4.5 miles - Up Chalybes, down Hemlock May 20, 2006 8:30 am. 60 degrees, partly cloudy |
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We had yet another week of rain, but Saturday dawned sunny and damp, and we enjoyed the 14th race of the 2006 Roxbury Road Race Series, our 30th season.
Jeff Sheldon and Pam Quist returned to the winners' podium this week, Pam's eighth win of the season, Jeff's sixth, and the third time they have combined to share the honors.
Jeff had to work a bit this week. Rookie Josh Hinman went out hard and fast before fading to 5th place, victim of a dramatic double catch when Mike "Torpedo" Ruospo caught Josh at the very same time that Mark LoSacco was catching Mike. Meanwhile, Jeff pulled away to win by a wide margin, over a minute ahead of Boston Marathon finisher Ken Merrick.
The womens' race was close. Pam Quist missed last week, and while she was gone, Jenna Hannibal got faster. Pam and Jenna finished less than a minute apart, in 9th and 11th places respectively.
Rosie and Andy Morehouse finished so close together in 6th and 7th place that they only got one click of the stopwatch, though they got their well-earned two sticks
People
Chris "Critter" Powderly ran the stopwatch this week, still hobbled by nagging injuries. Rosie the Pace Dog and Andy Morehouse finished so close together in 6th and 7th place that they only got one click of the stopwatch, though they got their well-earned two sticks. Officials met after the race and assigned Rosie the 6th place finish.
Meanwhile, Christina Clark, a regular last year but mostly missing this year, was handing out the sticks at the finish line. It looks like she might not be running for a few more months, and after that she might be in the market for a jogging stroller. I wonder if Kyle still has hers?
At one time during the race this week, somewhere near the bottom of the Chalybes hill, Mo van Moffaert looked around and noticed that there were six women in a row. Somebody, probably Terri Lee, reminded Mo that she hadn't counted herself. There were actually seven. The pack split up and finished spread out roughly between 25th and 40th place overall. Fossil, doing the kind of thing that somebody named "Fossil" is supposed to do, reminisced about the "old days" when some weeks neither Pam Quist nor Kyle Knight would be at the race and we'd run a race with no women at all.
"Gas
Can" Chris Demming missed
this week and fell from third to sixth place in the points race. He earned
his new moniker last week when, right after the race, WebGuy
spotted him running down a road in Newtown carrying a gas can, while his brother
Larry stood
along side the road standing next to the thirsty automobile and talking with the
neighbors. 
Gas
Can would have had a five mile run to and from the nearest gas station, so WebGuy
did a rare good deed and gave him a ride.
One Race Wonders
Now we're fourteen races into the 30th season of the Roxbury Road Races. Of the 170 different runners who have participated so far this year, the majority have come more than once, but 68 of them have run only once, including this week's fifth place finisher Josh Hinman. So, we were wondering where Josh fits among the One Race Wonders we've seen so far. The magic of computers gave us the answer in the form of the table below, where we see that Josh stands 11th. He can move up the list if any of the ten runners ahead of him take a return engagement, but we hope that we'll get to kick him off the list altogether and he'll join us frequently.
| Place | Points |
Name |
| 83 | 75 | Mark Andrejczyk |
| 85 | 70 | Ben Webster |
| 87 | 66 | Ryan Firminder |
| 91 | 62 | Kevin Harrington |
| 92 | 61 | David Weart |
| 93 | 60 | Ryan Kniery |
| 94 | 59 | Nick Haas |
| 95 | 57 | Daniel Murphy |
| 96 | 57 | Greg Pelican |
| 97 | 57 | Perry Simone |
| 99 | 56 | Josh Hinman |
Safety
Safety is important to us, as we don't run on closed roads and generally like each other.
It is safest if we face traffic as much
as safe and possible. (on the other hand, avoid the inside of sharp, blind
curves.) Also, it is much safer if we are all 
on the same side of the road,
instead of making traffic drive between runners.
Fossil has three rules of running:
Be safe
Have fun
It's sometimes more fun if you win. Set goals you can realistically achieve.
Be nice to the drivers. For the most part, they like us, and they are proud to have us running in Roxbury. Smile, and, if you wave, be sure you use all five fingers.
This week's pictures
Mike Abraham is up top. He lost top spot in the Points Race this week because he missed the race. As consolation, we put him at the top of the photographs.
Then we see Gas Can Chris Deming, who also missed this week and fell from third to fifth. The lesson is, to stay high in the points race, you have to run the races.
Then we have Andy Morehouse, running without Rosie the Pace Dog, but with Jeff Sheldon, this week's race winner. Rosie is probably nearby, though, because he's carrying the leash.
Then we have Pam Quist,
this week's winner, running out of the fog.
Along the side of the results, we have Mo van Moffaert about to get her stick from Ken Merrick, who won last week. Then there's a shot of two camera-shy runners, hiding where they think we won't take their pictures. After that there are two of our favorite runners, Dennis and George, warming up in the fog.
The Roxbury Races are now listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA and on HiTekRacing.com
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Created May 20, 2006
