FOOTPRINT Lake Grapevine Runners & Walkers
May 2009
www.runnersandwalkers.com
New and Old Traditions Thrive at Grasslands
20 0 8 R R Nat ion CA al Jer r y Lit tle E xce in Jour llence n Awa rd alism Winne r
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n Saturday, March, 21, nearly 40 RAW runners drove up to Decatur, Texas, for the 11th Annual Grasslands Trail Runs. For many runners, Grasslands is their first exposure to trail running and they can choose from the half-marathon, marathon, and 50-Mile races. Each year brings new and returning runners to this little-known area of Texas prairie trails. This year, with the starting temperatures around 60° and slowly climbing into the mid 70s, runners had good March conditions. Most of the morning remained cloudy, so the runners stayed cool until the
Bryon Benoit points out the sand storm to (l-r) Mike Bassano, Lorraine Wessels, Bruce and Kathryn Gleghorn and Elizabeth Lawrence after Jon Korte races by.
tradition going. The “Boudreax Era” started with a complete redesign of the Grasslands logo on the finishers’ medals and shirts, which received great reviews.
(l-r) Michelle Putze and Brad Liles.
early afternoon. With the recent dry conditions, the only issue runners had to tangle with was the sandy state of the trails. For the first time, Suzi Cope got to participate in the race she founded. That’s because she turned the reigns over to Kevin and Stacie Boudreaux. Kevin is a two-time finisher of the Grasslands 50-Miler and he and Stacie did a fantastic job keeping the great
Of course, what race could succeed without incredible volunteers? This year, Tia and Marty Metzger and Gary Howsam headed up a full force of RAW and NTTR (North Texas Trail Runners) volunteers. Working multiple aid stations along the four separate trails at Grasslands, runners constantly ran into helpful and happy volunteers ready to fuel them up and send them on their way. For the 11th consecutive year, Kelly Eppelman and Michael Cope were the only runners to have participated in every Grasslands since its inception. Best wishes to the both of them to
continue this tradition for years to come and those RAW runners working on their own streak of Grasslands runs. For more information on this year’s Grasslands adventure, check out the article on page 6.
(l-r) Alan and Tosca Engisch