I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy running, and how lucky I was to find our local social running group here in Eymet. I thought I’d reflect on this again this month. Why? Well Tom and I have both signed up to run the Marathon Des Alpes Maritimes later in the year, a one-way 42km race from Nice to Cannes along the mediterranean coastal road, and our training plan starts in earnest this month. We are keeping our fingers crossed for some cooler days for our long training runs or we are going to have some very early mornings!
Our running group has settled into a really good routine meeting outside the Eymet Centre de Loisirs on Friday mornings for a gentle 5k run, and somewhere in the area for a 10km run that normally has options for shorter routes too. We vary in numbers from 2 to 12 runners each week and the Sunday run is often followed by coffee and cakes (the photo this month is in our garden after one such run from our house)
Several members of the group sign-up for some of the local races and 7 of us have already signed up for the Semi-Marathon de Bordeaux in December. We also have a few social gatherings during the year including a summer party at our house and a Christmas meal in the village.
I have started a paper collection of routes that can be run or walked from ours for B&B guests to use and that is proving popular, so I’ll keep building on that.
Speaking of our B&B guests, June has been very busy with more returning clients, wedding guests, people on holiday and people just passing through. An old friend of mine who I started work with in 1982 stopped for a night on their way down to Spain which was great. One couple stayed for 11 nights and another for 13 nights which is a new record for us. They have both already booked to stay again next year.
The first Eymet night market of the season took place last week which was, as always, very popular with a lovely atmosphere and a good night out. The weather for the first few weeks of June continued to be very unsettled which was disappointing, but we are finally serving breakfasts on the terrace most mornings now, and we have been up in the 30s with hot sunshine long enough for the pool to be lovely and warm.
Our marathon training starts mid-July with a plan to be running up to 70km per week by the end of August including a weekly long run of around 30km. The B&B is full for 3 or 4 nights every weekend through July but we’ve got some mid-week breaks with an empty house as it stands, so we should be able to get our running in before it gets too hot.
