As our long run friends were shivering up in Lowell, anticipating the start of their fall marathon or half marathon, we were on our way out of Breuggers for a 14 mile round trip run to Horn Pond in Woburn. Nine of us had met at Brueggers, although only eight headed out the front door. Julie ducked out the back door, into her car, and back home to change from shorts to pants. Despite the temps being around 40 degrees this was the first week of the season where wind chills became a factor. With a gusty wind blowing it felt closer to 30 degrees.
We started down Main St to West Wyoming. We stayed in a tight little pack until I couldn’t take the cold wind any longer and sprinted ahead to raise my body temperature. As I approached Grimsby’s Julie joined in sporting some running tights. Brian caught up to us and the three of us led the way up to Spot Pond. From Grimsby’s to Spot Pond was pretty quiet as we climbed the hill but earlier in the morning there was a lot of activity there. On my way to pick up Jo-Ann from the Horn Pond water stop there was an accident there, two cars heading in opposite directions side-swiped each other. One car’s front tire was blown out and the fender was hanging off. The SUV heading up the hill had quite a bit of damage to the left front fender. In the same area, as Nancy and Sue rode back from setting up water stop 1 they saw a deer where the Fells trail crosses Pond St, we assume to check out the accident. At the top of the hill several cars were pulled over and a truck with flashing lights had pulled up behind them. Very active area prior to 8AM but all was cleared as we went through, up by the pond and the zoo where the wolves were on the prowl, and over to water stop 1 on the corner of Forest St and Eugene St in Winchester.
We huddled in back of Sue’s SUV, shielding ourselves from the wind, drinking gatorade and eating Snickers bars until the whole crew was ready to continue on. Down Forest St Kaj, Brian and I took the lead again. Through piles of autumn leaves and beds of fallen pine needles we ran through Winchester, over to Cross St to Woburn chatting the whole way. A dead baby snake was spotted by Lois along this stretch, and due to the lack of screaming we can only assume nobody else saw it. As we maneuvered across Main St to Lake Ave Kaj noted how quick the distance passed because of how quick a pace Brian and I set. When we pulled into the parking lot at Horn Pond the whole crew came in right behind us, each runner was putting in a strong effort today. As we choked down some Gu thickened by the cold weather we took wagers on whether we would see the Muscle Man of Horn Pond this morning. Would he be shirtless like the other times we saw him on this run? Lois set our expectations, she believed he would in fact be there but would wear a skin tight shirt revealing his over-developed pectorals.
Kaj, Brian and I took the lead again as we headed around the pond. There weren’t many people out this morning, the pond was quiet, and the fall foliage shined brilliantly in the sun. Heading around the back of the pond we encountered a steep hill. Some choose to follow the wooded trail that hugs the pond to avoid the hill, as Kaj began to do. I told him we would be running up the hill this morning (love the hills, they’ll love you back) and off the three of us scurried up the hill. In coming down the hill I turned to talk to Kaj and he was gone! Granted he ran some miles prior to heading out with us so this was further into the run for him, perhaps I shouldn’t have shamed him into running up the hill. Sorry. The crew behind us opted to take the pathway, which they were very happy that they did as this was the only way you could spot the Muscle Man of Horn Pond running around the pond in the opposite direction. Brian and I never saw him. Julie and Ginny were the first to pass him, Ginny even making the first verbal contact with this Sunday Long Run legend by saying hello as he passed. For the record Lois wins the bet, she described the scene to a tee.
After Horn Pond we headed back the way we came, Brian and I really pushed through this section, neither giving into the other as we raced the blowing leaves along Cross St back to Forest. Brian took the lead up the hill and I did everything I could to keep him close. Everyone else ran well through this stretch, each running strongly up the long steep incline back to the water stop. Some runners stopped there, getting in a good 10 mile run. Brian and I finished the route over to Franklin St and back Main St to Brueggers. Lois and Kaj followed in behind us with strong runs of their own. Nancy planned on stopping at 10 but felt good enough to tack on the mileage back by the Zoo and down West Wyoming.
Despite the cold weather, which Sue kept keeping us from complaining about, each one of us had a run we were happy with. Smiles, stories, thoughts about where our Baystate Marathoners and Half Marathoners were at in their races, and good Red Sox talk accompanied the post-run coffee at Brueggers. As we were heading out the door Audrey and Beth finished up their 9 mile long run too, each sporting a smile. We had to adjust to the cold but it seemed to help everyone’s run, and we hope it helped keep our long run racers running strong to the finish. Let’s hear your stories!
Home from Baystate after 2 very slow beers and a bowl of chowder. And guess what, while I’m typing this my husband is snoozing next me…. I will give him the credit of getting up early to drive Catherine, myself, and her brother to the start, but is he serious right now.. He was telling me about some kid in the parking lot of Grimsbey’s that looked like he was side swiped changing his tire. He assumed it was a late night event that was being fixed up in the am. When he wakes up from his “well deserved nap” I’ll tell him about the accident.
Baystate was very cold and windy. I opted for shorts and wished I hadn’t. But we made it!!! Catherine and I were mute for the last 6 miles. We had finally run out of something to talk about. I was talking to perfect strangers by the end. I expected about 7 minutes shorter, but I took Catherine’s advice and saved all my energy for the end, what little I had left.
I turned towards the end and was greeted by about 15 of my family and friends. It felt great and was very rewarding. Barry found us along the route too and helped with a little pep talk near the end. I also saw tall Dave, but only at the finish since hopefully he finished in much less time than me.
All in all, I feel good about my first. Couldn’t have made it through without the great training progam and Catherine as a great running partner.
Good luck to everyone in there upcoming races. Maybe I’ll catch up with you at Bruegger’s next week. Taking this week off from running.
Now I can finally stay up for a sox game!!!
First and foremost I want to say thanks to Catherine and Kelly for picking up the numbers in Acton. ( I can’t post in the Forum but can post here.)
I also want to thank everyone for their encouragement and support. I really feel that running with the MRC helped me tremendously. Congrats to all who ran!
I was hoping to break 4:00 and ended up with 3:50:50 so I am very pleased with the results. And I never once during this marathon thought “It doesn’t matter if I qualify because I am never running another marathon again.”
It was definitely cold and windy. I opted for a short sleeve short and a throw away long sleeve t-shirt. Everytime I thought about throwing away the long sleeve, there would be a cold wind to change my mind and by the time I had truly decided to get rid of it, I was too uncoordinated to take it off. So now my DH has a bunch of pictures of me wearing a wool hat and a “t-shirt dress” (you can’t even see I have shorts on) – so we may have to delete all those pictures!
Again – thanks to all. Good luck to all of those with marathons to come and can’t wait to start training for Boston!
Jim, thanks for everything. I’m very pleased with the results. I think I ran a smart race and I credit the training for knowing what to do and how to adapt. I think that about 16 of the miles were shaded, let alone windy. When we were on the first loop, I kept looking forward to the bridge so that we wouldn’t have a headwind, but sure enough, headwind from the other side as well.. it must have been a crosswind most of the time. I had shorts on and regretted it – never really getting much sun on my rear thighs – seems I wanted to cramp in the hams, but really never really blossomed. Although I was a 30 seconds off of my target pace, I passed a lot of people at the end, and felt a little bad about doing it inside the arena, not. Once again, I hit the wall AFTER the run: I parked down near the War Memorial, so I had a nice long (but in truth, contented) walk to my car once I could coax my hams into moving. Thanks also to Barry and Roy for the support especially mile 26.
Well, I did not do a lot of the long runs in Melrose, but the ones I did were memorable, especially when we got lost. But I do feel I owe so much to MRC. I did my first marathon, Boston 1998, because I was lucky enough to get a number from the club. You’ve always given me so much support and motivation and I am grateful.
Yes, they say was cold, but I did wear shorts, a tank, gloves and a throw away shirt. I started with Katie and she agreed with my choice of clothes. The shirt stayed on for one mile and off it went. I kept at my goal pace of around 8:00s, maybe a little faster at first. It was windy in spots, but not too bad. There are a few slight hills in the begining, but lots of slow downhills as a reward. At mile 7, a friend hopped in and joined me to do her long run. We went over a bridge at mile 8 which had mettle plates for a sidewalk. When you ran over them when the cars drove by, they moved, which gave you vertigo! On the second time over (double loop course), my friend stepped off the the last mettle plate and took a header! When she sat up, she had a big gash over her eye. People started asking her if she needed an ambulance, but she said no (the medical tent fixed her up and told her she need stitches). I just kept looking at her in shock and she shouted, “GO!!”. So I did.
I felt great! Kept my pace, but as it always happens, you feel like you are running harder and faster, but you are actually getting slower, but thankfully, not much. And then – well huge head winds around mile 22. But I was very happy, because I was passing so many people. Then I got to the stadium. Do race directors love torturing us? You go around the stadium to a back entrance and then you enter on the the 3rd base side, run along the outfield wall (you can see the finish) and down the first base line. And then, more torture. You have to walk up all the stadium stairs to get to the food. But otherwise, it is a well run race!
Special thanks to Barry for being our cheerleader on the bike. Thanks MRC for always being there!
Well, I did not join you hearty folks on the full, but decided to run the half. I ran Bay State last year and the qualifier is good for Boston ’09 so I went with 13.1. Two loops, just like the full, but it took you into the headwind everyone else described twice. Went with the shorts and long sleeves and that seemed about right. Had to pit stop along the way and that slowed me up a bit. Not my best effort, but just happy to be out there. Very sorry I missed everyone and thanks Barry for coming out, even though I did not see you. Big thanks for the club and to Jim for linking us all up through the web site. Now its on to Mill Cities and then the work for Boston begins.