Survived weekend running challenge

This picture demonstrates how happy I was to FINISH the Memorial Weekend Race challenge. It does not, however, show the excrutiating work and sweat that went into those runs. (That's me on the left and my new friend, Kate on the right.) We both survived the weekend challenge!

On Saturday, I joined a bunch of folks to run for The Sons of Italy 5K to benefit Veterans Northeast Outreach Center, Inc. Haverhill, MA. I ran in my friend Duane's name who is serving overseas today.

I did survive the 5K, but barely since it turned into 5 and a half miles. Yes, you read that correctly. What was supposed to be 3.1 miles turned out to be almost double that.

Why? Because the race road was not marked AT ALL. At the beginning, the marshall even started us off going the wrong direction. Luckily, someone noticed his mistake and he turned us around. Then when we started off down the street no one knew what direction. I asked the police officer and he said to go up Ferry Street. So I did.

Unfortunately, I got ahead of the pack and when we hit the water station there no one knew where we were to go. Yes, you read that correctly. Yours truly went all the way up and then down Ferry Street until it dead ended. By that time, I was off the track and did not know where to go.

The sad part is that other people followed me. Big mistake!! We wended up in Methuen and not Lawrence, MA. And we ended up going an additional 2.4 miles. Oh, what fun!

Day 2 of this very eventful adventure, I am happy to say, turned out much better. The race was flat and the directions were easy. In additiona, the people at the water stations actually knew where we were to go. Imagine that.

Day 2 of the weekend challenge was a 5-mile run hosted by the Garibaldi Club in Haverhill, MA and benefitted the Eric Steinman Scholarship Fund.

Not only was the event well managed and fun, but afterwards there was music, adult beverages, and a BBQ with burgers and dogs. Can you say...HUNGRY?

And my prize for participating in this no holds bar, sweat my butt off fun was...

A mug!!

One tip for all these folks hosting these events. One of the purposes of giving participants a number to wear is and/or should be to track the fact that someona has not returned in a "normal" amount of time. It would be good practice to verify that all people who start the race actually finish and if they don't please feel free to send out the cavalry.