It’s a busy time of year for local running and racing, and I’m excited about it. Just last Sunday, the Girls on the Run for the Greater Piedmont had their fall celebration at Salisbury Community Park.

Program Manager Lindsay Pfeiffer said, “With 350 GOTR girls, 60+ volunteer coaches, 350 running buddies and 50+ community runners, our Girls on the Run of the Greater Piedmont Fall ’22 5k was one for the books. Girls from schools, parks and community centers all across the seven county territory that we serve came together as one this past Sunday and achieved goals that they’ve been working so hard for over the past 10 weeks with their teams. It certainly takes a (race) village and we couldn’t have made this event as successful as it was without the help of all of our amazing volunteers that came out to make this day so special for our girls.”

Rowan County elementary schools served by the GOTR program are Rockwell, Hanford-Dole, Granite Quarry, China Grove and Bostian. Erwin Middle School also participates. Spring 2023 registration will open up on Monday, Jan. 9 with the season starting the week of Feb. 20. For more information, go to www.gotrgreaterpiedmont.org.

Both the male and female cross-country teams at Catawba College are participating in the regionals at Wingate University this weekend, the first time that both teams have done so in a number of years.

Frank Adams Jr. is competing on Sunday afternoon for the USATF NC State 8 and under 2K Championship at Haganstone Park in Pleasant Garden after winning the regional championship.

I will have in-depth reports on both Catawba and Frank Jr. later.

For many years, I have been enamored with early morning running, almost always while the sky is still dark. I don’t care how cold it is and always run in shorts anyway, no matter what the temperature. I listen for the dates of the meteor showers that are going to be visible in our area and make sure to run toward the direction where they are supposed to be most visible.

This morning, I ran east first, then south while still very dark and then back to the north and west as the sky brightened in hopes of seeing some of the Leonid shower that was supposed to peak this morning and tomorrow. I’ll go again, maybe even a little earlier, in hopes of seeing them after missing out today.

About 20 years ago, when I was much faster, I left out on the same course and was amazed to be surrounded by an extensive meteor shower. Close enough to the end of the run, I stopped and grabbed a friend, and we went out to sit in layback lawn chairs to watch the show. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and hasn’t been repeated since in those 20 years and the 45,000 miles that they included.

For anyone interested, the next meteor event on the calendar for this area is the Quadrantids on Jan. 4. The full moon is just a few days later, so hopefully we can still see some, as many as 25 per hour. Viewing from the darkest area possible always helps.

Runsignup.com, the online registration service that we use locally, says that races are recovering their participation from the COVID dip. As a nationwide average, race participation is still down 15% since 2019. One of Rowan’s most popular races is set for Thanksgiving morning at The Forum’s Butterball 5K. Race start time is 8:30 a.m. and extra parking is available this year at Coffey’s Automotive just on the other side of the fire department. If you are running or walking in the race, plan to arrive at least 30-45 minutes before the 8:30 start time, and an hour is even better. See you there!

This and other upcoming events can be found at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org.