This morning we started our journey. Over the next 15 weeks we’ll meet every Sunday morning to help a few of us make it to the starting line of the Boston Marathon. Along the way many of us will also get ready for other goals, be it a starting line in Hyannis or New Bedford, Providence or Burlington. The Sunday Long Run will get you to the starting line, then its up to you to get to the finish line.
After a snowy cold December it was a treat to see mild temperatures in the high 30s greeting us. Even more of a treat was seeing 20 eager faces ready to start training. A short review of the routes and a few minutes of choosing permutations of the routes and we were off. Down Main St and the Lynn Fells Kelley led the way with Walt and Brian trying to figure out how to catch her while the rest of us stretched out in a line behind them.
Unfortunately in the first mile of the run we had our first road kill sighting of the winter session. Today’s run is dedicated to the memory of a Lynn Fells Parkway squirrel.
Heading up to Main St in Saugus it was a treat to listen to the constant conversation of Walt. It’s great to have you aboard Walt, the runs are a lot more entertaining. As we turned onto Main St a few headed back down Howard for the “half route” while most charged on through the hills to Farm St to the water stop. Walt and Brian did in fact catch Kelley, Ana trailed them slightly, followed by Nick and I, Ed and Ginny… ok, there were 21 of us, I’m not naming all of you.
Walt spent about 10 seconds at the water stop and then headed out to who knows where… in fact later we would learn he doesn’t even know where he was, but he was there on purpose trying to sneak a few extra miles into his run. The pack then headed out for the second part of the run, many opting for a shortcut that would bring the 8.8 mile run to 8.1 miles, and a few opting for another shortcut that would bring the run down closer to 7 miles. The full route headed out to Water St and back Main where we would again run into the shortcut takers. This actually made the end of the run more fun as people of different paces mixed back together.
At the end of the run there were lots of smiling faces, everyone seemed to have had a good run in some good running conditions, a good start to the program. Brian seemed a bit concerned that he had lost Walt and hopped in his car to go track him down. After we all were well into our first cup of Brueggers coffee Walt wandered in with stories of trying to run to Lake Quannapowitt but ending up along Rte 128 somewhere. We know he knows to stay inside 128, 1, and 93 so we should be all set…. until the Winchester runs happen.
In the post run conversation we learned why Ginny has a large stash of Snickers bars in her cabinet. Years ago Ginny gave a young man a Snickers bar because he was hungry… and this young man wound up becoming her husband. So she lured in one man with one Snickers and I can get a dozen women to run to my car by keeping a bag of them in there…. powerful candy!
So that was week 1 of 15. Comfortable weather, big crowd, good conversation, strong running… not a bad start.