Ivy League Heps, Heartbreak Hill and US Indoor Nationals
Sunday March 1, 2009:
I'm about a week behind in updating my blog due to work and family commitments. Last Saturday and Sunday the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track Championships were held at the Gordon Track at Harvard and we traveled to Cambridge to watch our oldest son Anthony run the 5000 m for Columbia on Sunday afternoon.
Before the race on Sunday we headed down a few hours early and parked at the Brae Burn Golf Course in Newton at the base of the 2nd of the five Newton hills. It was snowing lightly as we crossed into Massachusetts but the snow was coming down at a steadier rate by the time we arrived in Newton. We first ran backwards to the Newton Wellesley Hospital via Rt. 16 which put us just about 5 miles from the top of Heartbreak Hill on the Boston College campus and then changed directions. If I run the hills again I’ll just park at the hospital. Despite the steady snow there were literally hundreds of other runners on the hills and several running clubs had actually set up water/Gatorade tables along the way! The previous day we had done a grueling three hour run at 6:45 AM with lawyers John Stanzel (2:58 Vermont) and Mike Craig (3:18 Boston) on the Kendall Hill course in Mont Vernon and they had done a good job of pushing the pace and leaving me exhausted for Sunday’s run. For some reason having so many other runners on the marathon course gave us a psychological boost and I actually felt ok going up the hills. The Newton DPW kept salting the carriage road throughout the morning. Cathy and Chris dropped me pretty early, but I caught up to them at BC.
As we turned around and began our descent I saw two runners literally blazing their way up the hill toward me. The runner on the left had a familiar stride. A very familiar stride, one I had thought I had seen on TV. I glanced up….it was U.S. record holder and 2008 Olympic Marathoner Ryan Hall. He was (I later learned) on a 20 mile training run after racing in Tampa Florida the previous day and in Boston that day to watch his wife Sara compete at the US Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis track. I yelled “go Ryan” and he waved and then was gone.
Anthony ran a good race at the Heps later in the afternoon finishing 9th out of 27 runners in the 5000 as a sophomore. His time of 14:42 was a PR for him and a decent time on an indoor track and he seemed happy after the race. He began his running career as an 8 year old doing duck duck goose at the Gate City Striders Fitness University program to which we are eternally grateful. Its funny, before his race’s I’ve learned (the hard way) I can’t go near him for fear of saying something or doing something that will get him upset. After his race, he’s back to his friendly self. My parents and my sister Kathy and her son Michael (an up and coming star at Hingham High School) braved the terrible driving conditions and attended the meet which gave Anthony a big boost. The Columbia men’s team had a great day finishing 3rd overall and there were many former New Hampshire high school stars runners as well as two former Flash runners (Julianne Quinn-Manchester West/ Columbia and John Schroeder Dartmouth/Nashua North--pictured with Anthony above).
A Fun Day Under the Bright Lights
On Saturday my Flash Youth Boys were invited to participate in the Youth Boys 4 x 200 meter exhibition relay at the USATF Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track in Boston. It was a thrill for our runners to compete on the same track with many top U.S. runners and Olympians. Prior to the race we are allowed to warm up in the specially designated area with the likes of U.S mile record holder Alan Webb, three time US 800 meter champion Khadevis Robinson and 2008 Olympians Christian Smith (800m) and Lolo Jones (60m hurdles) to name a few. Our team of Cam Dumont (Hampton), Ben Platt (Amherst), Kevin McIntire (Londonderry) and Scott Johnson (Bedford) finished a strong 4th in a time of 2:00.69.
Before the race on Sunday we headed down a few hours early and parked at the Brae Burn Golf Course in Newton at the base of the 2nd of the five Newton hills. It was snowing lightly as we crossed into Massachusetts but the snow was coming down at a steadier rate by the time we arrived in Newton. We first ran backwards to the Newton Wellesley Hospital via Rt. 16 which put us just about 5 miles from the top of Heartbreak Hill on the Boston College campus and then changed directions. If I run the hills again I’ll just park at the hospital. Despite the steady snow there were literally hundreds of other runners on the hills and several running clubs had actually set up water/Gatorade tables along the way! The previous day we had done a grueling three hour run at 6:45 AM with lawyers John Stanzel (2:58 Vermont) and Mike Craig (3:18 Boston) on the Kendall Hill course in Mont Vernon and they had done a good job of pushing the pace and leaving me exhausted for Sunday’s run. For some reason having so many other runners on the marathon course gave us a psychological boost and I actually felt ok going up the hills. The Newton DPW kept salting the carriage road throughout the morning. Cathy and Chris dropped me pretty early, but I caught up to them at BC.
As we turned around and began our descent I saw two runners literally blazing their way up the hill toward me. The runner on the left had a familiar stride. A very familiar stride, one I had thought I had seen on TV. I glanced up….it was U.S. record holder and 2008 Olympic Marathoner Ryan Hall. He was (I later learned) on a 20 mile training run after racing in Tampa Florida the previous day and in Boston that day to watch his wife Sara compete at the US Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis track. I yelled “go Ryan” and he waved and then was gone.
Anthony ran a good race at the Heps later in the afternoon finishing 9th out of 27 runners in the 5000 as a sophomore. His time of 14:42 was a PR for him and a decent time on an indoor track and he seemed happy after the race. He began his running career as an 8 year old doing duck duck goose at the Gate City Striders Fitness University program to which we are eternally grateful. Its funny, before his race’s I’ve learned (the hard way) I can’t go near him for fear of saying something or doing something that will get him upset. After his race, he’s back to his friendly self. My parents and my sister Kathy and her son Michael (an up and coming star at Hingham High School) braved the terrible driving conditions and attended the meet which gave Anthony a big boost. The Columbia men’s team had a great day finishing 3rd overall and there were many former New Hampshire high school stars runners as well as two former Flash runners (Julianne Quinn-Manchester West/ Columbia and John Schroeder Dartmouth/Nashua North--pictured with Anthony above).
Saturday February 28, 2009:
A Fun Day Under the Bright Lights
On Saturday my Flash Youth Boys were invited to participate in the Youth Boys 4 x 200 meter exhibition relay at the USATF Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track in Boston. It was a thrill for our runners to compete on the same track with many top U.S. runners and Olympians. Prior to the race we are allowed to warm up in the specially designated area with the likes of U.S mile record holder Alan Webb, three time US 800 meter champion Khadevis Robinson and 2008 Olympians Christian Smith (800m) and Lolo Jones (60m hurdles) to name a few. Our team of Cam Dumont (Hampton), Ben Platt (Amherst), Kevin McIntire (Londonderry) and Scott Johnson (Bedford) finished a strong 4th in a time of 2:00.69.
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