The first Buckeye Strider Nearly 10-mile Race was held today at Sharon Woods park.

We had about 10 walkers toe the line at 8 a.m. with temps in the low 20s. (I’m not sure of the exact number since some didn’t walk the entire distance.)

The trail was mostly clear except for near the sledding hill and one or two other icy spots. As the sun rose, more of the ice melted and it ended up being a perfect day for walking nearly 10 miles. The course was two laps around the park, then we went to the unofficial “4-mile” mark, then clockwise to the 1-mile mark and back to the start. We discovered from those participants with GPS that the course ended up being about 0.2 miles short of 10.

The overall winner and first man was Steve, with Tom taking second man. Elaine was the first women, with Nancy taking second and Pat taking third.

The highlight of the morning was the after race picnic! Hot coffee, hot chocolate and tea made it much easier to hang out at the picnic shelter near the almost fire. The Panera bagels tasted great with bananas and grapes.

The purpose of the informal race was to give our club members a mid-winter race to help us stay in shape. As it turned out, it ended up fitting the Arizona Distance Classic training schedule. We needed 10 miles about now.

Though we had originally intended to invite other walking clubs to join us, we ended up canceling and rescheduling so many times because of the weather, we decided to keep this first race for our members only. Maybe next year the weather will cooperate better.

(195)