Greetings from sunny Bournazel. Can you please update the club records with our email address?
Thought I would put a few words together for your editorial approval and consideration for the “Newsletter”.
(Let me know if you need any further details. Hope the images are OK)
La vie est belle in Bournazel.
We have been here 3 weeks now and made plenty of progress. Mostly boring stuff like electricity, gas and water but essential! The garden was like a jungle but Grass Roots(France) were on hand to sort. We are about 520 metres above sea level with great views in a very attractive farming village. We are half way between Rodez and Villefranche for those who wish to check on the map.
We are still shaking our heads and wondering how we managed to find such a super house and village. It really is a great place to be.
We have not had much time to explore far from base. Managing to do some running to the suprise of the locals who are mostly farmers and elderly and who can’t cope with anything that does not involve sitting on a tractor. Our run last Sunday was on the first day of the hunting season. An “on road” route offered the best chance of survival and we donned our brightest Running Bear kit . Running around the lanes and hearing gunshot reminded me of runs in Wilmslow around Colshaw Farm pre Bonfire night. There was little evidence of succes for the hunters and after the normal lunch I guess that their accuracy could be wayward.
Wishing to be up to date with the running scene here we bought “Running Attitude” a monthly mag along the lines of the English editions. It is packed with race results and previews and very serious articles about diet and hydration. Amongst the results were the Lindt Oloron Half Marathon with the course in the shadow of the Pyrenees. Funny, I thought Lindt was a Swiss company. However, as with many races here there were goodies at the finish – no prizes for guessing what the finishers were munching. The winner took 1.01..57 so a quality field had entered. The picture shows some of the character entrants.
Having read Ian’s article in the Newsletter about Race the Train (or trace the brain) I noticed the Transbaie 15K where more than 5500 runners wait until the tide is at low ebb in the Somme estuary and then charge across mud flats, sandbanks and pools of water. The weather was hot and windy too. “Discover a test unlike any others” was the heading. The first lady had the surname Rotich – sound familiar? And finally for those who prefer the flat – the alpe D’Huez 21 which is 13.8k, 1100 metres of climb and the 21 is the number of hairpin bends! (There is a bus to bring you back again). Too late to enter this year -date was 21 August. Perhaps next year.
And finally the advert on the cover of the mag reads “Why do you run?” Answer – “When else can a man wear figure hugging Lycra rose?
Food for thought
A Bientot Peter and Sue too
peter.nelson [peter.nelson@wanadoo.fr]