The change of seasons was felt by all this past week in Southern Oregon both in the idyllic fall weather and in some runnings season winding down. The 15 women who ran together on this past Saturday’s Running for the Gil’s long run were all processing this transition together with a few getting their last big miles in before Happy Girls Half Marathon and the Lithia Loop Marathon, both next weekend, while others were looking forward first to a holiday season of basking in snacks and next to 2020 race schedule planning.
Speaking of basking in the holiday spirit, here at Woodlands we’re feeling that lets-race-for-silly-run-and-snacks vibe and have 3 upcoming group runs/”races” that fit the bill. This Wednesday will be Hill-oween, a 4ish mile costume-encouraged coed run up on Roxy Ann starting at 6:00 PM. On Thursday our Women of Woodlands 6:00 PM Ashland group run will also be costumes-encouraged and we’ll be more hiking than running to preserve said costumes for a post-movement dinner and hangs downtown.
Looking ahead, we’re offering an alternative Thanksgiving morning run to the Southern Oregon Turkey Trot (which we also love) called the Gravy Gallop, a 4-5 mile trail run in Ashland ending with snacks and a Gravy Mile…think beer mile but those brave gravy loving souls will be chugging gravy instead. Our final big event of the year is the 2nd Annual Jingle Jolly, a family-friendly 5k walk/run starting and ending at the Schmidtke residence in E. Medford at sundown and taking you to and through the famous Cherry Ln.& Greystone Court Christmas light displays. Afterward, join us for a fire pit, homemade chili, beverages, holiday movies, and hangs - ALL free, no registration required.
For those of you running Lithia Loop this weekend, the Woodlands crew will see you at the mile 8 aid station on the top of the big climb and will be sure to give runners all the snacks and cowbell encouragement needed. Hope this week is filled with all the pumpkin spice you require!
