No rest for the wicked, winded, well… no rest for the North Shore Striders in any case, as many NS runners seized the early days of 2017 by competing in races this week!
Lowell First Run 10K
| 42 | Kate Gage | 6/65 | F4049 | 45:40 | 7:22 |
| 163 | Annajean McMahon | 2nd/9 | F6069 | 54:47 | 8:49 |
Lowell First Run 5K
| Linda Desjardins | 7/27 | F6569 | 30:47 | 9:54 | |
| Denise Young | 49/119 | F5059 | 32:25 | 10:27 | |
| Maureen Kelly | 72/119 | F5059 | 35:54 | 11:34 |
Lowell First Run Writeup by Linda Desjardins! – Nearly 1400 runners in all competed in the First Run in Lowell, and it was a perfect weather day for running. Before the starting gun, he trumpeter playing the National Anthem hit a rough patch and needed to regroup. It was heartwarming when we all just helped out by singing it when he resumed playing. Then time for the other rough patch: the puddles and ice in the chute and driveway to the street. The conditions were a little deceiving in that the out part of the course was fine, there was one testy hill, but the wind was at our backs. It got very warm very fast. Then we turned around into the challenging headwind for the return. Because I was so warm I had to stop at the water stop and take off my jacket to tie around my waist. I forgot my Garmin was on my sleeve and my bib was pinned across my jacket zipper and I got all tangled up in my jacket. I lost considerable time. When I started back up, I kept trying to tuck behind people so that they could challenge the wind and I could draft off of them. When it was time to head back up to the Elks Club, the finish line, I was confident the ice would have melted but when I turned into the driveway and chute area, it was still all icy and I practically tiptoed my way down rather than being able to speed up. (Having wiped out pretty badly on ice last week, bruising my right hamstring area, the ice scared the crap out of me.) But everyone else had to deal with it, too, so I’m sure it all evened out in performance times. Mike has posted the other NSS members’ times. Let me add mine: 30:47 for 7/27. (I missed 6th by three tenths of a second!)
I looked and looked for Annajean, Denise and Maureen but our paths never crossed! I was so disappointed… but it’s so hard to find people in a crowd when you’re dwarfed by everyone.
Frosty Four (4 Miles), Salem
(Awards five-deep in each age group)
| OA | Place | Age Group | Time | Pace | |
| 63 | Bill Kobus | 2nd/20 | M6064 | 30:10.6 | 7:33 |
| 137 | Vanessa Freedman | 5th/11 | F0119 | 33:43.9 | 8:26 |
| 138 | Gary Freedman | 6/25 | M5559 | 33:44.6 | 8:27 |
| 168 | Tom McMahon | 3rd/12 | M6569 | 34:24.8 | 8:37 |
| 213 | Jay Kumar | 21/37 | M4549 | 35:52.7 | 8:58 |
| 214 | Molly Rowe | 13/48 | F3539 | 35:51.7 | 8:58 |
| 227 | Mike Pelletier | 2nd/4 | M7074 | 36:28.7 | 9:08 |
| 316 | Bonnie Hallinan | 2nd/3 | F6569 | 38:33.6 | 9:39 |
| 426 | Hope Abramson | 22/41 | F555t9 | 42:49.3 | 10:43 |
| 437 | Deb Jackson | 3rd/3 | F6569 | 43:42.0 | 10:56 |
| 439 | Tom Lima | 17/20 | M6069 | 43:42.5 | 10:56 |
| 556 | Karen Johnson | 7/8 | F6064 | 51:26.7 | 12:52 |
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