Gearing Up for the Race!

It's official now...the Run for the Hills has begun! With 213 runners now sponsored we are well on our way to reaching our goal of funding 300 runners! Thanks to the 33 schools of the St. Clair Catholic District School Board who has each taken on a runner to sponsor... as well to the many other individual classes and friends who have helped to put another runner in the race! We hope you take the time to become a follower of this blog and to make a comment to tell us why you'd like to help run for the hills.

Registration is now open on-line (if you happen to find yourself in Kathmandu on April 18th, with some time on your hands) and can be found at http://www.magicsuitcase.ca/.

With help from Cory Gillman, a Canadian runner himself, the poster seen here can be found throughout the streets of Kathmandu already. Cory, who is a teacher on leave from the Peel District School Board in Ontario, is presently teaching at the Samata School in Patan, just outside of Kathmandu. He took the time to walk the 15km course yesterday and his description is as f0llows:

Beginning in the quiet town of Nagarkot at 2175m, the hillside trail descends gradually through pine forests with perfect views of tree-covered hills and towns below. The gently winding route provides cooling breezes and patches of shade on a lightly travelled paved road. At the halfway mark, the route climbs steeply but shortly through thick pines after switching to a wide dirt track. At the top of the climb, the trail levels out on a ridgetop before gently descending again, passing serene villages and green fields of wheat and rice. With the only sound being your shoes hitting the track, the route continues down all the way to the finish line, ending at the beautiful village and temple of Changu Narayan.

Seeing as the race starts in Nargarkot we'll begin our day with a 2-hour bus ride to get to the start. Even though the distance from Kathmandu to Nargarkot is only 32 kilometers the condition of the roads makes travel slow. No doubt the bus ride will be entertaining...2 vehicles filled to the brim (and some riding on the roof) with excited, anxious (and many first-time) runners.

All this talk of climbing, running and bussing has got me a little worried about my training....so gotta run now...more to come later!