Sunday Run

There were many Sunday Long Run folk out there this weekend covering miles in many different places in many different ways. Some opted for Saturday runs to allow a day’s rest before the Tuft’s 10K on Monday. Others were headed to the Fens to follow the Emerald Necklace in the BAA Half. Another was running his second marathon of the fall in Albany. With all that going on we still had nine runners putting in some key training miles. Kaj, Lois, and I were running our last loooong run before our taper starts. Kelly, Catherine, Carol, and Tall Dave eased their way through their last Sunday Run before Baystate. Iron Mike York was shooting for something in the 20 range as he prepared for his Iron Man Triathlon at the end of November. Brian Gilroy and Nick joined in to help pull us through our runs.

Pre-miles – As not to spend all our AM hours running, the Manchester Marathoners decided to start their runs earlier than 8AM. Kaj parked his car at Brueggers and set out at 6:14AM to get 10 miles in before the pack took off from Brueggers. Lois and I decided to plant our cars out at the water stop spots and run 5 before hitting Brueggers and adding 5 on to the end. We took off at 7:01AM. Mike also planned on running early… more on that later. Lois and I ran from Highland Ave, behind Spot Pond around to the Zoo and turned down Pond St to Grimsby’s. My car was at Grimsby’s for a pre-run water stop 4 miles into our run. We then headed down W Wyoming to Main, arriving at Brueggers at 7:52. Tall Dave was waiting for us already and we were quickly joined by the other runs, Kaj came running it right at 8 and Mike came stumbling in all sleepy eyed, it was obvious buy I asked him how many pre-miles he ran to which he replied “yeah… no”.

In a hurry to scoot out and get back on the road I lead the pack out the door telling them that we ran this run earlier in the training and it seemed hard, now be happy you can run it this week as your last easy taper run. The response was more surprise that we’ve been doing this for 14 weeks than that for some we were done. Up Main St to Ell Pond, I gave out instructions for all who were running a marathon, a quick tap on the monument honoring Melrose marathon legend Clarence Demar for good luck. With that done the pack began to stretch out down the LynnFells Parkway towards Grimsby’s. For me Grimsby’s was 7 miles into the run, the time I like to take my first Gu. Brian and I were in the lead so I let him know I was stopping and he stopped along with me. Then as the runners filed by they all were easily (way too easily) persuaded to stop there too. So two miles into their 12.5 mile run came the first unplanned water stop of the day.

Brian and I quickly vaulted back out into the lead through the hills of the Fellsway East. Brian pulled ahead through the hills but with 5 extra miles behind me and 5 extra ahead of me I decided not to pursue the lead to aggressively. When we got to Highland I closed the gap a bit (I’m sure Brian was letting me though). He passed a nice old gentleman that had a comment for him as he went by. As I passed the old man he asked “Are you chasing that guy?” I said yes. He asked “What’d he take?” to which I replied “The lead!”. I didn’t catch Brian though, not until we hit Lois’ car for the official water stop number 1. I almost didn’t catch him there either as he flew right by the car. I yelled ahead to get his attention and he ran back. A sip of Gatorade and a Snickers and off we went.

To shake things up a bit this week we go counter-clockwise around Spot Pond, straight past the Flynn Rink and on towards the Stone Zoo. Things got quiet at that point, Brian pushing the pace and I following along with some effort. Past the Zoo and over by the Sheepfold we went, where we ran into Nick coming the opposite direction. Nick asked what took us so long, as if he expected to see us further around the loop of the pond. I had no reply, I was running faster than I had planned in the first place and couldn’t imagine being any further into the run by then. After passing Nick Brian extended his lead through the hills along I-93 as we headed back to Lois’ car. We were going so quick in fact that we missed yet another bonus water stop supplied by Sue and her daughter along that stretch. Thank you Sue for getting up and out early on Sunday morning to help out your fellow long runners.

At Lois’ car I had another Gu washed down with a few cups of water. Leaving Lois’ car we headed up South Border Rd. Knowing the hills to come and how Brian kept pulling away, I bid him adieu in advance. Actually I said something like “after we get to the top of this hill I don’t want to see your face again”. It was understood I meant I didn’t want to be running fast enough to be able to see it again. Through the hills I watched him pull away, not too far away though as I didn’t lose sight of him until the winding stretch before Grimsby’s. At Grimsby’s I ate some gummy fish and downed some Gatorade before heading out alone for the final 5.5 miles of the run.

I followed the circle of the MRC Summer Route around Melrose with Lois and Mike running together somewhere behind me. Dave, Carol, Catherine, and Kelly all turned down W Wyoming to Main St to end at Brueggers and end their training for the season. Great job you guys and god luck at Baystate! I believe Kaj also headed to Brueggers from there for 22 miles in total for the day. Nick, I’m not sure what he did, the 12.5 mile route too?

We all know the Summer Route step for step after running it since March. Each of those spots that pose a bit of a challenge… the Welcome to Melrose Hill on the LynnFells, headung up to the turn onto Bellevue, Mooreland St… each of those challenges are magnified with about 16 more miles under your belt. Without the help of Brian pulling me alone I tried to keep up the pace myself but I’m sure I slowed. The weather was beautiful all morning, low 40s at the start, near 60 towards the end, but through this stretch I found myself seeking the shady sides of the street to keep cool. As I made my way down Lebanon there was a little planned detour over to Linwood Ave where the last water stop of the very long run was waiting. On my Halloween decorated doorstep sat water and Gatorade and GU. I took a Gu and washed it down with Gatorade, generally a no-no on a long run but I only had 2 miles left. Later Lois and Mike would hit my house together and enjoy the power of the Gu that they so sorely needed.

Paralleling Lebanon we went down Linwood to Sylvan and back on the Summer Route. Main St took us to W Wyoming where we ran the last stretch back to Grimsby’s. I felt good, the cool air rushing down from Spot Pond rejuvenating me as I finished up at 10:42 (Kaj’s initial reported start time lead to some very exact time keeping this week). After a few cups of water and a quick visit from Brad on his Sunday Run, I decided to walk back up W Wyoming a bit until I saw Lois and Mike coming up. It’s a good day when you can run 22 miles and feel like taking a walk afterwards. As they streamed past me, Mike slightly ahead of Lois, they both took the opportunity to walk with me, although I prodded both to keep going until they got to my car. In the parking Lot of Grimsby’s Lois and I were done with our 22 and could officially start tapering. Mike, having slept through his early miles, was sitting at 17 miles so far and trudged out along the LynnFells to circle back to Main St to complete 19 miles.

Great runs for all today, I hope that goes for everyone that raced today too. This is the last officialy week of the Sunday Long Run program for the Summer/Fall 2008 session. It was quiet a success in my opinion, many familiar faces returned for more, some new faces joined in, and hopefully all that ran with us for any of their training will be pleased with their fall races. We’ve all helped get each other ready for the starting line, I wish you each the best in getting yourself to the finish line!

(For those that made it to a finish line today, let’s hear how it went)

The fall racing is heating up. Last week we had MRC Sunday Long Runners testing their racing legs all around New England. Judi and Catherine ran the Applefest Half in Hollis, New Hampshire last Saturday. On Sunday Tall Dave set his MRC PR at the Maine Half Marathon in Portland. Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, Beth and Ginny ran strong races at the Apple Harvest 10 Miler in Harvard. Great performances by each of you!

This week a group of our fellow long distance runners will be heading into Boston for the BAA Half. Jen, Denyce, Donna, Jo-Ann, Kristen, Jocelyn, Kevin, Leann… among other MRCers I’m sure. Also this week Walt heads out to upstate New York to run the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon, his second marathon in as many months. On Monday a bunch of our female running friends will head into Boston for the Tufts 10K for Women… too short and flat for me to mention each person by name though 🙂

Good Luck to all! Especially Jen, who has tweaked a muscle in her back just days before the BAA Half. We all are hoping for the best Jen! 

For the rest of us, this week’s route is 12.5 for those running Baystate next week and 7.1 for those who want to run 7.1 miles. In addition there will be a few of us running Manchester or New York, maybe even our Dubliners, I’m planning out a 22 mile route. These plans are up in the air right now and may depend on what type of company we have along the way. So to firm up our plans it’s time for the roll call! What are you thinking for this week’s run?

Your heart’s beating loud
And goes on getting louder
And goes on even more til the
Sound is ringing in your head
With every step you tread
And every breath you take
Determination
  — Iron Maiden
You know we’ve been growing as a group when 15 runners show up and it feels like a small group. Whether they were out running races this weekend or just confusing “tapering” with “sleeping in”, most of our marathoner trainees that ran 22 miles last week were absent this morning. Our BAA half runners all showed up for their taper run before next week though making for a short but lively run for them.

The weather was great for a long run, with clouds keeping the sun from heating things up we started with an early morning chill in the air as temperatures hovered in the low 40s and a breeze blowing occasionally which had us swaying between sweaty to chilly. Heading up East Foster to the Melrose Common we started right off with a hill. The group seemed in good spirits going over stories of kids’ soccer games from the day before, Jen and I both had stories of soccer players scoring goals into their own nets. Heading up to Swains Pond and Turners Pond there was no mistake that fall had settled in with blowing leaves and a chill hovering in the air around the ponds. Twisting through streets we made our way past Oak Grove Cemetery to water stop 1 at Forest St and Main St. Carol’s car played host to the stop this week (Thanks Carol).

The next leg of the run was also hilly, heading over the train tracks at Oak Grove we followed Greenwood St through Malden. As Brian, Demi, Lois and I made our way through the hills we sidestepped the road kill of the week, a squirrel. While commenting on the squirrel an association in Lois’ head caused her to utter “So OJ’s guilty”. She was commenting on OJ Simpson’s recent kidnapping/burglary trial but for a second it seemed like she was accusing OJ of killing the squirrel… which I’m sure he would do at the slightest provocation. After discussing that and other news of the day our pack split in two, Brian and I picked up our pace along the hilly Fellsway East eventually catching Carol while Demi and Lois kept a strong pace not far behind us. Where Washington St meets the Fellsway there was a police radar alerting the cars barrelling down the hill of their excessive speed. These radars are a challenge to me, when two runners run side by side they can trigger the radar and to this day my PR is 8MPH while running with Mike York. With the aid of the downhill Brian and I made a mad dash towards the machine and triggered 11MPH. The momentary rush was followed by some quick math… 11MPH means in 2 hours we could cover 22 miles, add another 4 miles for a marathon… even with a hill and a momentary burst of speed we weren’t as fast as a Kenyan running a full marathon! In figuring that out we kept up a brisk pace to the next water stop, Sue’s car at the knoll by the middle school (Thanks Sue).

Brian and I headed out along the LynnFells towards Saugus. Brian, not training for anything, turned right at Lincoln St to finish up about 10 miles. Our half marathoners were all done with their 7 by now. Sue, Joanne, and Nancy were adding on miles along the summer route. This left me, Carol, Lois and Demi to finish out the long route for the day. I ran out to Farm St in Wakefield alone. The only sight that broke up the run was at the estate near the Saugus/Wakefield line with the statues along the long driveway. There is a column at the end of the driveway with a ball on top of it, today I learned that its a fountain and with the water running the ball rolls along the top of the column. I can’t see putting something like that in my yard but the sight of the ball rolling put the thought of keeping the run rolling as I pushed on, Farm St to Nahant St to water stop 3, Lois’ car at the corner of Nahant and Main St in Wakefield (Thanks Lois).

Carol came into the water stop as I was readying myself for some extra miles. She was running strong on her taper for Baystate and looks prepared. As she headed south on Main St I headed North for a loop of Lake Quannapowitt. As I looped the lake I picked off a couple of runners ahead of me as a way to instigate some speed as well as make it feel like I wasn’t running alone. Another quick stop at Lois’ car followed by a quick finish down Main St, carrying on conversations I would be having had I had anyone running with me. I finished up back to Brueggers with something in the 18 to 19 mile range under my belt. Lois also ran this loop for some extra miles and Liz joined her for the final stretch down Main St.

Back at Brueggers our small group gathered with discussions of the great running weather, our strong runs, and the recent success of the Red Sox in California… hopefully not jinxing any of the those things.

Congratulations to those that took their well trained legs out for a test drive at races this weekend. And Good luck to all who have trained with us for the BAA Half next week. You’re all running strong and are ready for the 13.1 mile challenge you have ahead.

After last week’s big run it’s time to ease up a bit. This is what I like to call the “don’t do anything stupid” time… which if I could heed my own advice I would have a few more good races under my belt.

If you’re running the BAA half this week you’ll enjoy a nice Swain’s Pond run and a few Fellsway East hills but you’ll be done in no time since the run is only about 7 miles.

If you’re running Baystate or Hartford you’re coming off your 22 miler so we want a nice recovery run of about 14 miles along Swains Pond, the Fellsway, out to Farm St and back Main St.

If you’re running a marathon later in the month or early November the plan is to follow the 14 mile run but add a loop of Lake Quannapowitt while we’re out there.

There will be three water stops: Citizen’s Bank in Malden, the Knoll at the Middle School, and Nicks Pizza in Wakefield. Sue had one water stop bin, Kelly has the other, and I got one back from Nancy. Unless you’re part of the water stop plans this week I’ll need to get those back.

So who’s in, how much, and who wants to do a water stop?
Jim