Cinnamon Roll Saturday

Okay, Okay so it’s not perfect alliteration and neither does it rhyme. But that’s what the University of Oregon running club call it. It basically means that today is the day the running club meeting for a run which is then followed by cinnamon rolls and other tasty treats round at Tom, the club coach’s house.

I had my own session to do this morning but that didn’t stop us from partaking in the festivities, so after my workout and a quick shower back home we dashed round, luckily arriving before everything was eaten. We had a good couple of hours getting to know a few of the athletes, who were also able to advise us on the best eateries in the area - our list of fast food restaurants to visit before we leave is getting longer by the day.

It was also interesting to chat about some of the differences between UK and US university sports clubs and we learnt that there are actually two different National university running championships….the NCAA’s (for the athletes on ‘the team’) and then the NIRCA’s (for athletes belonging to university running clubs). The NIRCA’s sound much more like the BUSA’s we have in the UK where every and any student can compete whereas the NCAA’s are more elite. I wasn’t so sure I liked the idea of having such a divide between the elite and not so elite athletes - we all experience the same pain after all! However, I suppose that having the NIRCA’s may encourage more athletes to compete in races as it takes away the pressure and fear of racing all the serious super speedy people. Also at Oregon, whilst the team and the running club do not train or compete together it was still good hear that they do seem to all know each other and socialise together….so it’s not as though their paths never cross.

The afternoon was spent at the track (in an attempt to become super speedy myself) and then plotting which restaurant would have the pleasure of feeding two hungry post long Sunday run/cycle athletes tomorrow. I also wrote a pleading email to a meet organiser asking to be let into a 1500m(!) race. Must be something in those cinnamon rolls….