Bill Rodgers Jingle Bell Run 5K 2018

The Bill Rodgers Jingle Run 5K was perhaps the last race of the year. The race was the last race in the Melrose Running Club’s 2018 Racing Series.

This year we had two Racing Series winners. Mary O’Connell and Thuy Dang. They both ran 12 out of the 14 races including The Howling Wolf Half Marathon! Congrats to both of you for one hell of a year of running.

Stephanie Lawson is our second place winner and we’ll have a nice prize for her also.

Thuy Dang, Mary O'Connell, MRC Racing Series Winners 2018 We had a large group of Melrose Running Club members show up for this race. There is always a good sized group, but this year it seemed larger.

I missed the group photo and I think a few others also missed it. The total number of club runners that I have is 26. Not too bad!

After the race many of us gathered at The Burren for a few post-race beers and cocktails. From the looks of it they make a mean bloody mary there.

We had a great time catching up with each other. The end of the year is a great time to talk about good times together and plan for more good times for the next year.

There were some amazing costumes at this race. Mary and Thuy had those great lights and Christmas themed running gear. There were many Santas who looked liked they were late for the sale at Best Buy or Target!

There were also reindeer and plenty of elves and other assorted Christmas related characters. I didn’t see a single Scrooge!

I saw several parents running with their kids and lots of groups of friends running together. This is a great holiday race for friends and family to have a good time.

Audie Bridges placed 6th in his age group, and that’s as high in the standings that anyone in the club ran.

FULL RESULTS

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Keep on running and try not to put on too much weight over the next few weeks. Now that will be a challenge!