The runners of Mile High Run Club are taking flight! Our first ever "runcation" took place late October in Mallorca, Spain. Twelve runners from MHRC plus some who joined us all the way from Colorado and the UK spent nine epic days exploring the trails by day and also by night with our fantastic guides from Evasion Running.
The majority of us kicked off our trip with a 10K while others opted for the longer distance race options in Palma ranging from half to full marathon. Both the weather and racecourses were great, and our very own Kelsey Walker placed second female overall in the half with an enviable time of 1:29.
Road races done... to the trails and through the woods we go! OK, so I have to say I was pretty happy there are no snakes in Mallorca, especially during the night trail run on the grounds of an ancient castle, which, in my opinion, was the most unforgettable experience of the entire trip. I felt like I was on a magical Gothic adventure chasing after ghosts. The week was full of so many incredible trails with even more incredible views followed by relaxing lunches at the beach and delightful dinners in town. There's nothing like seawater or salty Spanish olives post-run to keep the legs feeling fresh after all those miles up.
Even though we had runners of all levels of experience join us on the trails, we were all challenged to reach outside of our comfort zone with a climb over 850ft. of elevation that was led by famed world champion ultra runner Tofol Castanyer on the mountain where he grew up. This was indeed the most challenging outing, but we were thrilled to be able to run back down the mountain we spent hours climbing up and have lunch and a fire waiting for us down at "base camp." Tofol was so excited to share his mountain with us, he forgot to mention there might be a few escaping rocks and extremely technical terrain, but hey those MHRC runners are up for anything!
Our in-house travel guru MHRC Coach Laura Cozik planned such a thoughtfully and seamlessly organized experience for everyone; we can't wait to see what's next in destination training for our budding community of jet setters. Stay tuned! It looks like these wings might be taking us to Iceland for a marathon in August then back to Mallorca for some more trails soon. In the meantime, be sure to save February 11th-15th for the "Love Yourself" winter wellness getaway. St. Lucia here we come!