Sunday Run

This week is the 22 miler for those running Baystate! For those running the whole thing, think of this is as a series of short runs.

Like many of your runs, the route starts by heading up Main St, past the Clarence DeMar statue (tap it for good luck) and turns left on Melrose St and left on the LynnFells Parkway. Ride that all the way past Grimsby’s onto the Fellsway East, right on Highland Ave up to the first water stop. Step 1 complete, nothing new here, no problem.

From there you turn left at the rotary onto Elm St. Enjoy going down Elm and take a right onto Rte 28, Main St in Stoneham. Follow the back side of the pond all the way to Friendly’s. Take a left onto North Border Rd there which takes you past the I93 on ramp onto Park St. Turn left at the lights onto Marble, over I93 to Eugene St. Water Stop 2 will be waiting there. Check that section off, been here before, no problems.

From Eugene you’ll head down Forest St, turn right at the other Highland Ave and follow it to the end. The water stop will be at the end, just like it is always is. Section 3 done!

Now the fun part of the run, take a left onto Rte38, Main St in Winchester, and follow it into Medford. Get over to the right side of the road and as you pass the Oak Grove Cemetery turn right onto Playstead Rd. This will curve around to Rte 60, High St in Medford. Turn right, cross the tracks and stay on Rte 60 until you get to a little rotary. Note there is a fork along the way, stay to the left to keep on High St. At the rotary you’ll turn right onto Mystic Valley Parkway. Take this past the Mystic Lakes, all the way to the end of the road. Turn right there onto Bacon St, cross under the railroad tracks, turn left onto mysteriously enough Mystic Valley Parkway again. Along this road somewhere will be the next water stop at mile 15. 4 water stops complete, 1 more to go.

Continue along the Mystic Valley Parkway until you get to Washington St. Take a left along Washington, cross Mt Vernon St keeping on Washington St and then keep those legs moving along this straight mile long road until you get to the Ginger Bread Construction Company where you’ll turn right up Forest St. Ignore the hills and keep on trudging up the hill to the final water stop of the run at Eugene St!

Now bring it home. Take Forest over to Park where you go right. Follow this past Friendly’s straight on past the Stone Zoo, along Spot Pond to Pond St. A right there brings you down to Grimsby’s. Take a left there onto the LynnFells Parkway for one last hill. Continue past the high school back to Melrose St up to Main St. Thank Clarence for helping you get through all this and head back to Brueggers for a well deserved breakfast!

If you’re running short, hmmmm. The plan shows you going 9+ miles but the map shows 11.2. If you did 11 last week, you should do 9 this week. Run with the group through the first water stop. Follow the back side of Spot Pond with them, but turn right at Friendly’s and head back Pond St to Wyoming to Brueggers.

For water stops, I have two volunteers, Sue and Lois for water stops 2/5 and 3. I’ll do 1 and 4. I think this will take care of just about everything. If anyone else wants to help, let me know, I could use a hand with 1 and possibly a second stop for the short route runners.

OK, so who’s in and for how long? really want a feel for who will be where when this week so we can cover it right so please respond. ROLL CALL!!!

First off a big THANKS for all the helpers that contributed to getting you through the past few weeks without a hitch. Great job everyone, especially Lois and AJ… and Brian… and Dave and Betty and Diana and Erin!!!

As we come done the final stretch of training, its time to start doing some strategic planning. WE’ll have a couple of cool weekends to work out our clothing plans for the race. Pick out some options and test them during these long runs. I think you have your hot gear worked out from the first 7 or 8 weeks. Get some miles on cooler gear to figure out which shirt has a seam or tag in it that just won’t work over hours of running.

Next start honing in on your pre-race meal. Over the next few weeks try out Saturday night meals and early Sunday morning breakfasts to see what works best in your belly on a long run. You don’t want to find out that chili and beer doesn’t really fuel a marathon like you wanted it to on race day.

Ok, on to the important things: This week’s run! Almost 18 miles, with some gently rolling hills. (Love the hills, and never believe gently rolling). We’ll head up to Melrose Common, turn right and wind through tranquil Swains Pond, swing back onto Lebanon and left on Forest St past Oak Grove Cemetery. At the end of that street you’ll find your first water stop at Citizen’s Bank.

From there the route will take you past the Oak Grove T Stop and through a 5 way intersection. Straight through to Glenwood St. Follow Glenwood out to the Highland Ave rotary where the newspaper boy sits and turn right onto the Fellsway East. You’ve been here before, just take that past Grimsbys to the LynnFells Parkway and out to the high school. Stop at the knoll for another water stop.

From there take the LynnFells straight out to Breakheart. Grab a sip at the water stop there and then loop Breakheart. Another sip and back the way you came, all the way to the knoll. Yet another sip and off to Grimsby’s, left down Wyoming, and left on Main to finish up.

If you’re running the shorter route, start out with everyone through the first two water stops. On your way out to Breakheart take your usual turn at Main St in Saugus and back down Howard St. Finish up down Main St for just over 11 miles!

That’s the run, now who’s helping with all those water stops. Since I’m still not running 🙁 I’ll be at all of them at some point. I think I can do this with one helper taking the knoll. Any volunteers? I think there’s still a bucket of supplies floating around. If you have it, bring it on Sunday. Thanks.

That’s it. Who’s in? ROLL CALL!

What the… we are already at Week 10?!  Time is flying by and, now that the temps are getting more comfortable, time for runners to fly by. But not toooo fast. We are still building up our mileage and the goal is to find a pace you can sustain.  Do enjoy the Fall-ish weather that is just starting to show up, but do not overdo it.

Full runners, you have 16 miles to look forward to. Half runners, 8. We’ll take in some of our favorite hills (Breakheart) and we’ll take in some beautiful lake views (Lake Q).

Read the maps and chose your distance.

Alastair is in charge of the waterstop. I think he may be all set, but perhaps he’ll weigh in here to give us all peace of mind.

Who is in? ROLL CALL!!!!

Just how many runners are left to run long on Sunday with the competing forces of the Lake Winnie Relay and the EMARC 5K/Victorian Fair?

Typically, when the Sunday Long Run is on the same Sunday as the EMARC race, we start the long run early (7am) to ensure we don’t interfere with Victorian Fair prep on Main St. and to allow some runners to volunteer at the 5k.

I need to know who is still in for the Sunday Long Run with week. From the looks of who identified themselves last Sunday and at Tuesday night’s run, I can count you all on one hand so far.

Please post on here if you do plan on running the full (20 miles) or the half (10.2 miles) run that will start from Bruegger’s at 7am this Sunday (Sept 9th).

Early Roll Call, here we go…