By Marcel Hesch

December will give you many reasons you will be very glad you are a runner and especially an Albuquerque Road Runners Club member!

Be sure to attend the monthly meeting at Fleet Feet where you’ll hear about club happenings and get a chance to listen to our guest speaker Massi Miranda, who is a performance specialist at Southwest Sports Institute, talk about yoga and its benefits to the runner.

On the morning of Saturday the fifth, you can partner up with another runner and alternate for seven laps of about a mile each, around Academy Hills Park for the final club handicap race of this year. You will note that there is not an even number of laps this year. It will all be up to your team to decide who gets to run that extra mile, so be strategic! Although at a glance this course may look relatively flat, don’t count on that. The downhill portion is deceptively fast and the uphill part can punish you, but it all works out to about the same pace you run on a flat course. Since you never know who’s going to finish where in a handicap race, then add to that the unpredictable outcome of having a team score count in what is a very close handicap series, this will be one handicap that you should not miss.

Another event enjoyed by many runners occurs on the evening of Sunday the 13th. At 5:30 you can enjoy the combination of fitness and farolitos at the Albuquerque Academy and follow that up with holiday favorite food.

Also this is the month in which we celebrate with our annual holiday party. This year it’s at a new location but still catered by Dos Hermanos. It’s on Saturday the 19th starting at around 5:30. You will certainly want to be there and mingle among the members of your club. Look for details on that in the newsletter and on the web site. Much thanks to Bob McNeil for hosting it.

Start the year off with fitness by running in the annual Egg Nog Jog on January first. It’s at noon so even if you want to sleep in late that morning you can do that and still be in a race.

Then be sure to attend the monthly meeting at Sport Systems on January sixth. Keep in mind there won’t be a newsletter this month so the meeting will be a good source for information.

I wish you some very enjoyable winter holidays and a new year filled with some of the best miles you have run yet!

On the road or on the trail,
Marcel