What a beautiful morning for 5-8 miles on the Olentangy Trail! At 7:30 it was 36 degrees. It warmed up to nearly 40 by the time we finished. It was so nice to be outside in the sunshine.

We had worried about flooding with the warm temperatures earlier this week. What we really needed to worry about was ice! The trail was mostly clear, though the patches of ice we came across were pretty large. All of us remained upright! (Woo hoo!)

There were several small MIT groups out today -- not like the herds who train for the Columbus Marathon.

When we passed the back of the high school, I noticed for the first time the tree with all of the shoes in it. Anyone see it before? (I'll have to go back and get better pictures.)

For a change of pace, we had breakfast at Subway. For a small group it was OK. The food selection was small, but the coffee was good.

If you have not yet signed up for the Cap City Half Marathon, do it soon! This week we were scheduled to do 5 miles on our long day, so there is still plenty of time to catch up.

Cindi

At the Annual Meeting February 2, The Buckeye Striders elected the 2014-2015 officers. Let me rephrase, we "re-elected" the officers.

This year's officers are:
President -- Cindi Leeman -- bookeditor42@yahoo.com
Vice President -- Laura Modisette -- ljmodis@gmail.com
Secretary -- Deb Chenault -- dchenault1@live.com
Treasurer -- Cheryl Estep -- estep2jc@wowway.com

Congratulations!

Wanted to let you guys know that Deb and I braved the cold to walk at Sharon Woods Saturday morning.  Jack showed up later, but we missed him.

It was beautiful! There were very few people, the snow was pretty, we could hear birds and it was not overly cold. In fact, we both overdressed and were too hot at the end. There were a couple slick spots, but not many. As long as we were not trying to walk very fast, we were fine.

Let's hope the weather cooperates and we can walk at the Worthington Hills Park next Saturday!

Cindi

Hey Striders,

Be sure to read the February FrontRunner newsletter. There are a couple of clinics coming up that look great! (Registration is required. Space is limited. All are free.)

The Stick is February 16 at 5:30 at the Upper Arlington store. (I'm registered.) They will provide Sticks to anyone who does not have one. http://www.frontrunnercolumbus.com/stick-clinic-registration

A Foam Roller clinic is scheduled for March 2 at the Worthington location, and March 16 at Upper Arlington. They will provide foam rollers for anyone who needs one. I plan to attend that one, too. http://www.frontrunnercolumbus.com/foam-roller-clinic

I have IT band issues, so I am very excited about both of these clinics.

Cindi

At the Buckeye Striders Annual Meeting February 2, we agreed to train as a group for two half marathons. (We will enter other races, too.)

The Cap City Half Marathon is Saturday, May 3.Our training schedule begins Monday February 10. The Columbus Marathon is in October.

We will do our weekday training on our own with long distance during our Saturday group walks. Check your email for walk locations and earlier start times for our group walks.