer a free brewery tour but also operate as pubs in their own right serving the usual pints and also “flights” (a row of five or six 100ml glasses containing a variety of their brews for sampling). Having picked up race packets on Saturday, we enjoyed a little afternoon beer tasting, thought about doing the Magic Bus Tour of the breweries on Sunday instead of the marathon on account of the weather forecast, but in the end got an early night for an early start on Sunday. 

The marathon is in its 15th year and attracts about 1,000 entries. It’s a point-to-point, starting up in the mountains at almost 6,500 feet and finishing in the city centre at about 4,800 feet. The organisers had put on buses starting at 4:30 am to take everyone from the finish to the start along part of the marathon course up a narrow road in a canyon, which was the only way to get to the start as the road was closed to all other traffic. The bus ride took an hour, the further up we went it became colder and the snow deeper, it was very pretty with all the snow on the fir trees; fortunately there was none on the road. Dawn broke as we lined up for the 6:30 start in the falling snow, but there was no wind and with the temp just on freezing it was quite ok for running. (I thought of the YTRRC members who ran the NDVM , who at that very minute were probably eating cake and drinking tea in the warm sunshine out on the grass).The first 17 miles were in the twisty canyon and all downhill without a break, spectacular scenery alongside the Poudre River which was swollen and running hard with the snowmelt. Initial impression was how labored breathing was considering we were running downhill, a result of course of the altitude where each lungful of air at that height contains roughly 20% less oxygen than at sea level. Then after 17 miles and 1500 feet further down the canyon the quads were very sore, and hip, knees and ankles ached, I have never worked so hard running down a slope. At 18 miles it stopped snowing and we broke out of the canyon at about 5,000 feet where the course flattened out a bit but still followed the river down. Next were 4 miles on open country roads with the snow-covered Rocky Mountains as an imposing back-drop, and then the last 4 on a concrete bicycle trail alongside the river into Fort Collins centre, ouch. The bottoms of my feet already felt bruised going on to this bit from the three-hour hill, and it was painful to walk at the finish.  

The marathon is billed as the most scenic marathon in America, a matter of opinion, it must certainly be up there, the views are magnificent, would have been even better with the sun out.  On the negative side, crowd support was almost non-existent, and we only got to run 0.2 miles along city streets. The unexpected cold snap also killed the after-race outdoor party with free beer, food and live music, we skipped it and returned quickly to the hot tub. Was hoping to get a day skiing on Monday but it was a challenge until Wednesday to walk very far, especially after sitting down for half-hour or so, so just had to go and sample some more beers instead. A very enjoyable weekend, a few new experiences, a short-lived resolution on Sunday afternoon to stop running marathons, but now…………….what’s next?

Zombie Apocalypse

A few of the Club took part in the Zombie Apocalypse 5k in Trowbridge. Although a lot did not bother to dress up the YTRRC lot did.

See there were quite a few taking part in this race.

A nice bit of bling to go with it.

Notices

Good luck to all the teams that are taking part in Hope 24, please give my love to Thomas the Tank Engine and enjoy the hills at 3 am. Just enjoy and send me a full report with photographs for the Blog next week.

Good luck to Sean who is in the States working hard at the Invictus Games,look out for him on the telly. 

Club Events

1. Tuesday Club Night is at YTFC 6:30pm 10th May, it will be the Chairman's 5k followed by the AGM with Food and also the bar will be open.

2. The Pub Run this week is on Thursday at The Fox and Hounds Charlton Adam  6:30pm 

3. The next Championship Race is Sun 15th 10k Jack & Jill Challenge 11.00 am 

4.  The Sunday Long Runs will be at Goldenstones at 9:00 am