Big Congrats to Eri and Bridget

Big congrats to Eri for finishing the Baystate Marathon this weekend in an impressive 3:42. Not bad for a guy who's been immersed in medical school for the past few months! Here's his report:

"I was supposed to run the race with my friend Alex, but unfortunately he got sick last week and he couldn't make it to the race! A few weeks before the race he insisted on staying in a hotel around the area so we booked one in Lowell. Well since he didn't come I enjoyed the whole room to myself!

The race was great, I loved the course, and it is a great time of the year to do it since the colors are gorgeous. I kept a nice 8 min/mile pace for the first 20 miles and then the pain hit me! it started with my feet and progressed to my legs. My breathing was not the problem, my muscles just gave up on me (no cramping but a lot of pain!). I slowed down to around 9 minute pace, and the last 2 miles were VERY hard, I think I did 9:40 pace. But heck I finished it without any injury (I think). I blame my anatomy course for bonking at mile 20, took way to much of my time."

Big congrats Eri!

And another big congratulations to Bridget Chamberas for finishing her first half marathon at Baystate as well. You pretty much can't be a member of that family and not be a runner! Great stuff.

NETT has a new half-marathon record!

Okay, technically NETT doesn't keep "official" records. And sure, some of us ran some pretty fast times in our younger days in other uniforms.

But I feel very very very confident that our new half-marathon record will never be broken, unless its current holder chooses to run another half.

HUGE congrats to Zack Schwartz who ran a 1:08:24 at the Hartford Half Marathon on Saturday. There are no typos on the previous sentence, by the way.

And judging by the race photos posted here Zack didn't leave anything out on on the course.

Just astounding. Great job Zack!

Ravenswood Trail Race: Another Day at the Races

Rain. Mud. Blood. Age group wins and prizes. Big support from the extended NETT family.
Yeah, it was another day at the races for the NETT Mini Ponies at the Ravenswood Trail Race on Sunday.

NETT had a number of folks running in the latest race in the North Shore Trail Race series (race results to come). Age group wins were collected by Chris Smith and Kristin Hall, but of course, that's nothing new. Congrats to both. Chris is actually close to (or may already be) tops in the 40-49 scoring for the series and cleaned up today, so to speak (he drew some blood).

And a wet, technical, tricky trail course? The smart money's always on Kristin in those conditions. Both won great prizes for their efforts.

In the "awww..cute" category NETT "power couples" Crazy Dave and Doris and Jack and Jenn mixed it up in the mud as well. Jack and brought his brother and Cool Footed Luke as well.

And Bob Segal turned his white socks to black but kept pace in the 50-59 age category as always (although he "handicapped" himself for this one by running Nipmuck Marathon a couple weeks ago!)

There was one NETT no-show, but when we saw the weather, none of can say it was a surprise (well, she IS consistent).

Kudos to Team Gloucestor, the host club. The race was really well organized and marked. The post-race ceremonies were great. There were tons of raffle prizes--both Jenn and Doris won prizes (Yodels and four pairs of socks--how awesome is that?). And for third-place age group finish, Crazy Dave won the "trails runner's survival kit" a bag with band-aids, tissues, and pain relievers).

And special thanks to the New England Running Co. in Beverly for supporting the race and series. Doris and Crazy Dave dropped by on the way home to pick up their prizes and the folks there were super friendly and the store's got a great selection of running clothes and shoes. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

Molkie Conquers the Vermont 50

Our pal from NETT-South Dave Molk recently hit a major milestone as a trail runner, finishing his first 50 miler. As he does in all things, Molkie ran a smart race. Here’s his report:

"I enjoyed the Vermont 50 (hard not to as it's held in the 802, arguably the best state in the nation). After a really solid summer of training, I (true to form, it seems) tweaked something in my foot and so spent the weeks leading up to the race feeling fairly anxious about how things would hold up.

This race has relay options for both the 50 miler and the 50k as well as simultaneous mountain bike races on the same course. Fortunately for me, Emily of Dirty German fame decided to run the relay, so I had some good company during the first 12 miles on what was a rainy but mild morning. The bikes churned up most of the single track into mud, but the footing was decent for running and I kept a good pace. My foot acted up a bit around mile 20, so I spent most of the remaining 30 miles focusing on every foot plant and hoping that I wouldn't get a flare-up.

Not the best way to have the day go by, but every time I looked up and saw the countryside, I remembered why I chose this race as my first 50. All told, I went through about 18 gels, one and a half blisters, and a fairly chafed lower back from an REI pouch that I am no longer going to use. Why it worked fine on all the long runs of the summer and then rubbed with a vengeance the last two races is beyond me.

I took a really conservative approach to running it and was therefore able to have a much stronger second half, finishing around 8:44. I'm confident that I can lop significant time off of that the next go-round. Fantastic volunteers and exemplary course markings!"

Great job Molkie!

Ponyettes Win Wayland XC Race, Men Take 3rd

Okay, not to brag, but there was a prediction made. Earlier on this very blog, I said this: "Bold prediction: One of our two teams will win the team competition."

Well the NETT Ponyettes lived up to that prediction by winning the Wayland XC race today. Huge congrats!

The ladies were led by the duo of Mary Pizarro and Kristin Hall who worked together and came onto the final 300 meter stretch together, stride for stride. NETT's Deb Robertson made the trip up from NYC to run a great race and score as third place for NETT. And Peggy Davis and Karyn Miller-Medzon came in together to round out the scoring.

Big congrats ladies!

On the men's side, the NETT squad had a bit tougher competition finishing third overall behind HFC Striders and Greater Boston Track Club. Dmitry Drozdov, Paul Miller, Eric Vandendries, Dave Hannon, Chris Smith and Marshall Randolph ran well together with Dmitry taking top master's honors and Marshall winning the always competitive 60-69 age group.

In the "future NETT stars" division, Alex Miller's gym sprinting paid off as she finished in almost the exact spot her dad in his race, thanks to her strong finishing kick (her dad's sure Alex didn't get that from him!).


All in all it was a really great day. The weather cooperated and as always race director Eric Bucher and his team put on a top-notch XC event for adults and kids.

Frank KJ Cracks Top 10 at Scituate Duathlon

Congrats to Frank, who's winding down his LONG multisport season in style, finishing 9th place overall at the Scituate Duathlon.

"I was happy with it, but my body is definitely telling me it is October."