Sean Radcliffe, Webmaster

In 2003 I moved from the flatlands of New Jersey to the beautiful rolling hills of Temple, NH. From almost my first day in the Monadnock Region, I have been a MRM member, initially drawn to the Milers due to the Chiller races. As I initially adapted to running in cold, New England winters, I found the Chiller races encouraged me to get out and discover the joy of running in snow and cold.

The camaraderie of the Chillers is fantastic and motivates you get you out of your house because you want to run with the ‘gang’. I particularly like local races and 5Ks in warmer weather for the same reason - I like seeing familiar runners and spending time with them.

I love running in the Monadnock Region because I never get tired of running down country roads past farms, fields, and pastures. And those hills, they just make it even more interesting.

For the past 10 years, I have worked in Keene at C&S/ES3 doing software development.

For just under 2 years I have been the MRM webmaster, preparing and posting most of the content on the MRM website as well as the eNews. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the MRM website or eNews, please email them to: monadnockmilers@gmail.com

December 2018

As I sit down to write this last Coaches Corner for 2018, I think back to the beginning when I started this column, March 2011, with thoughts of spring.  As we head into winter, thoughts of spring being a few months off, I find myself at a bit of a cross roads. When I started with the column, Gretchen and I were leading Wednesday night workouts once a week, and I had a steady gig coaching cross country, track and field, and sometimes winter track.  Now, seven years later I still have those irons in the fire, but have added our youth programs with Valhalla, Thursday Night jack Murphy runs from SMS in the summer, Monday Night Grind at Mascenic and all the work I do with Runner’s Alley and New Hampshire Cross Country.com and New Hampshire Track and Field.com.

All these endeavors take time.  Often I find myself at the keyboard typing away articles at 4am, setting race courses before school starts, having practice right after school and scooting over to Peterborough for an adult track workout.  Thankfully for me my family is involved with running almost as much as I am so I am able to cram in some family time on occasion when our schedules match up. And while I enjoy all the different things I get involved with (I do very little anymore that I don’t WANT to be doing!) something has to give.

This will be my last monthly column for the Monadnock Milers. I know over the years some of you have read at least some of the columns I’ve written and for that, thank you.  I’ve enjoyed practicing the craft of writing through these columns, but I’m running short of ideas (I’ve written over 80 of them!) and more importantly, time. I still hope to contribute some material from time to time when something I’ve written for NHCC or NHT&F might be a nice read for the Milers.

I’m also handing over the reins of the Jack Murphy runs to the ConVal coaching ensemble to perpetuate the goals that Jack had for the running community of the greater CV area.  Lance Flamino has been looking to start a summer cross country race series and it only seems appropriate that Jack’s name be a part of that. I can’t speak to any of the particulars regarding Thursday nights in Peterborough but you’ve been left in good hands.

After discussions with my family and the best way to stay involved with the Miler community, Gretchen and I decided the one thing we’d still like to be connected with is Wednesday Night track workouts for at least the coming 2019 year.  Gretch likes the idea of at least one night a week dinner in Peterborough.

We’ll still be around town, hitting the roads in the trails in much the same fashion we have in the past, supporting local races and offering our own special “Valhalla style” events to all the Milers like usual.  But by reducing the requirements that Thursday nights and monthly writing had on me, I’m a bit more free to offer more of the unique stuff that sparks my interest.

It’s been a fun ride and it’s not over yet.  While I expect to pretty involved in the Monadnock region running scene, I plan to have one foot on the brake for a change, slowing down enough to enjoy the scenery.

I’ll see you out there.

November 2018

Well, after a summer of hot, difficult weather, the fall/winter weather has certainly descended upon us over the last few weeks.  Some sleet, lots of wind and even a touch of snow has befallen the region in the last week which can only mean one thing, cross country championship season.

Here’s how the locals faired.

Boynton, girls - 11th, boys - 5th

JRMS, girls - 10th, boys - 28th

SMS, girls - 14th, boys - 4th

Conant, girls - 13th, boys - 10th

ConVal, girls - 2nd, boys - 5th

Mascenic, girls - 7th, boys - 1st

Yesterday, my boys team captured their sixth team State Championship ever, and my seventh (including the girls) over my eighteen years of coaching.  My top guy, Landen Vaillancourt, came in second to defending champion Jeffrey Allen, and we, the defending champs, beat out Jeffrey Allen’s team by two points.  While we were the favorite, the Campbell Cougars made us work for every step of this one. Our top two were better mathematically than their top two (seven points to their twelve), they packed things in nicely, and if it hadn’t been for our #3 and #5 guys beating out their #4 and #5 guys by one place, we would have lost by two. (Mascenic - 2-5-16-19-21, Campbell - 1-11-14-17-22)

Hats off to Campbell for their tremendous run.  If you read the form charts, Mascenic was the cream of Division 3, with Kearsarge and Trinity nipping at their heels.  However I viewed Campbell as a dark horse, quietly building up momentum over the last few weeks. I felt comfortable in our matchup with the other teams but wasn’t sure what the Campbell kids were ready to do.  Challenge us is the obvious answer now.

I tell my kids to focus on their own races, make other teams beat you, and if you do, you’ll often win anyway.  And that happened yesterday. Campbell were trying to beat us. They said as much in the Rankings Reveal on Thursday.  And ultimately, I think that might have been what did them in.

My kids know in championship racing you need to pass as many other shirts as you can.  Campbell had their top five in front of our #3 man one mile into the race. They knew they had to get in front and stay in front if they were going to contend.  My guys were somewhat oblivious to where they were standings wise at that point but I was sure to tell them. Over the ensuing miles my guys inched closer to their main pack (with Landen battling Jeffrey all the way to the finishing stretch) closing the gap and bringing us closer to our  goal of winning the meet.

But it wasn’t until those final steps, the few strides by Dakota and Josh, that sealed the deal for us.  I barely got to see Dakota and Josh’s finishes, and in some cases it was too close to tell who beat who, but I knew the guys had run their best races.  It wasn’t until Campbell was called up for the runnerup award that we knew we had accomplished what we set out to do.

Those guys, especially the ones that were on the winning team last year, are going to cherish this one.  They worked hard all season, and had to work exceptionally hard yesterday and deserve the win. My captains worked extremely hard to make this happen, dragging the team on their backs at times. Campbell certainly deserves some of the credit, making it an honest race, pushing my guys the entire race, for 4,999 meters of it.

See you out there.

Race Opportunity - VRC’s Friends of Mascenic Cross Country “Alumni” race, Sunday, November 25th, noon, Mascenic HS cross country course, 171 Turnpike Road, New Ipswich, NH, soupapolooza to follow at 36 Fairbanks road