Sunday Run

This week you’ll have to shut off your favorite Saturday Morning cartoons to join in on the Sunday Long Run. Many of us will be looking for eggs and jellybeans at the break of dawn Sunday, or watching a 6AM Red Sox exhibition game from Japan. So this week, due to Easter, we’re featuring the Saturday Long Run!

I just put up a new map for this distance, covering 17.8 miles and hitting Swains Pond, the Fellsway, and Breakheart. This will be our last trip to Breakheart before Boston. The route needs three water stops, at the corner of Main St and Winter St, at the Knoll across from the Middle School, and at the Saugus entrance at Breakheart. Ed will be organizing our volunteers on the existing thread.

Those looking to run less there are many opportunities to turn off of this route to make a 4.5, 7, or 8 mile run, or you can join in at the knoll for a 9 mile run, or just run the Breakheart section for 3. Don’t be shy, we like the company. So join us for the first long run of the Spring, despite the fact that the weather didn’t seem to get the memo about it being Spring.

People should note, since it’s Saturday both Brueggers and the roads will be more crowded. This means we’ll need to be more aware of how much space we’re taking up on both counts.

Roll Call! Who’s in?

As we approach St Patrick’s Day and all things Irish, I’ve quoted a traditional Irish blessing for the theme of this week’s run. The run is a recovery run after reaching for 20 miles last week. In the spirit of  ‘the road rise up’ we’ll be passing through Breakheart again where some of the best rising roads around reside. And if you know the next line of this poem, you’ll know its something we could have used on the last two long runs.

The water stops are all planned. Walt will be manning stop 1,2, and 3. Luckily for him they are all in the same spot. Liz will be giving us a bonus stop on the Saugus side of Breakheart. Thanks in advance Walt and Liz.

Many people in our group will be heading down to New Bedford to run a Half on Sunday. Good Luck to all of you, all your hard work will be rewarded. Others in our group will be running local road races to celebrate the coming of Spring or the wearing of the green, may the Luck of the Irish be with you. This leads me to my next question, who’ll be at Brueggers at 8AM besides me? Roll Call time!

Ok. with Valentines Day behind us, it’s time to think about the Sunday Long Run. Before we get there though, let’s give a shout out to the five familiar faces from our Sunday Long Runs that hit the Half at the Hamptons last week to put their training to the test. Each passed with flying colors with good runs despite some weather challenges toward the end.

 

(Photos courtesy Capstone Photography)

On a sad side note, the Rochester Runners lost one of their long time members, Bill Paradis, 55, who died of an apparent heart attack at mile 6 of the race. Our thoughts go out to the Rochester Runners and Bill’s family and friends. 

As for this Sunday, This week we’ll be stretching our miles out a little further, 16.2 for those with their eye on a spring marathon and 8.2 for those readying for a spring half. If you’re planning racing next weekend you might want to lighten up the mileage this week.

We’re heading out to Winchester, a neighborhood we haven’t run through yet this year, so be sure to review the maps.

If you’re looking for more then 8 but less than 16 I’ll add notes on the map for shortcuts you can take to tailor the distance to your needs.

Anyone that would like to run a 5.5 mile loop, meet us at water stop 1 and run the Winchester highland section back around to the water stop.

Lois and Nancy have volunteered the use of their cars for the water stops this week. Unless anyone insists on something other than that, we’re all set.

Good luck to Sunday runners heading to Martha’s Vineyard for a 20 mile race or Foxboro for a 10 mile race this weekend!

Time for the Roll Call! Leave a note here if you’re coming and how many miles you plan on running.

Winthrop Walt was right, we had a spring day mid week but wintery weather ever since.

I just ran Breakheart, part of our intended route for this week. I ran the outerloop from Saugus, counterclockwise. The path is snow-covered, about an inch or so, but is passable without slowing down too much. There are two spots that could be dangerous on Sunday morning: At the pond, the playground is flooded and water is beginning to cross the path, and one spot on the hills where a stream has been crossing over the path. Today those two spots were slushy, Sunday they might be icy. I then went over the inner loop and got caught in a snow squall that dumped a bit of snow on me and the trail. I missed the snowiest Sunday of the winter a few weeks ago but I think you’ll appreciate that I got back to my car with Tracy-like frozen eyebrows today. Overall I enjoyed the run through there though, 5 miles at a relatively normal pace for me (but it has been noted in the past that I have an uncanny ability to run well on snow). My Breakheart rating as of Friday 1PM: Cautiously passable.

With that said I’m planning on keeping this as the route on Sunday but I’ll also map a second 3+ mile loop on the route so runners can opt to skip Breakheart if they feel the footing is too risky. The easiest route to tack on would be Pine Banks at the end of the run with a second waterstop stationed at Brueggers for those that decide to do that.

That’s the plan, I’ll update the maps and will comment to this post with all the options by Saturday. Who’s in?

Although the snow made last week’s pullback run more of a workout than expected, this week we push forward to 14+ miles for the marathon trainers and back to 7 miles for the half marathon trainers. The maps are up from the fall, I’ll be updating the format and adding a mid-distance route, but expect to work from this basic route. For those running the full route, note the loop around Ell Pond… not much fun but part of the original Melrose Half Marathon Route so I’ve kept it there for nostalgic reasons.

 Mike MacNeil has volunteered to help with the water stop. Mike, let me know if you plan on running too.  This route is very similar to two weeks ago, and can be done with a single water stop but if anyone wants to volunteer to help add optional “rolling water stops” along the way (at the Zoo and/or Grimsby’s) I’m sure the extra stops will be put to use.

So time for the roll call. Who’s in and how far would you like to run if the current routes don’t suit your fancy.