To infinity & beyond – A News Update
Judy Alexander,
As you read this, 2009’s first two Club races, Billy Bowlegs and the 30K/15K, along with the GWTC Awards Banquet, are behind us. Depending on when you get your mail, the Marathon/Half-Marathon may also be history. And those are just the Club races; there are plenty of other events in between! If you’ve been a part of any of these, fantastic! If not, there are still plenty of them left on the calendar. The Flash 12K will sport an additional 6K race this year, in honor of the Springtime 5K added last year to that longtime GWTC event. Just think, if you’ve never run a 12K or 6K race, you’ll have an automatic PR! Joe “Dex” and Nadine Dexter will be coming back to town to direct it, with the in-town help of Co-Director Mark Priddy. It’s always a fun and festive event, with GREAT tee shirts! The Springtime 10K/5K/1-Miler will take place March 28, but the very successful Springtime Training Group, started by Julie Clark years ago and now led by Robin Borschel and T.J. Cutchins, got underway January 26. It’s not too late to join this great bunch of runners/walkers and get yourself ready for a fun downtown day of exercise, music, food, and the Springtime parade!
On a completely different note, a fine group of folks is working hard to create for Tallahassee a marvelous new cross country venue for FSU and local high schools to use for official meets and for general recreational use by those of us whose high school and college running days are behind us. The Apalachee Regional Park (APR), managed by Leon County Parks and Recreation, is a beautiful piece of land behind the landfill off Apalachee Parkway. Zoned as “active use”, these 700+ acres include meadows, woods and a portion of Lake Lafayette. Unlike the “passive use” Greenways, ARP has no parking restrictions; consequently, large competitions can be staged without fear of damaging sensitive lands. Behind the landfill, you say? Won’t that be stinky? The only cell containing household garbage (the stuff that creates the gases that smell bad) is 20+ years old and inactive. The gases from this cell are burned off as they are released so as to eliminate the smell. The other active cells primarily consist of benign construction trash. After seeing the proposed ARP course, the venerable Coach Gary Droze liked it so much he thought we might even see world-class athletes training and racing out there in the future. Although this property is not yet ready for visitors, GWTC (Brian Corbin) and FSU (Head Coach Bob Braman) and the Director of Parks and Recreation, Pat Plocek, are awaiting word from the County Commissioners to see how funding will work for this project. In the meantime, some clearing has been done and Brian and Bob have forged a quintessential course out at ARP. If you would like to know more about it, please contact Brian at brirun@comcast.net. Otherwise, I’ll keep you posted!
Happy Running!