Boston 2011

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Greater Lowell World Runner Part II

Jan 8th, 2011 - There was no way I was going to let world runner Tony Mangan escape from Mass without first letting me play with his boggy (hey, get your mind out of the gutter!).

But before I could get down to War-chester, and CMS territory, to push the boggy to my heart's content, I had to take care of some business two miles away from my apt in Tooksberry.

Today marked the 34th anniversary of the Fudgcicle 5K series put on by GLRR. This is a no frills, but plenty of thrills group "tempo" run through the winter wonderland that is Coach Jim's old stomping ground.

The Fudge man himself, Ben, is checking the archives to confirm whether or not today's 87 runner strong turnout is indeed a record. Well, one thing is for sure, this record will NOT stand for long in 2011.

Of course I couldn't control myself and leave well enough alone. I had to defend my Fudge title from 2010, so I went out hard with Matt Germaine. I hung with his 5 minute pace for about half-a-mile before dropping back into second place for the next mile.

Eric Beauchesne was next to overtake me at Mile 2, but I did, however, manage to fight off a late surge by David Corbett to hang onto third with a Fudge PR of 18:19.

Fil, Cullen, and I got in a quick cool down after the run and before skipping breakfast at the Deli Queen. We then went in search of our world runner and honorary member of GLRR, Tony, somewhere out on Route 9 between Worcester and Warren, MA.

An hour and a half later we caught sight of the Boggy Man on Route 9, five miles into his escape from Worcester (do you blame him?).

I stayed with Tony to push the boggy while Fil and Cullen drove further down the road with their cars to strategically place one car 12 miles away, and return in the other car. This made it possible for all of us to put in a good long run with Tony without calling a cab when we were done. Thanks and great on the fly planning guys!

There were light flurries in the air and slush on the ground, but nothing impassable other than the occasional crazy Masshole drivers.

Even though Tony has been in the US for only about two weeks, he has already concluded that Mass drivers are by far the worse. Woohoo! It's now a world-wide consensus!

It wasn't more than a quarter-of-a-mile into our run that I almost became an infamous footnote in The World Jog by being the one at the wheel when Nirvana was taken out by one of these Masshole drivers. I should have known better than to cross the intersection even after I made eye contact with the driver.

BOGGIES ARE EVERYWHERE, FOLKS!!

I'm glad to report that Nirvana was untouched, but I think the driver Mile 14 himself after getting an earful from Tony.

Speaking of Nirvana, this boggy is wild!! This thing is equipped with a suspension system that is just unreal. You have to experience it yourself to know what it feels like. It also moves forward pretty efficiently too, which was a huge plus on the nasty hills of western Mass today.

As much fun as it was to push the boggy, I was ready to "accidentally" let the thing roll down Route 9 after one of the last hills. I gotta give EJ credit for pushing this thing for 15 miles the other day. I was done after 10.

Cullen and Fil eventually met up with us at about mile 4 for me (10 for Tony).

Cullen took over the boggy reins for the next five miles, while I enjoyed the use of my arms again. It's definitely true about what they say when they say that you lose 25-40% running efficiency when you're not using your arms properly while running. So remember to use and PUMP those arms when you run!

We eventually ran through Leicester, Spencer, East Brookfield, Brookfield, and then West Brookfield. I even came across a street that I hadn't travelled on in over 8 years when I used to work out in North Bumfield! Those were NOT the days.

We also came across a CMS runner who was booking it through the area on a training run. Now I know why they kick our ass at every race. They train out on these mountain roads!

In an amazing coincidence, Tony had to Mile 14 at Mile 14. What are the odds of that?!

Fil took over Nirvana from Cullen for about five miles before Fil eagerly gave it back to me for some tough hills over the final two miles of our run. Thanks, Fil!

I had on about four layers of heavy clothing so I was sweating up a storm, and we were only moving at about a 10 minute pace. The temps were in the low 30's, so I started to feel the effects of the long day and the cold wind by mile 16 (for me). I couldn't wait until we reached our checkpoint at Dunkin Donuts.

Now, if only we could figure out where DD was.

Fil gave about six different mileage guesses before he finally got it right about 1/4th of a mile from the finish for us. At that point, even I could see the familiar Dunkin Donuts sign. Thanks, Fil!

It couldn't have come sooner since I was running on empty over the final mile. I sprinted into the parking lot with Nirvana out in front. We found a parking spot for her and we all went inside to down some much needed calories, no matter how bad it is for you.

Tony treated all of us to some yummy DD with his bottomless gift card. Much appreciated, mate!

We relaxed there for about 20 minutes while Tony got in touch with his next sponsor, who lived down the road in Warren.

Sadly, it was time for GLRR to hand over Tony and Nirvana to the next group of people who will watch over him as he marches on around the world.

Tony would like to personally thank the club for watching over him over the past week. He's very grateful for our assistance during his time in the Greater Lowell area (and beyond). Nice job, gang!

Time for GLRR to book our flight to Dublin to witness the finish to Tony's amazing journey.

To be continued and concluded....Oct 28th, 2013


(WARNING: Take Dramamine Before Viewing)

(Check Back Here Later for More Videos and Photos from the Run!!)

1 comments:

BadDawg said...

It really was a great experience running with Tony, I'm very glad you got a chance to experience it. Thanks very much for bringing the World Jog to our attention J, that was definitely a one of a kind opportunity.

And funny you should mention ridiculously strong CMS runners, I got a chance to run with DoubleJ this morning and (barely) lived to tell the tale. He hardly broke a sweat, I was pretty much a boat anchor for Joe and Jim but the workout and company was great.

Sorry you couldn't take me up on my invite. Oh wait...

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