Glastonbury River Run

This HMF race used to be one of my favorite Spring races.  Ned and I have a collection of the wooden paddles they gave out as prizes, but one year Easter fell on the same weekend and they moved the race to Saturday and kept it there.  I can't race on Saturdays during Outdoor Track and/or XC season.  I am either at morning practice or at a meet.

This year, lo and behold!  When the HMF calendar of events came out the Glastonbury River Run was back on Sunday!  It's THIS Sunday: 4/27/14, and I will once again be racing it.

Here are the reasons I like it (keeping in mind the "to each her own" message of my last blog post) :

• I like the April date.  I am just getting back to racing after my long Winter hiatus (Thanksgiving morning until St Patrick's Day).
• I like the easier terrain given my lack of racing this early in the season (see above).
• I like the out and back which lets me see where my competition is and always let me see where Ned was (he's not racing it this year).
• I love the downhill at the start since I like to go out fast.
• Remember the out and back?  I love the uphill finish - you can't have a downhill start without an uphill finish on an out and back.  I get passed by fewer people  in an uphill finish.
• I usually see some people whom I know at this one.
• I know the course.

As you can see, it doesn't take much to please me.  ;-)

Race Report - HMF Legend's 4 Miler

I know it's a week late, but I do have a few things to say about the new HMF Legend's 4 Miler.  Yes HMF had a race called that last year, and I ran it, but that race was in June and while it, too, was in Middletown, it was a different course.  This was my first time racing this course, albeit, not my first time on any of these roads.

The good (keeping in mind that one person's good could be another person's evil):

• Closing down Main Street in Middletown and using the park as a staging area is brilliant.  It's Americana at its best.
• The food at the post race party was outstanding - great pizza, delicious cup cakes and I heard the pulled pork sliders were terrific.
• The weather provided the first nice running conditions we have had ALL YEAR.  I don't know how HMF pulled that off, but it was appreciated.
• A spectacular finish down main Street with spectators and music and a PA system to call out the finishers' names.
• Well placed water stops (not that I ever avail myself).
• Closed roads.

Now (for me) the bad:

• Narrow starting chute - I always worry about being jostled.  I know.  I know.  That's what elbows are for, but the guy next to me might weigh 100 lbs more than I do.  He's going to win.
• That quick left turn (see above about the guy next to me).
• The hill in the first 100M.
• The downhill finish (I know there seems to be no pleasing me).

Here's my blog-clusion:  To each her own.  I know most people love a downhill finish, but my age and size play against me doing as well on a downhill as others.  I got passed by 10-15 people there on the final downhill.  I have been thinking about this a lot and if I am going to a race just to have fun, this was a great race for that.  If I want to run well, I need to do a better job of picking my course.  I KNOW I don't do well with a downhill finish, so why choose this one?  I KNOW I race best when I allow myself to run hog-wild in the first mile, so why choose one with a hill so steep I can't do that?

Is it a bad choice for everyone?  No.  Most people run more evenly and love to finish downhill.  

Runner know thyself.

Happy New Age Group to me!

There are a lot of gifts that running has given me.  Thanks to running. . . . .  

• I am fitter and healthier than I was at 25.
• I have even more in common with my wonderful husband than I did when we were first married.
• I have a job that I love (even if the stipend barely covers my running clothes habit).
• I have a fun and rewarding way to give back to my town and the community at large.
• I have friends and running buddies all over the state of CT
• I have an outlet for my ridiculous competitiveness.
• I have a group of kids who enrich my life, in so many ways.
• I have a way to keep my dogs well behaved and fit.
• I have even more of a "can do" attitude than the one with which I was born (which was already pretty serious!).

BUT . . . . the #1 gift that running has given me is that unlike most women "of a certain age," I love telling people my age, and I really love aging up!

I'm 55 today, and I'm so happy to be here!

Look out F5559; I'm coming for you!

Welcome

My name is Dani and I run in Bolton, CT.

I don't know how many of you will be interested in reading about my running, but I was recently named to the 2014 Team HMF (Hartford Marathon Foundation) and they seem to think people will care.  Let's hope they are not being overly optimistic!

I won't bore you with a ton of details yet.  That can be revealed in the coming posts, but I wear a lot of running hats.  I am a high school cross country and track coach.  I am a race director and I am a runner.  I love road racing and racing the mile on the track.  I am old enough that I did not compete while in school.  There were few to no athletic opportunities for girls during my school years, but I am making up for it now.  My races of choice are the mile or 5K.  My longest race of the year is usually the venerable Manchester Road Race, but I have raced all distances up through the marathon.  I just prefer not to.  I train on trails, but rarely race on them.  That's mostly because I tend to trip a lot.

In the months ahead, I expect I will post race reports, thoughts on running, and updates on recovery.  I broke my shoulder in late January (yes, on a run, and, yes, by tripping over something) and for the first time maybe ever need to stage a comeback.  I age up in two more days, and I intend to take full advantage of my new age group, so I here I come!  I need to be running the mile FAST by July.  

Thanks for reading!  I'll sign off with my race director hat on:  See you on the hill!

You can also follow me on twitter @DaniKennedy3, or on FB at Bolton Road Race or Bolton Summer XC Series.