Notes from Bastion Ross: Dangerous Times....

Dear Bastion.

We've made it through the worst and the snow should be gone by Saturday. Lots of rain forecast but that's not going to stop us. This is the most dangerous time of all. Most of the clinics have stopped until the New Year while we are ramp up our entertaining and eating. All those meals and desserts can be too much. You can't even go to a store without tripping over a big stack of chocolates that stretch to the horizon. And the weather doesn't help either. The sun is rising later and setting earlier and when it's dark the temperature goes way down. Then you got snow and rain to contend with. All this makes it very easy indeed to make excuses to not do any exercise at all. Meanwhile our waistlines just keep growing.

We need willpower and discipline more than ever this time of year. Pick your run days and stick with them even if its a real ugly day out there. Hang on until January and everything starts to pick up again.

This Saturday is the Stewart Mountain 10 miler, the last cross country race of the year for us. They are saving the best for the last but I don't know what conditions the trails are in. Details in the Events page. There is also the 10 K Sprint to the Spit up in Courteney on Saturday but I don't know much beyond it is at Goose Spit and that it starts at 10:00 am. Should be scenic if the weather holds.You can look forward to the ROC Boxing Day run to get you out of the recliner and burning off the Christmas calories. Then on New Years Day the Run and Dip is going down at Westwood Lake. Bastion will supply the food and drinks, all you have to do is bring a towel.

The 2007 Frontrunners Island Series is coming up fast with the first, the Pioneer 8 K, happening in Saanich on January 14, 2007. Have you got your discount race package yet? Whatever you do, make a plan to do the Cedar 12 K on February 11. There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing hundreds of great racers eating up the roads at Cedar on a great Sunday morning.All the clinics are gearing up for the New Year. Frontrunners has everything from beginners to advanced 10 K, half and full marathon clinics starting in January. The half and full marathon ones train towards either the Eugene Marathon or Vancouver, so if you've been wanting to do a road trip to Eugene for their race, now is the time to go for it. New Women's Pace run clinics, ab classes, yoga, Tuesday night interval work, all have got their schedule set to go, so go to the Frontrunners clinic page at http://nanaimo.frontrunners.ca/clinics/index.php

Beyond that there are running clinics, new swim classes from Margie Sanderson, spinning classes at Oak Bay Bikes, Robin should still be going at Arrowsmith Bikes, new yoga classes from Kavita Maharaj and you should have enough to grab your interest. You can find all of them in the Clinics page in the Bastion site.

Fight the fat,Ross