Saturday, October 26, 2013

Boys Rule Girls also rule but for the sake of this blog post we wanted to make it more male-focused

The NETT men spent Saturday morning running the hell out of Great Brook Farm State Park, covering nearly every square foot of the forest.

Frank KJ planned a varied and intriguing loop for us all. Fluffy, Crazy, Big Ben, the Russian Rocket, Flippy McNastics and Keith (okay, we need a nickname for Keith) rambled up and down some of the lesser-known trails while chattering away about everything from spiked Gatorade to the favorite past times of high school boys in Chelmsford (get your mind out of the gutter). We talked psychic owl dreams and came up with a great new product to market--trail running underwear!

And before we called it a day we came up with a great new promo video for NETT. Take a look:

I for one can't think of a better way to spend a chilly Saturday morning.

Go Mini Ponies!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

NETT has a "Medals" Weekend

Massachusetts. Connecticut. New York. Vermont. NETT scored top finishes in races in several states across the Northeast this Columbus Day weekend.

On Saturday in Hartford, Connecticut native beet juice Zack blasted through to a 1:10 half marathon in Hartford to finish 12th overall, while Eminem churned out a 1:51 of her own in the Nutmeg state. 

Speaking of Connecticut natives, Bob spent the day locally, picking up some hardware at Lynn Woods. Here's his report: "After some spotty training the past few weeks dealing with various nagging injuries and a transition to a new gluten- and dairy-free diet (no oats, beets, or cranberries either!), I managed to eke out first place in my age group at the Stone Tower 15K Trail Race at Lynn Woods. Very nice medals this year, so I attached a photo." Nice work Bob! 

Meanwhile up in Vermont, Doris, Dave and Rick Cleary tackled gale force winds at the Green Mountain Marathon and Half Marathon. Despite the winds, Doris danced through her third half marathon. Rick finished in 1:45:52, 8:05 per mile, good for 70th place in a field of 384; sixth of 27 in M 50-59. Rick said, "It was a fabulously beautiful day in Vermont, except for the wind.  The course is out and back, mostly north followed by mostly south.  When it’s unseasonably warm (about 50 at the start at 8:30, up to mid-60s for a high) the wind is from the south.  Uh-oh … I noticed on the way out to the turnaround that I could feel the wind at my back.  Not a good sign.  I kept my splits fairly constant (51:30/54:22 is my best guess) but the way back really had some ‘hang on to your hat’ moments when the course was right next to the water.  It made me really glad I wasn’t running the marathon, as 13 miles of that wind would have done me in."

Unfortunately, there was one Mini Pony who did, in fact, have to go the full way in those winds. Despite going out conservatively in the first half, Crazy Dave still lost time in the second half but managed to move up the rankings to finish fourth overall, second master in 3:00. The highlight of the day for him? "When the person giving out the awards said 'hey these masters runners don't look old enough!'" Worth 13 miles of pure headwind right there.

Meanwhile out in New York at the Hudson River Mohawk Marathon, Youngstah ran a marathon on a completely different course in a completely different state than Crazy Dave and finished within a minute of Dave's time in 3:01. Odd, right? Well it's NOT the first time this has happened. The NETT research department is looking into the exact date and time as we speak. 

And lastly on Monday, AC Soggy Shoes Galbraith blasted through the Tufts 10K. "I had a good race today. Felt good, perfect day, and I took some time (not much) off last year. I ate beets last night and drank a cup this morning! I'm not a fan of beets.  I'm not sure 35 seconds is worth the beets."

Great work all around!