What a great day for racing!

Melrose runners participated in ten races over the holiday weekend and eight races on the Fourth of July. There may have been more races, but I can only see 10 races on the MRC web site.

Four runners ran two races on The 4th of July: Matt Kerton, Andrea Kerton, Gail Severt and Andy Brown. I’ve done that twice before, and it’s not easy. From their times it looked like they were able to get to their second race, no problem.

Jennifer Tinney Road Races

I wasn’t sure how many people would drive to East Boxford Village to run a 5K or 5 mile race. When I got there I was pleasantly surprised to see so many purple singlets! Four people ran the 5K and nine people ran the 5 miler.

We are missing Rebecca Hughes, one of our recent Walk-to-Run graduates. A Walk-to-Run grad ran a 5K right after finishing her training! How cool is that!

And Mike Sikkema won the whole enchilada! He received a medal for winning his age group, and a gift card for winning the race.  Lots of other medals for MRC runners. 

I ran the Jennifer Tinney 5 Miler in 2013 and loved the whole scene up in Boxford. It’s a small town. The race is low key and it has more of an emphasis on family. I love a big race in Cambridge or Boston, but a change of pace is always a nice change of pace.

I’ll have a more complete blog post on Wednesday morning around 10AM. It will be on my FB page and the blog it self.

Off to the next race

Our next race is the Mary O’Donnell 5K at Pine Banks in Melrose. This is almost as convenient as the Firefighter’s Father’s Day 5K.

Registration is open, but I do not see a way  to make a club designation. This is their 2nd running of this race and I get the impression they are still learning how to do this.

This race raises funds for ALS. Over the weekend Lou Frates was in the hospital and it looks bleak to a non-professional. That being said, please consider this race a worthy cause to support with your running dollars.

I did ask about a discount for the club. We could get a $5.00 discount per runner if five or more of us signed up on a sheet of paper. The logistics of getting everyone and their checks together and not missing anyone were more than I was willing to take on.

In addition, I think the people looking for a cure for ALS need our $5.00 more than we do.

The Mary O’Donnell 5K is at 9AM on August 13th. The Sunday Long run will be 16.2 miles that day, and I cannot miss it. As such, I wont be able to run  this race.

I encourage everyone who is not doing the SLR program to sign up and head over to Pine Banks for a great run and to support a local 5K race.

Run well my Friends,

Andy

Hot Town, Summer in the City

It was a little warm Sunday, but we had a fantastic turn out for the Melrose Firefighters 5K. A total of 344 runners finished the race and 36 of them were Melrose Running Club members!

I think that is out best turn out ever. We came within two people of being the largest team there and winning the grand prize: a flag made out of fire hose!

Check out Tim Gorman’s Facebook album for 136 photos, including one of this cool framed flag.

It was warm and when the sun came out it was even warmer. Garmin says it was 75F, but it felt more like 80F.  The race director advised runners to get enough fluids several times. This guy is a first responder, he knows all about this stuff.

Even with the heat, I felt very safe knowing there were so many EMTs and Paramedics around!

Courtesy: Tim Gorman

Running Melrose Firefighters 5K

They had a Melrose Police Woman sing  the National Anthem, which I thought was a nice touch.

The race was crowded at the start and for the first quarter mile. Even through the first half mile it was crowded but thinned out soon after that.

Everywhere you looked there was a purple singlet. I don’t think I ever was out of eye sight of one. At so many race when I look around I see huge groups from other clubs all wearing their shirts.

It was nice to see Melrose make a great showing at our local race.

We ran down Swains Pond Road and looped around the pond. Just after the turn we hit the one mile mark. There weren’t any mile markers for this race.

At about a mile and a quarter we took a right onto Lebanon Street. The road was open, but the police kept traffic on our side of the road to a minimum. I don’t recall having any close calls or issues with traffic for the entire race.

There were some small hills on Lebanon, but nothing major. As we passed Sylvan Street we hit the two mile mark.

Somewhere after this we had our water stop. I usually don’t stop for water during a 5K, but it was so hot that I had to.

I probably could have gotten by without a gulp of water. However, I find that under these conditions that little bit of water really helps in the last half mile.

Lebanon seemed to go on forever! Finally the turn onto Grove Street came into view. As we moved up Grove I started to notice some hill!

I was baked and my legs were getting fatigued. At this time I was glad that I grabbed that water!

As we moved up Grove I was looking for the last turn. Which street would we turn down?

Finally the turn onto Larabee Street came into view. They had a police car in the road protecting our turn and there were a few people cheering us on.

I knew it was a short run down Larabee, but I knew we were west of The Common. I began to wonder how they were going to wind us around.

We took a right onto First Street and ran past the fire station. This had a bit of an incline to it also. As I looked across the common I could see the finish on 6th Street.

As I made the corner I made one last push for the finish.

Melrose Runners Run Well

We had several runners place in their age group. But, they only awarded medals for first place in each age group.

Mike Sikkema won his age group with a time of 17:57. Mark Rosenblum won his age group with a time of 22:23 and Cynthia Berger won her age group with a time of 25:32.

Several others came in 2nd or third in their age group.

While it’s always nice to run well and win a medal or prize, that’s not what it’s about for most of us.

Tuesday night I had a conversation with someone about how our club is more of a social club. Many of us like to run hard and compete, but it really is about the running and friendships.

With less of an emphasis on competition, I think the Melrose Running Club is a friendlier place for new runners to get started and get support.

It was nice to see a few of our Walk to Run team at the race. I don’t think that happens often, especially before graduation.

One of the reasons I picked this race for our series is that I hoped it would attract some of our newest members. It looks like it did.

I hope everyone had fun and that you will join us for our next race. The Jennifer Tinney 4th of July 5K and 5 Miler.

Full Results

Run well My Friends!

Andy