Virtually Running the ENDURrun

Wow, that was one busy week.  As usual, I volunteer for the entire week of the ENDURrun International.  Eight days of cooking to feed at least 60 runners, as many volunteers and many family and friends. 

This is such a wonderful event, that I wanted to share it with you, especially those of my readers who have not attended a running event.  I recorded several short videos to share with you.  

The first four videos are from the 4th day of the series.  It is an evening hill run, approximately 16 km of very hilly terrain.  The first is pre-race.  Pre-race ritual is important for many runners, some use it for socializing and others for quiet meditation.  No matter how many races you have run, there is still that exhilaration in those minutes before the start. The second shows the start of the race.  Notice that the runners are starting near the bottom of a hill that they will have to run up to finish the race.  It is steeper than it looks.

Since I walked to the bottom of the hill to record the start, now I have to walk back up so I can work on food preparation.

The video shows the first runner approaching the finish.  An exciting moment to be sure.

The next two videos were taken at Stage 5 at Chicopee Ski Hill.  Five loops of five kilometres each.  Yes, they really are running up the ski hills.  The next video shows a water station in action.  On this race the water stations are about 2.5 kms apart.  Water, Gatorade and sport gels are available along with lots of encouragement.

Finally, the post race food station.  While the food changes everyday, we try and keep the set up the same.  Hope you enjoy the virtual buffet.

In the next few days, I'll post recipes for a variety of the dishes including eleven varieties of hummus, a big hit with most of the runners

Thanks for joining me for your virtual race.