Category Archives: Fitness

Best. Series. Ever.

Posted on November 12, 2011 | 6 comments
willrunforbeer.com

Now this is a goal I can meet. http://www.willrunforbeer.com.

Although I’ve been on a bit of a running hiatus during my sojourn Down Under, there will be no rest when I get back to New England (which during my five-week absence has nastily decided to morph from late-summer bliss to early-fall bone-chill). I will scarcely have time to draw breath before I am back scarcely drawing breath in a nose-hair-freezing 5K run.

But that’s OK, because Hubby has discovered something wonderful: the Will Run for Beer 2012 Race Series.

That’s right. Will. Run. For. Beer.

Now, I’m more of a G&T girl myself, but I say cheers to any event that combines running with post-race glass-hoisting (experts say you need to stretch out those arms, after all). This series, which has been going since 2008 (the Before Time), is put on by a New Hampshire company called Loco and sponsored by Portsmouth, N.H.’s Smuttynose Brewing Co. Need I say more.

There will, of course, be updates from the series as I go along, but our presence will definitely be felt at the Smuttynose Palooza in Milford, N.H., on January 14. One, because it’s a relay half-marathon (I can just run a bit!) that’s indoors; and two, because the website asks the probing question: “What is a Palooza?”

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Two runs, one weekend: Jack Kerouac 5K
The bog days of summer

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A return to the site of my running shame

Posted on November 5, 2011 | 1 comment
Brooks Spring Into Shape Sydney Series

The setting doesn't get more Australian than this. The start of the Brooks Spring Into Shape Sydney Series Race 2, in Parramatta Park.

When I was in high school, some (ahem) years ago, I got a zero on my report card for failing – twice – to run the mandatory cross country (I can’t recall the precise distance; it was a few kilometers masquerading as an eternity. All I know is I had to get picked up in a car). For someone who prided herself on doing well in school, this epic fail was unacceptable. I never quite got over it.

So it was with mixed feelings that I returned to the site of my shame –  Parramatta Park, in Sydney’s western suburbs – to run one half of the Brooks Spring Into Shape Series, benefiting the Heart Foundation.

But this time I was ready. No knee-length skirt and sensible brown shoes for me (I was forced to run my second attempt in my Catholic school uniform. Not that it really mattered; I failed wearing sneakers too). No, this time I had eight 5Ks under my belt, a pair of brilliant shorts and an iPhone. And it was only a 4K. I was going to triumph.

In your face, Parramatta Park!

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Running with the dogs: Cause 4 Paws 5K

Posted on October 27, 2011 | Comments Off on Running with the dogs: Cause 4 Paws 5K
Cute dog

OK, fine, it's not a photo of the run. But I imagine this is what my lump of a dog may have looked like if he had finished the Cause 4 Paws 5K. And been in Quincy, MA, instead of Sydney, Australia. Still – cute, yes?

My running education has come to a brief halt while I’m in Sydney. There are nowhere near as many events here as I would have thought, which is surprising given Aussies’ tendency to spend as much time outdoors as they can, wearing as little as possible.

So it’s been left to Hubby to carry the running torch in chilly Massachusetts, and a fine job he has been doing. This past weekend, he signed up for the Cause 4 Paws 5K to benefit the Quincy Animal Shelter. I was disappointed at not being able to participate in this one. Not only did it feature many, many puppies, but it was flat! Allow me to reiterate: Puppies! And flat!

You can read about it here. There’s even a video (discerning readers will be able to spot Hubby on the far left in his extra-special running leggings; I can sense a future post on that topic).

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My photo finish!

Posted on September 29, 2011 | 2 comments

Avid readers (!) will recall my previous 5K, during which I ran for beer in Jack Kerouac’s ‘hood. What I didn’t mention was that during this race I demonstrated my first Blisteringly Fast Finish (note: may not actually have been blistering), helped along by my expert – and by now very fast – cheer squad of one.

The reason I bring it up is that I made Run With Ken!* Ken Skier is a New England race-circuit fixture (“the running photographer”) who takes pictures from within the pack. He always runs barefoot and cuts a distinctive figure at a race in his blue shirt and red bandana. He has a proclivity for after-race beer.

Normally there would be no way for me to be immortalized by Ken, as I am too slow (and thank God for that), but he was there at the finish line of the Jack Kerouac 5K to capture my Blisteringly Fast Finish and cheer me on as I crossed.  The words “you guys are on fire” may have been uttered.

Yes, I was on fire. It was written all over my flaming red face.

* The photo in question is on Run With Ken’s Facebook page rather than his main website. I dare you to seek us out (Hubby is there too).

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Two runs, one weekend: Jack Kerouac 5K

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 2 comments
Jack Kerouac

Author Jack Kerouac (he ran with us in spirit).

Where boobs characterized weekend 5K part one, part two was all about beer. (And you wonder why we chose to run both.) Some would probably point out that I’m taking a far-too-lowbrow view of the Jack Kerouac 5K in Lowell, MA, but having read the author’s  classic novel and gotten little out of it, I chose to focus on the event’s post-race libations rather than its high-falutin’ literary pedigree. (Lowell, by the way, is Kerouac’s hometown and where he is buried.)

It wasn’t our first run with beer at the end, but it was our first that started and ended in a pub – Hookslide Kelly’s – which made me infinitely happy. I’m not sure of the health ramifications of post-race ale, but, hell, it’s not like we were drinking before the run.

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