MRM President's letter
We have glimpsed the spring with flowers and trees breaking bud and with hope for the last killing frost behind us. I have returned to running without Icespikes, microspikes, Yaktrax, and all the likes. As well I may have worn running tights once in the last few weeks, but only because I misread the thermometer (Darn these eyes!) So, I have participated in a few in person races, including today's Mine Falls 10 K Trail Race in Nashua, and the Cherry Blossom 5K in DC, after 2 yrs of postponement due to Covid.
Covid is still out there and cases in NH are increasing due to more contagious variants. Mask mandates have pretty much gone away, although most businesses and clinicians recommend their use indoors. But outdoors, there is little risk of spread due to airflow dilution of the viral droplets. The other things like vaccination, prior infection, washing of hands, social distancing, meds to treat Covid have been helpful in getting back to some semblance of normality. But we aren't there yet, so we can't make a determination about resuming the Winter Chillers yet.
What we can do is encourage running in the community. Mike Smith set up Icebox Runs around the area for the past two winters (along with uniformly bad, but memorable, weather). Rachel Lakin set up a number of Pop-up Runs on evenings last summer and fall. Each year there are a number of local community races, such as the Temple Chip Chase, Bulldog Run (4 miler in Westmoreland), 4 on the Fourth in Keene, Rindge Tour de Common, Hancock Run For the Honey, Francestown 5, Ann Bunce Race, and some new ones like the Conval 5k walk/run for suicide awareness and prevention, the Peterborough Our Town 5k (held first last year), and others that I can't recall offhand right now (Sorry!) We can encourage our members to participate in them where possible, and we can list them in our social media when we are aware of them. It helps to have correct contact info on them, so if you are letting us know about a race, please ensure we have that before we can publish it.
In the past, MRM had had a evening track workout run by Coach Smith on Wednesdays. He did a fabulous job but was pursuing other interests about the same time as the Covid pandemic hitting, so that has been an area that could be picked up if someone has the talent and inclination to do so. (By the way, Coach is so humble that he refused to accept any gift or honorarium from the club for his contributions! What a guy!)
There are weekly no pressure runs each Saturday in Hancock at 9AM by the Police station (I believe), and Sunday 9AM in Francestown from the Meeting House area. These runs are low-key get togethers that help foster the running community. Rachel Lakin will be starting a Thursday night series of runs from the South Meadow School parking lot at 6PM on the Jack Murphy course. Any and All are welcome, generally starting right on time. She will begin this on Thursday June 30th at 6PM. I plan to start a Rail Trail series beginning this Thursday evening at 5:30 PM, as kind of a warm-up to Rachel's series (maybe I should have it at 6P? But mostly I wanted to get the time period established in people's minds. I'm open to change.) I thought this Thursday Rail Trail runs would start at the Conval parking lot then down Southfield Hill for out and back ~3mi. Nice things about Rails to Trails is they are flat, often with nice scenery and occasional wildlife. Out and Back, no one gets lost. Get you home early enough. Easy runs build strong legs, Too many fast runs can result in injury.
There may be those members who wish to run in the morning, run trails, run long runs, or are prepping for a certain distance at a certain pace. There may be others with the same desires and plans. Using the MRM social media, or social runs, may help them connect.
We hope to have an MRM cookout/party/fun run sometime this summer/early fall.
We want to remain valuable and relevant in maintaining and expanding the strength of running in the Monadnock Region, and appreciate your assistance in this.
Thanks,
Ross Ramey