Hello blog lovers.
It was quite exciting doing the call out for the route today at cub run. I had the great pleasure of introducing our two newest LiRF, Auriol and Carole! A big well done and welcome to the ever growing group of leaders, it's just as well as our club gets bigger every year!
Last Thursday I took our Thursday Morning group out.......well actually it was just me and Carole that went out that morning, but the route that I took was through the Rhododendron walk, so beautiful that day, the flowers was out in full bloom. I really wanted to take our Tuesday nighters along there. There is just a short time when the flowers are there and then they're gone! I was hoping I wasn't too late.
Once everyone was ready and gathered in their groups I had a count up, we had 16 in our group, a couple of newbies too! Quite a nice sized group and all smiley faces! We do all love a run in the woods, so peaceful and just perfect. Well when I say peaceful, it is really, apart from our constant chattering and also calling out all the hazards as we pass them by, "Roots, low branch, stones, poo!" We call them all out and it gets passed down the line to the sweepers, who by the way were our newest leaders Auriol and Carole. That way, they can see how the group works together, the front runners and the back runners. I know they have already done sweeping for the group anyway, but now they are taking notes, and thinking about keeping the group in a nice tight bundle for when they lead.
We went in through Dog Poo Ally and then took the left path, it's down hill this bit, only a slight down hill, it is a great path to run though. Plenty of roots to run over, a board walk to cross and a little stream to run by. Then there is the rail line, if you run solo through here you can 'chase' the trains, if you hear a train then you got to run fast get to the bridge before it gets to the bridge! Great fun. I saw a dog doing it a couple of years ago! It made me smile.
We were running really well together, Tracy and K were running in the middle of the group! We had some running just ahead of them and J.J. was running next to me while our two new leaders made sure no one was lost! We ran all the way down to the little stream, "We turning left Old Girl" one of the ladies called out behind me "No, not today" I said, "we are going up, and up, and up". We were doing most of Botany Bay Lane today, maybe next time, if we still have the light with us next time I lead then we shall go all the way up! But this time we ran along the top of the woods along the bridle path, it's wider! But just as we started along there we saw a couple of horses with the passengers on top and we had to duck under the wire to get to the people path! We stayed on that path, well might as well, so then we ran along the top boardwalk bit, passed the pond at the top. It was a bit 'minging' but there is still so much life in that pond!
We soon had the last of the hills.....undulations to do which took us right to the top of the woods, by the middle path! I tried to kid the newbies by pretending to read the map to make sure I was heading in the right direction. I think I may have done that a few times before as all the others have head it to many times!
So the next bit, the best bit, it's all down hill, to the path with the gorgeous, pink, flowers, (just by the wood mans home) Oh one day I will spot him again! I really hope that I spot him again! I really hope it's the same wood man that I spot again! The path that we were going to run down for just a few short weeks a year is adorned with the pink flowers, but when we got there, all that was left was just the remnants of what used to be there! There were pink 'confettii' petals on the floor as if the bride and groom had walked down here already. Oh well, there is always next year! It wasn't all green and 'has-been flowers' along there, some flowers were still firmly on their branches and giving a good show! So it wasn't a total waste of time, mind you, this path is just perfect, whether there were flowers or not!
We were soon back on to the middle path, and then just the short run to Dog Poo Ally. After everyone caught up with us I had a quick briefing, told everyone they could run at their own pace back to the rec, ready to do some cool down stretching, which Auriol and Carole led together, just as a practise for when they take their turn in leading group 1.
A fab run, loved it! I love leading, and I love to just run along with my buddies! So Geeky stats, I had to make sure I ran all the way into the rec and just pass the pavilion to make the 3 miles dead!
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