BostonBound59

After more than three weeks of steady rain it seems we FINALLY have broken out of the cycle of clouds followed by rain followed by more clouds and then more rain. Even a hard core cold/rainy weather runner like me hopes the sun peeks out once in a while.
I’ve posted a few pictures above of my friend Roy Seliber of Sammamish, Washington who is training for the Cascade Crest 100 miler. http://www.cascadecrest100.com/course.php These are some recent training pics Roy took on the course. He is certifiably insane for running a 100 mile race (I was with him a few years ago when he made it 78 miles into the Vermont 100) but we will be pulling for him when he toes the line at the end of August. Roy routinely runs 30 + mile “training runs”. Roy is from the Boston area and is a 3:06:59 marathoner.

Cathy and I ran the 12th Annual Merrimack Sparkler on July 4. Unfortunately we couldn't shake the boys out of bed this year. With the exception of maybe one year we have run this race every year since its inception. The race is now directed by our former Merrimack, N.H. neighbors Julie and Brian Hafferkamp. The race started out small in its early days as it was up against the Nashua PAL 5 Miler that finished inside Holman Stadium but now its the big local race on the 4th with over 600 runners. I like this race because it is an out and back course on a closed road….something we don’t experience very often. I like seeing everyone coming in the opposite direction. This year I had a decent warm up and got out fairly quickly but could hear some familiar footsteps on my heels and to my left was Cathy and to my immediate right was fellow Strider teammate Karen Long, last year’s defending women’s champion. We all passed through the first mile in 5:57 and at the turnaround (1.8 miles) I pulled slightly in front of Cathy and Karen and finished the last two miles in 6:07 and 6:06 for 18:48. Cathy was 19:03 as the first woman overall and Karen was 19:21 for a PR and first women 40-49. I was 2nd in my age group behind Souhegan Cross Country coach Jeff Wilson. Here are the results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/Jul4_12thAn_set1.shtml

I’ve decided (98% sure) I’m going to run the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Pa. (again). I’m coaching both a school team and Junior Olympics this fall so I’m limited as far as finding a race that fits my coaching schedule. This year’s race is on October 11, 2009 so the long runs are about to start up again. We did a hard and hilly 15 miler last Sunday which actually didn’t feel too bad. Most of my Strider teammates will be running the Baystate Marathon the following Sunday in Lowell, Mass. That’s it for now.