Thursday, January 21, 2010

Update: NETT Poetry Festival to serve as Haiti relief fundraiser

This is just a quick and uncharacteristically serious, update in response to the many NETT members who have made inquiries about some kind of Haiti fundrasising. A few of us are currently working on planning an event in the near future where we can get together to donate clothing, sneakers, and money to Haiti while also celebrating our Poetry/Song festival.

As many of you know, one of NETT's members, Jean Dany Joachim, is a native of Haiti and was scheduled to visit there the day after the earthquake hit. (For those who asked, yes, Jean Dany is safe here in Boston but is very distraught at the devastation to his homeland and continues to try to get news from the ground or a flight to Haiti. See his interview here on WBUR's web site and this interview and video on the WickedLocal Cambridge web site.

So we'll go forward with our festival in the hopes that we can use it to raise some money and spread Jean Dany's message of hope--there will be a new sunrise and despite the turmoil, Life is Good.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Senator Multisport

EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog post is not a political statement in any way shape or form. NETT does not officially support any political candidate unless we are outright bribed or promised something in return for our support. Please read the following blog post with that in mind.

Well the suprising turn of events in the Massachusetts senatorial campaign has produced something of a surprise winner. And while Scott Brown might be a new face to many political junkies, he is in fact, a familiar face to many of us on the multisport circuit.

Just for kicks the NETT newsroom took a minute this morning to look up some of Senator-elect Brown's performances on the FIRM web site and found some interesting results. In fact, many NETT members have raced against--and clobbered quite frankly, our future sentor.

Wrentham Spring Duathlon 2009:
9 Brown, Scott Males 50-54 4 53 19:44 :46 6 65 32:21 :51 5 50 13:11 4 49 1:06:54
(Puts him in just behind Bruce and in front of Eri.)

Wild Cat Tri 2009 (8th overall)
474 Brown, Scott Males 50-54 1 12 4:54 1 11 30:26 1 12 20:34 1 8 55:56
(Put him about five minutes off Paul Miller--not bad at all).

Old Colony 2009
6 Brown, Scott Males 50-54 6 53 22:53 1:42 3 38 1:04:09 :30 5 45 46:32 4 33 2:15:48
(Clearly he doesn't like the longer stuff, but was only 7 minutes off Joe and Frank here).

Webster Lake 2009
5 Brown, Scott Males 50-54 3 47 12:43 3:33 3 39 35:05 :33 2 43 18:51 2 33 1:10:47
(Eminem is NOT going to like that result! He even beat our relay team in that one!)

One thing I noticed is he seems to get low bib numbers in these races. Either he's entering them all very early or the FIRM folks were WAY ahead of the curve in snuggling up to the future senator.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Announcing the first ever NETT Poetry Festival!

February is Poetry Month for NETT!

In our never-ending effort to make NETT more than the typical running club, we have come up with a unique and creative idea I guarantee no other running club has: A poetry festival.

Here's how it will work:
Beginning February 1 all members of the extended NETT family will be invited and encouraged to submit a creative "something" to Crazy Dave that they feel represents NETT, its members, running, nature, whatever. That "something" can be an original poem or story you've written (short, long, rhyming, not rhyming, whatever), a poem by someone else (be it Shakespeare or one you read on the bathroom stall), the lyrics to a song you know that reminds you of running, whatever.

We'll gather them up and continue posting them on the NETT Blog during the month and at the end of the month, we will invite folks to read them at a social gathering. No one will be forced to read them and I'm sure we can find other folks to read if you're too shy.

Yes, this is a "festival" to celebrate the creative arts and no this really won't be a "contest" with a winner and losers.

By the way, I've posted a poll up on the Meetup group to get your reaction to this idea as well. If you hate it, love, etc. let me know.

Monday, January 11, 2010

NETT freezes its arse off from Massachusetts to...Florida

It was a cold weekend of racing for several NETTers, including one that tried to escape the cold by heading to Florida.

Yes, when Chrissy Durden booked her trip to the Disney World Marathon in Florida on January 10th, she was probably more concerned with not overheating than dealing with frozen water cups. But thanks to a freakish cold spell, there she was toughing it out as always. Just seems this girl can't get a break when it comes to weather in marathons! Here's her report:

"The marathon was so fun, but it was also so cold, freezing actually! The cups of water at the aid stations were partially frozen and I think the volunteers deserve more of a congrats than the runners, at least we could run to keep warm!!

I finished in 4:09, a little slower then I wanted. But, in all I am happy with my performance. It was around mile 21 that I just felt as if I was standing still – despite giving it my all. I tried to dig deep, but I didn't have much left. It was also hard not to get distracted up in the fun of the theme park (I had never been)!"

For her troubles, Chrissy was given a medal with a big gold Mickey Mouse’s face on it.

And NETT sister Claire Scanlan was also in Florida, doing double-duty in the "Goofy Challenge," according to Chrissy (You'd have to be "Goofy to take this challenge!) Brian's sister ran the 1/2 marathon on Saturday morning in 1:45 in the freezing rain and then the full marathon on Sunday in 3:25for close to 40 miles in two days of record cold.

Closer to home, where it's SUPPOSED to be freezing cold this time of a year, a couple Mini Ponies made the most of it and race in snow-related sports. On Saturday, Chris Smith finished 8th overall at the Olde Salem Greens Classic snowshoe race in Salem, Mass.

And on Sunday morning with temps in single digits, Crazy Dave narrowly escaped complete humiliation by toeing the line in the Weston Winter Duathlon at the Weston Ski Track. "Basically this winter duathlon played out just like a summer one for me," he told the NETT news room. "After getting over the shock of an insanely high entry fee ($55 in this case), I finished the first run in the top few competitors, watched the vast majority of the racing field blow past me in the non-running portion (this time on skis instead of a bike, so that was a nice change of pace) and then just ran like hell again and tried to catch as many people as possible. Same strategy, different surface and season."

When the snow dust settled, Dave was 16th overall, but claims to have been first in the self-calculated "classical" skiing division.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Frank KJ wins the First Annual Mini Pony Cup competiton in dramatic fashion


Well, it's official. After a wild ride in the final month, an official audit by accounting firm Dewey, Cheatum and Howe has confirmed that Frank KJ is the official winner of the First Annual Mini Pony Cup! Big big congrats to Frank.

And Frankly, it couldn't have gone to a more deserving participant. Frank completed 12 of the official categories (listed below), outpacing Eminem, Jerry and Chris Smith who all scored in 11 of the categories. But beyond that, he does a LOT for NETT in terms of organizing teams, tracking triathlon series points, he and Tina open their home regularly for brunch runs and more.

Here's Frank's officially approved list:

Road race under 1/2M: Stow 5K, 5K in Lexington in June, Lincoln July 4th
Road race over 1/2M: Stu's 30K
Track Race: BU Indoor Meet
XC Race: Mt Hood
Team XC Race: Topsfield, Andover
Team relay event: Sudbury triathlon with Tina and Nicholas
Duathlon: 2 x Wrentham (short), Black Bear (long - another point?)
Triathlon under 1/2Iron: Old Colony, Barrington, TDD
Triathlon 1/2 and over: Firmman, Patriot
Volunteer at race: Jerry's race for ALS
Host a social event: Brunch runs, Skellig's, New Year's Party
Organize a workout: Multi-brick workouts, trail runs

Please join us all in congratulating him in winning this prestiguous award.