Beth, Karen, and Tim
It was a nice sunny, Sunday New Hampshire day attracting a field of 863 runners, including “Wicked”s” Beth O’Grady, Karen Giroux, and Tim Clarke. James Deluca was sidelined early on with an injury, and “yours truly” got struck with the flu and never made the race. Our particpants reported that while lacking in pre-race bathrooms, the ‘Acid Green’ tech shirts, tasty soup, Harpoon Ale (Tim reports, “We refrained. It was the middle of the day.”) and Lindt chocolate. Congratulations! Results are as follows:
201 25/64 M4549 TIMOTHY CLARKE 47 M 302 SALEM MA 1:44:50 8:01
371 18/54 F4549 BETH O’GRADY 48 F 533 SALEM MA 1:54:36 8:45
452 32/75 F4044 KAREN GIROUX 43 F 775 SALEM MA 1:58:59 9:05
Last year Wicked member Tim Clarke came up with a brilliant idea of breaking up the Boston Marathon into chunks so that people could prepare themselves for the long Journey from Hopkinton to Boston. Once again, Tim lead a small band of Wicked Runners down to Hopkinton, MA over the weekend to run the first 8 miles of the Boston Marathon. The weather was great, albeit a tad windy. Colin Maclay and Rachel Hunt who also made the trip down, brought some delicious post run cookies! Our tour Guide Tim Clarke, provided the troops with Gatorade and some outstanding trail mix as well. Below are a few pictures for your view pleasure!
A group shot of Wicked Guys ( Right to left, Tim Clarke Colin Maclay, Billy Shea, Tim Short, and Rich Sparacio)
Rachel Hunt jumps into this photo, big smiles on everyone.
Billy Shea finishing up his run
Tim Clark and Rachel Hunt looking good at the end of 8 miles
Rich Sparacio coming up to the Natick Train Station
Apparently the Author of this post needs to stay out of the puddles (Photo take by Rachel Hunt)
From Kathey Moskal:
One day in November, I received an email from Alison Phelan entitled “New Year New Challenge” and my immediate thought was what am I getting myself into now. Well, the new challenge was a stair climb to benefit the American Lung Association called the Race up Boston Place – 41 stories – 82 flights of stairs all to raise money for the Lung Association, so of course in my infinite wisdom I said – hey this is something that I can’t get lost doing and it sounds like fun, so let’s put a team together and do it! For me, I had a special reason for doing it, a very good friend of mine from college was diagnosed with a very rare lung disease and had a double lung transplant 2 years ago, so I guess I had an ulterior motive.
Now having done it, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We put a team together, myself, Allison Rourke, Shari Hewson, Michele Campbell, and Michele’s friend Mei Fulton (Susan Keezer was also on our team, but due to an injury was unable to climb). Alison P who talked us all into this was on another team. There were about 600 climbers starting about every 20 seconds and I really thought – no problem, I can run a 10K, I ran a 15K in Lynn Woods (sort of) how hard could 41 stories of stairs really be, people were finishing in under 5 minutes, I can do this. Well folks let me you, this was one of the most difficult, but also one of the most rewarding things I have ever done! The support at each floor was great, there were signs at many of the flights comparing how high we were compared to things like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and many other landmarks as well as pictures of people who had survived various lung diseases to inspire the climbers to continue on. I hit the 10th floor and my calves and my lungs were on fire, I hit floor 20 and thought I’m only halfway done, at floor 30 I thought I still have 11 to go, but by floor 35 I could hear the people at the top yelling and cheering for the climbers and that got me to the top saying that was awesome and I can’t wait to do it again next year.
The after party at The Bell and Hand was wonderful – lots of great snacks for the climbers. While partaking in the after party, I could still feel my legs tingling and burning, but what a great feeling to know that we all accomplished such a unique challenge. I challenge each and every one of you to be a part of the Wicked Climbers next year and join us to raise awareness and money for such a great cause.
Salem Park & Recreation and The Wicked Running Club
present:
Running Movie night at the Moose Lodge in Salem
2 Inspirational movies
Saturday, February 21
Doors open at 5:45pm – no charge (food available for purchase & cash bar)
Showing:
6:15pm Fire on the Track! Steve Prefontaine documentary (The best documentary on his life, Linda Prefontaine-sister of Pre)
Perhaps the greatest US runner!
Steve “Pre” Prefontaine
International Track Star – Hometown Hero – Running Legend
1951-1975
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.“–Steve Prefontaine
A documentary film on Pre’s life
(50 minutes)
7:30pm The Spirit of the Marathon
Spirit of the Marathon is the first ever non-fiction feature film to capture the drama and essence of the famed 26.2 mile running event. Filmed on four continents, the movie brings together a diverse cast of amateur athletes and marathon luminaries.
As six unique stories unfold, each runner prepares for and ultimately faces the challenge of the Chicago Marathon. More than a sports movie, Spirit of the Marathon is an inspirational journey of perseverance and personal triumph; a spectacle that will be embraced by runners and non-runners alike.
