50 Fives by Fifty-Five

We competed and completed Race # 4 on Sunday Septmeber 28, 2008 in White Plains, New York. The  run took us throughout the city streets of downtown White Plains, passed at least two malls, under another mall, and back up a long incline along Bloomingdale’s Road( seriously!) and then continuing uphill along Mamaroneck Ave back to the finish line in front of the Galleria Mall and the White Plains library.

For this race, we had four participants running for team 50Fives. I was joined by daughter Carly, and by Steve and Danny Young of Riverdale, NY, by way of our hometown, Swampscott, MA. As you can see from the photo below, the younger team members got the job done for team 50FIves, each bringing home the hardware.

And here’s Steve with the team 50Fives crew, Carly and Danny, shown in front of the presentation stand, just after the race had concluded.

A great day- despite a cloudy and humid day for running, we avoided the rain that had been forecast, as the path of Hurricane Kyle stayed several hundred miles to the east.  We are now almost 10 percent of the way to 50 !

Although this is only the third of 50 runs, the CVS/ Downtown 5k in Providence, RI has taken the # 1 spot in terms of race event excitement. Over 4000 runners for the 5k, plus another several thousand spectators converged on the RI state house lawn and the Providence Place mall for a very festive morning and early afternoon. Even though I was dealing with the somewhat unseasonable high-70 degree weather, it was definitely a race to enjoy. There were at least three different bands playing live along the race course, and the run through the downtown area of the tall buildings produces plenty of spectators and a fair bit of shade.

Great fun running with so many other participants. Times were a little slower with the heat, and when I obviously did not get the chip timer laced to shoe correctly, I did have to “pull into the pit stop” to relace and reaffix that timer chip. Even with that, I was only a good ten minutes behind eventual champ and US Olympian Anthony Familglietti. Anthony was one of several current or former Olympians participating in the event.

Next week, it off to NY.

Early on a humid and overcast day, the scene was Somers, CT High School and the  Somers Great Escape 5k Road Race. (see photo’s in the post) I arrived early for the race, (after a 5.30 am departure from home). Stopping first at the home of John “Q” Bridge, we arrived at the race, where John was greeted as the local celebrity that he is.

The race was underway right on time, and we followed a track out past the athletic fields, across the dirt path, and on to a scenic and rolling ”backroad” in the Northern Conncecticut countryside. A great course, down and back, made for an enjoyable run. Although it seemed that I was barely out of the gate when the eventually winner, running sub 5 minute miles, appeared on the other side of the road, heading into to the finish.

Nonetheless, “Q” set a blistering pace for the 50Fives crew, and we managed to clock some respectable times for the 3.1 mile course.

We were joined also by Chuck “Q’ Bridge, who has now been named an honorary member of the 50Fives contingent, even though he has quite a few years yet to reach that 50 milestone.

On to Providence next Sunday.