Florence 5K, or, 2nd Home Meet - 9/18/18
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The Fab Four!
Our second home meet, AKA the Florence 5k, proceeded as scheduled thanks to a kind southern move by Former Hurricane Florence who left our course mostly high and dry. Dry is good, since someone apparently broke a board in our bridge in the boys race. Oh well, another year, another board. That bridge has taken some beatings, most recently someone knocked down Sandu’s railings and threw them in the stream (why?). Earlier, a tree fell directly across the bridge and some kind soul tried to safely remove it, but a large piece fell and broke a couple boards (since repaired). It’s mostly the railings though, I think this is the 3rd or 4th railings to be demolished. Maybe we should just use an electric fence…
Anyhow, with some legendary folks working the finish chute and a man (thanks Lucas’s Dad!) doing the writing of results for the first time EVER, we were set to race. All 5 teams showed up, with those from the southern half of the state surprised we were even able to host a meet. The team had a directive to run a quick race (it is our home course, after all) but stay in the comfort zone with an eye towards Saturdays Monster Meet. The girls performed surprisingly well, only losing to John Stark on a tie-breaker (we lost to them by 5 last Tuesday). A disclaimer, Souhegan ran their “B” team (or “C”?), but as they say, you race who shows up. Sophia cruised to another win (yawn), sneaking under 20 to run the 6th-fastest time ever run on our course, only one second slower than last years Capitol Area winner. Emma took second, and moved up to 4th on the top ten list of MV girls on the current course. Maddie continued to improve, moving up about 60 places in the 59 racer field over the last two miles, while Maizie and Kate once again performed very solidly in the muggy conditions. Tristan continued her annual “March to Thetford”, running the best race of the season and looking great doing it. Rounding out the runners were Sharoll, looking much quicker than last weekend, and MacNeil, who looked happier than ever. I did think I saw her grimace last Saturday, but certainly not today.
I told the boys to “reel them in”, so this is Christian “casting”.
On to the boys race...and the issues. Oh Christian. One day we’ll have a write-up without a Christian story, but this is not it. What was it this time? No uniform! By the way, his relative did bring it in time, and Christian, I hope you thanked her because it wasn’t HER fault you forgot it! He didn’t wear it though, choosing a retro 2017 uniform instead. Oh, and no spikes again. Hmmph. At least he tied his shoes well this time, which is more than can be said for Matt. I was at the top of the hill when Matt goes by and yells (at me) “CAN SOMEBODY GET MY SHOE?” Yes, Matt, “somebody” can. So I got his shoe and drove it to him very shortly, but he refused, claiming he has tough feet and would rather run barefoot. We’ll see tomorrow, but I don’t think he was limping. Good thing we cleared those pounds of broken glass from Rolfe Park years ago! Anyhow, David kept Sophia from getting the family lead by easily winning the race, while Ole One Shoe placed 5th. The Three Musketeers of Ethan, Christian, and Connor all ran together again, but perhaps took it a hair too easy, finishing just under 22. Just 30 seconds faster and we would have won the meet boys! No real worries, it looked like a good team tempo. The rest of the boys rolled in without bee stings, which is always a win. Sorry if I don’t mention your names boys, but I’m running out of stories. Try losing a shoe next time or getting stung by a bee and you’ll get a mention - which reminds me, while setting the course up with my Pride Block (like a study hall) today, and huge limb crashed to the earth out of the blue about 10 feet from where we were. Random.
Great job today everyone, Crazy Hills on Thursday, Manchvegas on Saturday, lets GOOOOO!