An Old New England Favorite From Many Perspectives

We asked for a few (or many) words to describe Tuesday night’s 55th running of the Yankee Homecoming 5k/10m in Newburyport. Here are the terrific responses (can you see a theme?). Additionally, the Grand Prix results have been updated (we’re still awaiting the final results of the Weiner Run 10K). Please check your score and email me if you note any errors.

Molly: I’m happy to write one but it will focus more on my desperate search for porta potties and creepy male runners than the actual race. If you want a true race report, I’m not the best one to do it. 🙂

Linda: Newburyport has to be one of the best running cities EVER! Folks lined the streets for the 5K and 10 miler and set up their own water stops for us and had hoses out to offer a cooling-off spray.  We’re talking at least 30  formal and informal water stations over 10 miles! The 10 miler is one of my favorite races – and I did pretty well, despite feeling oh-so-warm.  I’m just not a warm weather person!  I did lower my previous best on the course, 2012 when I was 64, by 1:56, so I guess I should be pleased.  But I still wish it was faster, though. And I took an age group first for 65-69 though being the ONLY woman between 65-69 sort of mitigates the joy.  I saw lots of North Shore Striders and that’s always a treat, especially getting a few moments to chat pre or post race and congratulate each other.  (Or with the case of Sue Quimby, run maybe 50 steps with her till she shifted into Quimby gear.  Out of my distance vision within a half minute.)  Our runners produced some OUTSTANDING times!  There are kudos to be distributed all around.  I especially enjoy miles 5-8 when we run through and around Maudsley State Park.  The scenery is beautiful and well-shaded.  By comparison, Storey Ave and High Street, each about a mile long, are ENDLESS.  A car entering from a side street cut me off on Storey and I called him an A**hole which didn’t impact him at all.   But the guy beside me SCREAMED at him and added an F Bomb before the A**hole and threatened to put his fist through the windshield.  That worked.  It really gave me a final boost to see and hear Mike Pelletier cheer me on with about 4 tenths to go.  I wish the race did not end on that sucker uphill driveway, and even moreso, I wish they still had freeze pops.  My last two miles were driven by the freeze pop reward.  Oops!  But one thing’s for certain: Newburyport gets it right.

Bonnie: I made one pit stop and stopped to talk to someone I worked closely with, thus my crappy time. But it’s a great race because of all the spectators and families who make it a yearly event. They are so supportive, when you run through town it’s like a small scale boston marathon vibe. Gotta love the young kids high fiveing and giving you water and cheers!

Rosie: I started the race with Maryellen and Lauren. few miles into the race I was looking for porta johns, no luck. I went into a bar/ rest to use the bathroom. I said thank you and when out and started running again. At about mile 5 or so I had to stop to walk due to a pain on my side ,again I was looking for porta-Johns. A nice gentlemen volunteering at the water stop asked me if I was alright and I replied “where are the porta/johns” he said come to my house. I couldn’t believe he took me to his house and let me use his bathroom. I’m going to drive the course tomorrow to see if I can find the house and leave a card for the gentlemen.

Mike: I was a real Salem Slacker in this one: opting out of the 10M, but able to run the 5K in 27:00, not need a porta-john stop, and finish 1st M70+. I started out so far back that it took me 1:36 just to get to the start. It was so crowded and took so much energy to weave around slower runners and mothers pushing baby carriages that it took me 9:37 to run the first mile. After that first mile it was just a 2.1 mile sprint to the finish.

Then I set off to distribute Nahant 30K applications. That turned out to be much easier work than running the 10-mile race. As I was putting applications on cars on High Street, Molly Rowe thanked me for a ride to Newburyport as she ran by. I met Roger Perham who had pulled up lame after
5.1 miles of the 10-M race. I yelled to Linda Desjardins as she ran by, looking much better than I’m sure she was feeling. I also saw Mariellen Hayward but had no chance to yell encouragement like I did to Rosie Kyes who looked like she really needed it. After they finished, I met Rosie, Mariellen, and Mary Meng-Lee as they were walking back to their car. Instead of shunning me, they were really nice to me even though I had bailed on them for the 10-Mile race at the last moment.

I felt bad about wimping out of the 10M race until 11 pm when I saw the race results on-line and realized I’d beaten 15 old geezers–woops, I mean I’d beat my friend Armand Claveau and 14 old geezers–for the M70+ title.