2006 Roxbury Race #36

Sky Falls - Sharon Gawe Wins

C. Deming wins for men

    The skies opened on Saturday.  Rain fell.  And fell.  Leaves fell.  A few small branches fell.  Maybe even the sky fell.

    Twenty-one runners went home cold, wet and tired after this week's 3.95 Roxbury Road Race, but they all went home happy.  It was a challenging and memorable day that we will all talk about for years.

    We talked about shortening the course, thinking the Jeep Trail might be even more impassible than usual, but except for the huge, shin-deep puddle at the top, it was only as awful as usual.  The group decided, though, that huge hills, bottomless mud puddles and a roaring waterfall might be "fun."  Besides, when we run the same course in next week's Mid Autumn Championship ($5), we'll all be faster next week.

    At the start, Mike Abraham set out to win, splashing away towards a horizon that we couldn't see, lost between the rain and the clouds.  A crowd lurked not too far behind as they got near the bottom of the hill, where somebody's driveway was in the process of washing out, sending a brown current of muddy water streaming across the roadway to make our shoes dirty as well as wet.

    Chris Deming, though, wasn't dropped, and when they got to the bottom of the Jeep Trail, he pulled past Abe and went on to an eight-second win, about a minute ahead of third place Mark LoSacco.

    Sharon Gawe won for the women.  For both it was their first win of the season.

Adventures

    Dan Lynch, who hadn't trained much in the last week because he'd been in Paris (and everybody knows how poor a running town Paris is) had ankle problems again this week.  After unceremoniously dumping the Fossil just after the mile mark and nearly disappearing from sight, his ankle went "pop" again and he had to walk.  After the Fossil went by and they had exchanged the required bit of trash talk, the ankle popped back in and Dan went on to finish eighth overall.

    Sharon Gawe, whose encouragement got Dan Lynch going again last week, was rewarded this week with her first win of the season.  Alas, her dogs Shiloh and Thor had the good sense not to run in weather like that, so she had to wait until she got home to celebrate with them.

    Fossil weighed his wet clothes when he got home.  They had dripped partially dry, but they still weighed 8 pounds.  Similar clothes, dry, weighed only two pounds.  He didn't try to weigh his shoes.  Did anybody else feel really heavy running up that hill?

   Women's points leader Pam Quist knows everyone involved in last week's news of the rabid coyote, the runner and the logger in Washington.

    Kurt Thoennessen and his wife Andrea are 45 days (but who's counting) from the expected arrival of their first child.  Time will fly and before we know it, they will be bringing children to the races, just like Larry Deming did this week.

Safety

     Safety is important to us, as we don't run on closed roads and generally like each other.  

   We thought about canceling the race this week because of the weather.  After considering the possibilities, (downed power lines, flooding, falling branches, reduced visibility and the like), and mitigating circumstances (there was a lot less traffic than usual) we decided that, with due caution, we could have a safe event.  

    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:

1. Be safe

2. Have fun

3. It's sometimes fun to beat people.  Set goals you can realistically achieve.

    Safety tip: When you are running side-by-side and you meet a car, you should switch to single-file.  Let the runner closer to the center of the road decide whether to step ahead or step behind.  If you slow down, expecting them to step ahead, and they are trying to step behind, then it just takes longer to get out of the middle of the road and that's not as safe.  Never use traffic as a tactic.  After the car passes, give the runner who goes behind a fair chance to get back beside you before you start to push the pace or anything like that.

    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

    Up top, we have this week's winner Chris Deming signing up in the pavilion before the race. Note the page on the clipboard is already wet.  

    Below that, our usually innocent waterfall is showing the fury it had last year when it washed out the bridge.  Click on the picture to see what it usually looks like.  

    After that, Walt Schuttler is stretching before the race.  It's not dark because it's so early.  It's dark because the clouds are so thick.  

    A little below is the parking lot not really showing how wet it was.

    Down the side we have people trying to straighten the posts in the parking lot.  Then there are two Marks, Zerbe and LoSacco.  After that, we have the Fossil checking his time on a watch that matches his t-shirt, and then our new Shepaug Trail sign at the starting line.  Way at the bottom, notice the Dragon is back.  

      The Roxbury Races are now listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA and on HiTekRacing.com 

Current points leaders

Created October 28, 2006.