Sunday Run

Last week –We had a small crew run the SLR. Many of our half trainers were off doing the BAA Half Marathon (yeah the sidebar had it in the wrong week), and results look good. Our small crew ran through Swains Pond and around to Melrose High School. Many of the people training for half marathons decided to put in a few extra miles, a good sign people are feeling healthy and ready for their races. A handful of us continued on to Farm Street and looped back Main Street. It was good to part of the long route, as I left the water stop duties to Tom and Hank and partook in the full route for the first time since 2011. Felt good to be back out with the crew.

This week –We’ll wrap the whole thing up with the old standard, out the Fellsway East to Spot Pond and back. We’ll do this a little different for those looping Spot Pond, this is the only week of the season we loop the pond counter-clockwise. For those running the Howling Wolf this course gives you a good dose of the same hills you’ll see in that race.

Start – We’ll head up Main Street towards Ell Pond. As you pass the pond look for the monument to Clarence DeMar. Clarence lived in Melrose for some time before moving to Keene, New Hampshire. He ran the same paths we run but 100 years earlier. Clarence DeMar is the man that has won the most Boston Marathons to his name, winning 7 times over a 30 year span. The monument to him also mentions another Melrose resident that won the Boston Marathon multiple times, Bill Rodgers. As you finish up your training know we’ve been running the training routes of champions. Keep that in your head as you turn left on Melrose Street and left again onto the Lynn Fells Parkway heading towards our hills. Run past Grimsby’s, through the Fellsway East hills, and turn right on Highland Ave, making your way to the water stop.

Half Finish – The half runners will go through the Highland Ave rotary onto Woodland Rd, up to the right on to Pond Street. Run down to Grimsby’s and continue straight on to West Wyoming to finish up with a left on Main and a trip to Brueggers.

Full 2 – The full distance runners will also continue straight through the rotary onto Woodland Rd. Continue straight at Pond St, past the Stone Zoo, and veer left into the Straw Point parking lot. You should find Hank there for a little water before continuing left onto the Fellsway West, over I-93, past the Sheepfold, under I-93, and down to Elm Street. Elm will take you up, up, and up back to the Highland Ave rotary. (I never liked Elm Street this way, that’s why we only circle Spot Pond this way once per season). Turn right on Highland for the next water stop.

Full Finish – From Highland, turn left on East Border, left at the lights on to the Fellsway East, and up to Grimsby’s. Turn right on West Wyoming and a left on Main to finish up at Brueggers.

Water Stops – I believe Hank is in, Tom is taking the last weekend off, but Dan is stepping in to be you Highland Ave water helper. (I think I get to run again!)

Roll Call – Who’s in?!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 13th, 2018 at 9:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.