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Written by Bwana Bwana

October 10, 2019

The last few months have seen participation in Thursday Track workouts dwindle to less than a handful. Bwana has seen ebbs and flows before. There were times back in the late 90s and early 2000s when he would normally see from 25 to 30 runners. But back then we had the PSU outdoor track, which we lost the use of back in 2016. The IM Fields has been a workable substitute, but it’s not a track. Yet Bwana was still seeing 10 to 15 runners show up at the IM Fields last summer and fall. The loss of the use of the indoor track last winter was another blow to both our workouts and to attendance. And so the ebbs have been “ebbier”, so that even during this past summer, when we had the lunchtime use of the State High track, there were usually at most a few, and never more than ten runners present. Some of this has been due to runners finding better times or different venues for their desired workouts. People interested in track workouts can still use the State High track almost year-round during non-school hours, and Jaimie Wright leads a group that does workouts there at Oh-Dark-Thirty (i.e. 5:40 AM) on Wednesdays. Another group heads over to the flat trails along Spring Creek for some scenic speed workouts. (These are people who have a pretty loose lunchtime schedule!) And there there have occasionally been groups that go to the State High track for evening workouts while we still have the light. And don’t forget the “track-with-gravity” lunchtime Tuesday Hill Workouts led by Mike Zimmerman. If you're interested in any of these workouts, join our listserve (info here: http://nvrun.com/index.php/community/discussion).

So Bwana has decided to put Thursday Track on indefinite hiatus. Note that he used the present perfect continuous tense in the subject line. Thursday Track *has* been a good run, lasting over 25 years. And it may continue to be a good run, in the future, if there is a new upswing in interest. But for now, keep up your training with one of the other workouts our Club members lead. And, as always,…Keep Running!