Sunday Run

Does everyone know where they’re going? Each week as we assemble on the sidewalk outside of Brueggers the run is kicked off with those words. Each week there is an iffy answer in the affirmative. This week was the kind of week that makes me ask this as this recap will illustrate.

At 8:00 I rushed over to Brueggers, running a bit late since I didn’t notice the 8 mile route map as page 2 on the map link and quickly remade one so people running shorter would know where they were going. These were not the people I should have been worried about. As Walt came in from his pre-run miles, and Linda and her MVS friend came in from their pre-run and pre-fall, and the rest of the crowd streamed out of Brueggers, I reviewed the water stop location with Jean, our water stop volunteer for the day, and went over the routes quickly so people would know where we were going. Walt asked if he could take the map with him but I decided I wanted to give it to Jean so she would know where to go and Walt could take it from her as he went by. Off went Jean, off went Walt, and off went the rest of the big crowd of 28 runners heading out to Winchester.

Up Main St to Franklin the chatter in the crowd focused on the Women’s Olympic Marathon, held on Sunday Morning in China and televised Saturday Night on the East Coast. Inspired by the 38 year old gold medal run by Romania’s Constantina Tomescu our running goals all seemed more achievable this morning. The stream of runners flowed along Franklin St into Stoneham and over to Winchester and our first water stop. At this point in the run everything was going fine. The shorter route returned to Melrose by heading over to Spot Pond, down to Grimsby’s, and along the LynnFells to Main St. As far as I know this was an uneventful 8 miles in comfortable weather along a winding route… unless I missed something.

The longer route headed out Forest St to Highland Ave. If the sight of blood on Linda before the run even started wasn’t foretelling an odd run the sights of an older man ambling up the hill towards us with two turkeys by his side definitely was a signal that this would not be a typical run. As we passed him we asked if those turkeys were with him, he said no, he thought they were with us. As our pack of Nicole, Eve, Mike, and myself passed by we noticed yet another larger turkey running off down a side street. As Lois and Sue passed the man the turkeys decided they liked the ladies better and turned around and ran down the hill with them for a while before the turkeys pulled ahead. After that sight the route turned onto Highland Ave with a pleasant, yet hilly side trip along Reservoir Rd. This is one of my favorite streets to run on. With the Fells on one side you catch a glimpse of the sun sparkling of one of the Winchester Reservoirs through the trees. On the other side of the antique street light lined road is a row of large beautiful houses. In the middle of the road is a long steep hill. (Love the hills, they’ll love you back). Nicole and I charged through the hill while Mike and Eve shook theirs heads at us. At this point I pulled ahead and ran along back on Highland Ave towards water stop 2.

Here’s where things got interesting. At Highland Ave and Mystic Valley Parkway Walt took a left turn instead of going straight, not having a map to help him out. The pack behind him followed along thinking he knew what he was doing (Note: Never follow Walt). Nicole and I continued on to water stop 2… or the empty spot where it was supposed to be, maybe that map wouldn’t have helped Walt because it didn’t help Jean. We continued on with that “maybe it’s just around this corner” feeling for a little while but unfortunately Jean was waiting on a street corner somewhere we wouldn’t be passing by… those of us that were actually in the right place. As we headed down Main St over to Washington St near Winchester Center two people in white tank tops passed in the opposite direction. Mike and Eve noticed them heading to the left on Main St and, mistaking them for me and Nicole, followed them… off course where they would coincidentally run into Walt. With some guidance from Sue and Lois correcting wrong turns from behind, last week’s two lost runners Kelly and Catherine stayed on course throughout the run. If you’re keeping score, only 6 of the long runners were in the right place, heading down Washington St at this point in the run. Along this stretch Sue and Lois were on a mission to track down water. They passed on the idea of stopping at a church and stealing a sip of Holy Water, and instead found fountain to drink from, unfortunately it was filled with dirty water that they had to scoop out to make room for the heads so they could reach the tiny trickle that came out of the spout. From there we passed a dead raccoon on the side of the road which I named Rocky after Rocky Racoon in the Beatles song, a tune that stuck in my head as I climbed back up Forest St to Walt’s car and what was now the second water stop of the day. Nancy was waiting there having cut her run short due to a sore achilles and informed me that I was the first one to make it back to the stop. Yikes! Where is everyone!

From the water stop we headed over to Park St, past the man that was walking turkeys earlier in the day and over to Spot pond. Along the back side of the pond Nicole and I took turns passing each other as she pushed the pace up hills and I did the same on the downhills. This route, a very hilly one, even challenged Nicole’s passion for the hills as we made the last long climb up Elm St. At the rotary by the hockey rink we ran into Jean who pulled into the parking lot and supplied us with a bonus cup of Gatorade to get us through the last few miles. Not knowing who was where I guessed that Lois would be by but I had no idea who else would make it there. While I was saying this Lois was making her way back to Brueggers, either by foot or by car, the details are getting fuzzy on me now.

Leaving the water stop we followed the pond to Pond St where I ran into Mike coming from the other direction. As we headed down to Grimsby’s we passed Matt making his way back from wherever he had been. Back down Wyoming we went, onto Main and back to Brueggers to end an adventurous day.

In the end Nicole, Catherine, Kelly and I were the only four to run the full 16.2 mile route as it was intended. I can only speak for myself, as everyone else was wandering around Winchester and Medford I was having myself a darn good run. Thanks to Walt and Jean for volunteering to help this week, and thanks to all that ran today I hope you enjoyed the adventure.

Next week we’re trying a new route, out to Horn Pond in Woburn. I’ll post a map some time this week, I suggest people print it out and bring it with them so everyone will know where they’re going. 🙂

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Fall 2008, Recap, Week 6. 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.