Monday, March 10, 2008

20 Mile Training Run

We have our last training run this Saturday, March 15, at 8am. It's a 20 miler starting from the north fork canoe access site. The club provides companionship, but no aid. Please bring your own food and drink. I'll try to post local trail conditions as we get closer to Saturday. Looks like much warmer temperatures this week--40s and 50s. That should melt the snow and ice...and maybe make the trails a bit muddy.

To get to the training run, take I-74 to the Farmer City exit, then Illinois 54 south through Farmer City to Parnell. As the main road curves left at a pair of big grain elevators, go straight (1200 N or De Witt County 10). Follow this through flat farmland for about 4-5 miles until woods appear and there is a big dip in the road. At the bottom of the dip, turn left and park in the North Fork Canoe Access parking lot. There is an iron and wood bridge there and the parking lot is just before the bridge (the parking lot and bridge can be seen from the main road--it's only 200 feet from the road). You'll see some "road closed" signs--don't let those bother you--the bridge is currently closed for repairs. We park before crossing the bridge. We do run across that broken bridge to get back to the parking lot--be careful.

As usual, feel free to join the buffalo for breakfast after the run. We usually go to a cafe in Farmer City for a big feast with lots of coffee. I may actually give out a prize or two at breakfast--maybe a bottle of Succeed! S-Caps or a free breakfast.

4 comments:

Eli said...

my friend chris (who is also signed up for clinton) and i ran 2 loops out there yesterday. very snowy and by the second time around, the snow was melting and it was pretty sloppy, but fun! made it pretty tough - but gives me hope that if it is dry come race day, i might actually be able to finish all 3 loops! :) see you this weekend

Chris Ⓥ said...

I hope it's drier this Saturday. I'm doubtful. We are supposed to get rain 1-2 times this week. At least it's not snow. You'll be able to do 3 loops with no problem by race day.

Anonymous said...

Is the lake accessible for a nice chilly leg dip? I'm guessing that the 20 miles will take a toll on my legs and I would like to recover as much as possible for my 1/2 marathon race the next day. See you Saturday.

Chris Ⓥ said...

At the canoe access site you can definitely take a dip in the river/lake. We used to bathe in there after some of our summer runs.