Running for All Ages

Run for All Ages 2015

The New England 65+ Runner’s Club invites you

to Lake Quannapowitt for a run for all ages on November 7th at 10AM at the Lakeside Office Park, 100 Quannapowitt Pkwy, Wakefield, MA 01880.

Enjoy a flat and fast course around Lake Quannapowitt.

Entry Fee: $22 online, $30 race day, $10 for 13 and under; 80 and up can register for free!

The journeymen runners in the NE65+ Runners Club put on this race every year to support fitness in children of all ages.

Specifically, the race provides an opportunity for very young runners to compete and share in the fun and excitement of a road race.

It is also the premier race in New England for “mature” runners, most of them Club members. Their accomplishments in the race are acknowledged in awards given for age divisions in five-year increments, ages 65 and up, all the way to 90+, and for age graded times to the top twelve master runners, 40 years and older, males and females.

Cash prizes to the age graded male winners are provided by one of the Club’s major sponsors: PACE: Prostate Awareness and Cancer Education race program. Cash prizes to the female winners are provided by the NE65Plus Runners Club.

The Club donates some of the proceeds from the race to the DMSE Children’s Fitness Foundation.

The mission of the New England 65+ Runners Club matches Omni Running’s mission – to encourage running and fitness in children of all ages.

The “My First 5K “ medal is a way to encourage and reward first time runners of all ages. We will have a table at the race where you can purchase a medal.

We will also have display frames for your medal and will assemble your medal into your frame after the race for you.

Frames are gold or silver color. We offer this combo package of medal, sticker and frame for $34.95, with $10 from each combo sale going to the New England 65+ Runner’s Club fundraising

We look forward to seeing you Saturday morning in Wakefield!.

Run well my friends!

Andy

Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company 5K

Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company puts out the call for Volunteers

Calling all runners to Leesburg, VA on October 25th, 2015 to run in the First Annual LVFC Zombie XC 5K. Volunteer your services and help support your local volunteer firefighters.

Kids love zombies and fire trucks, you love to run. Enjoy a crisp fall day in Leesburg with your family and the local community.

The LVFC dates back to 1803 and is the first fire company in Loudoun County and only the seventh in the Commonwealth of Virginia. While Thomas Jefferson was making the Louisiana Purchase the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company was protecting the citizens of Leesburg.

Come and be part of this rich history on October 25th at Philip A. Bolen Memorial Park in Leesburg, VA at 9AM, and support the folks who protect your community..

Several activities including a costume contest, kid’s fun run, touch a truck and more will be available throughout the morning. Bring the family and show your support for the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company.

After the race gather at the fire station to enjoy refreshments and treats for the children. A parked truck will be available for the kids to climb on, hats and goodie bags will be available.

Come burn up the course and show em what you can do. A crew will be stationed at the finish line to hose down any smoking shoes!*

Wear your favorite zombie costume and run through the park for this cross-country Zombie 5K race.

Registration is $30 for the 5K and $15 for the 1K Kids Fun Run until October 23rd. After October 23rd, fees are $35 for the 5K race and $20 for the Kids 1K Fun Run. Proceeds from the race support the LVFC and the DC Burn Unit.

“My First 5K” medals are available during on-line registration. If this is your first 5K or your child’s First 5K a commemorative medal is a wonderful way to remember a great first race. Proceeds from your purchase support the LVFC and the DC Burn Unit.

Support your kids, the Fire Department and have a great race!

They won’t really be hosing down anyone.

Run well my friends,

Andy

Marathon Sports Pub Run

Last night I went to Marathon Sports’ Pub Run in Wakefield, MA.

This was officially the “Melrose” run as it was managed by the Melrose store. But we ran out of Harrington’s Pub on Water Street in Wakefield, and ran the loop around Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield.

It took me an hour and a half to drive out from Cambridge. The traffic was ridiculous! As I ran up to the pub I only saw two guys out front in running gear. I was afraid that the rain had chased everyone else away.

The Nike rep was there and asked me what size shoe I wore and if I wanted to try out a pair of their shoes for the run. Why not, I thought. They were a very bright blue color and I think they were the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus. He took my three-year old New Balance and gave me the new shoes with no questions asked. Wasn’t even concerned with me getting them wet.

A few minutes later the side-walk was full of runners who had taken shelter in Harrington’s. There must have been thirty runners. I recognized some of the Marathon Sports Melrose employees and saw about a dozen runners from my club.

Since my knee is acting up, I have been starting out slow. This gives me the opportunity to run with lots of people running different paces. As my knee warmed up I managed to get to about a 10 minute overall pace and ran with a lady from Wakefield. We even ran past her house and waved to her little boy on the porch.

My watched chimed at 4 miles just as we finished running across the street from Harrington’s. Perfect. My pace was just under 10 minutes. Not great, but I managed to get in a four mile run with good company.

We hung out at Harrington’s for about an hour, had a few drinks and some appetizers. I met some new people and had good conversations.

I’m going to try to make a few more of these runs. If I get to six of them I’ll get a cool shirt and a pint glass, not to mention 6 good times!

The Nike Air Zoom Pegasus were very comfortable with great arch support. Over all they felt very comfortable and I think a 4 mile run was a pretty good test. My only complaint was that the toe box was too tight. All of my toes were rubbing and I could not wear these for a marathon. But the comfort has me thinking of trying out some Nikes.

Thanks to Marathon Sports for organizing a great “pub run.”

Run well my friends!

Summer Solstice Run

Summer Solstice occurs June 21st at 6:51AM EST

It is the longest day of the year and many of our ancestors believed the day was of significance. For modern man, it means it is still day light when we leave work. It’s even daylight after dinner so we can go cut the grass.

For the Melrose Running Club, the Summer Solstice is an excuse to have a good time.

We run every Tuesday night and this week we celebrated the Summer Solstice. We broke up into teams and were given a list of locations to run to and activities to perform.

At one stop each team member had to swing a hoola hoop three times. My back was still stiff from the marathon so they kinda gave it to me after a few honest attempts.

Then we had to sing a song (we thought a Christmas carol) in front of a public building. We tried to get a stranger to film us but he took one look at this sweaty group of runners and kept on walking. So we did a selfy that with the camera up-side down. We are so good with technology!Turns out, we could have sung any song!

Then we had to get a recipe card from Whole Foods and then take a full cup of liquid and run about a half mile back to the club. Katherine was quite good at this.

We thought we were in first place, as we arrived back at the club first with a full cup. But another team had a fuller cup. And who filled those cups? So we settled for 2nd place, which wasn’t even good enough for the steak knives!

Everyone had fun with the activity and watching the videos and photos of us doing the hoola-hoop.

Summer is now in full swing, get out there and live it!

Run well my friends,

Andy

Hartford Marathon Foundation

Hartford Marathon Foundation produces an extensive schedule of races in the greater Hartford area.

While the BAA overshadows the HMF with the Boston Marathon, the HMF schedule starts in March and goes through December.

Their calendar of events includes 5Ks, 10Ks, Duathlons, Triathlons and of course The Hartford Marathon.

Many of their events include the FitKids Run fun run, with distances ranging from 50 yards for 2 year olds up to a 1 mile run for 9-11 year olds. All participants receive a finisher’s medal and either a cotton t-shirt or a “Super Kid” cape.

How cool is that! Can you imagine being 5 years old and getting a cape, and a medal? I applaud their efforts to include children in their events and hopefully inspire the next generation of runners.

I’m really impressed with this organization and the number and variety of events they manage. If you live within an hour of Hartford, you should be checking out their event calendar. Many of their races are in neighboring towns and could be close to you. Continue reading “Hartford Marathon Foundation”

A Night on The Town

A Night on the Town

Last night after work a few of us went on a running tour of the bars in Boston. My friend had a colleague visiting from New York and she wanted to show him around.

We ran down Mass Ave to Comm Ave and showed our guest the turns we take on Marathon Day. From Comm Ave – Right on Hereford and left onto Boylston. Then past the Boston Public Library to the Marathon finish line, which to my great dismay is no longer visible on the street.

Pub Number one: Emmets

We meandered through the Public Garden and Boston Common, past Beacon Hill and found a comfy little Irish pub on Beacon Street called “Emmets“. My friends had an Allagash White and I had a Guinness as they were out of O’Hara’s. The crowd was light with people coming in for a drink after work or to grab supper.

For a place on Beacon Hill it had a familiar, friendly neighborhood feel to it. It seemed like the kind of place I’d like to call, “My Bar.”

Freedom Trail wanderings

After about half an hour of conversation and beverages we went out to the street to pick up The Freedom Trail, which served as our guide through town last night. Pointing out historic sites to our guest as we went, we arrived at the Old State House. This was the scene of the Boston Massacre in 1770. Even around 7:30pm on a Wednesday night there were tourists taking photos.

We walked through Haymarket and Faneuil Hall and made our way to The Union Oyster House for a plate of mussels and a couple of Sam Adams Boston Brick Red. We sat in the bar and the staff was fantastic with great service and a few tidbits of history. The Union Oyster House opened in 1826 and is the oldest continually operated restaurant in America. It has never been shut down for code violations or even Prohibition.The building is a registered historic land mark and they cannot make any modifications or updates to the building. There is a 400 seat restaurant upstairs, but no elevator.

Check out the link to Sam Adam’s Boston Brick Red. It is one of their specialty beers, name one that isn’t!. They are donating $4 from each keg to the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream which provides micro loans and mentoring to small businesses. What’s not to love about that!

The North End

From The Union we headed towards The North End. For my non-US readers, The North End is a classic Boston neighborhood that has traditionally been an Italian neighborhood. For the most part it still is and you can get a great dinner, pastry and gelatto at many fine establishments.

We were on a mission to find Mike’s Pastry at 9:45 at night. I wasn’t sure they would still be open but Gail looked at me like I must have been high and said “It’s the middle of the summer, of course they will be open.” At Mike’s we all got cannolis and I grabbed some pistachio cookies for us. Mike’s makes the best pistachio cookies.

Peering over our cannolis, we walked down Salem Street to Paul Revere Park and walked through it on our way to The Old North Church. As we got to the end of the park I could see that the back gate on the alley to the front of the Church was closed and locked. We wandered down a dead-end alley into what must have been someones front yard, had a laugh and turned around.

After much circumnavigation of the streets of The North End we arrived at the front of The Old North Church. It is still an active Episcopal church with Sunday masses at 9AM and 11AM. At 10PM on a Wednesday night it was locked up and dark. It took us much longer to get there than it took us to look around and move on.

We wandered down Hanover Street and ended up at The Green Dragon Tavern. We walked into a half full bar and grabbed the only table by the open window looking out onto the street. The best seat in the house. We ordered a round of their Green Dragon Ale and settled in to enjoy more conversation and the scenery.

When the drinks arrived they looked like, and tasted like, plain old lagers. I’m not sure what we expected but I was a little disappointed in their lack of flavor. The Green Dragon has a long and rich history also. If you click on the link you can read about it.

Our last stop on The Boston Bar Run was the Waterfront Sports Bar and Grill. It was a cozy place with a neighborhood bar feel to it, and they served both Pretty Things and Slumbrew, so we were very happy to show our out-of-town guest more local flavor.

At 10:48PM we decided it was time to call it a night. I finally got home around mid-night and managed to get a few hours of sleep. As someone quoted Warren Zevon last night, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

Run well my friends

Andy