2nd Annual Joe and Dave's Backyard Homegrown Marathon

Some people dream their whole life of being able to run 26.2 miles. Some folks go do it on a Sunday in November just....well...to remind themselves they can.

A group of hearty MiniPonies finished the 2nd Annual Joe and Dave's Backyard Homegrown Marathon and Half this weekend. Yes, that's a full, wheel-measured 26.2 mile course on the trails in Weston, Wayland (a bit), Lincoln, and Concord run as a group run to celebrate a long year of successful training. No, it's not a "real" race, just one of the many perks of being an NETT member (if you can call running a marathon a "perk").

The group starting out at Weston Reservoir hit the trail at 7:01 sharp and the thermometer read something like 24 degrees. Brrrrrr. Starting the full were JoeC, CrazyDave, Jason, Tom (all JDBHM veterans) and newcomer Neil.

A new division was created at this year -- the women's 2-person relay division, with Mary running the first half and handing off to Adrienne to run the second half. (See Karyn we DID get a human female to participate--two in fact!) 

The first half of the course winds its way through trails in Weston, Wayland, and Lincoln before hitting the halfway point at Walden Pond. We had our first and only spectator early on the course (Joe's daughter braved the cold to come out and cheer us on at her backyard waterstop!). Other highlights of the first half included a stop at Bucky Goldstein's Horsehendge, a charge up Drumlin Hill, and a tight lap around Walden Pond before cruising into the halfway point in right around 2 hours.

We dropped off Mary, picked up Adrienne and JD and kept on motoring into the second half with a lap around Flint's Pond, a cut through the Decordova Museum, a jaunt through Blue Heron Farm, before heading back into Weston (where the course really lives up to its name by cutting through a couple more backyards) and finishing up at the Weston Reservoir in just over 4 hours. 

After the run, we celebrated with a family-friendly pizza party in Concord Center where the next-gen NETTers got to bond a bit. Definitely some runners in that crew!

We can't post this without a HUGE thanks to JoeC for the work he put into this event. The guy wheel measured the course with the Redneck 5000, made course adjustments to minimize the pavement, produced the course maps, woke up at an unGodly hour and dropped 7 water stops in the morning (it was too cold to leave them out overnight) and provided shuttle service for the half marathon runners. Oh, yeah, he also guided us over the 26.2 mile course by memory. So yeah, thanks doesn't cut it.

All participants finished the distance they planned. No one got seriously inured. And we all had a really good time on the trail chatting and enjoying a gorgeous fall day in New England.

See last year's race report here.

Two Top-Notch MiniPonies go LLLLONG

Two NETT members deserve special recognition for their accomplishments recently.

This past weekend Jason ran a very strong race at the Loco Marathon, cracking 3 hours to finish in 2:58:10 good for 7th place overall.

"The race went to plan and I am pretty psyched to go under 3," Jason said.  "The weather cooperated. It was a double loop course so the first loop I ran with a bunch of half marathoners. The second loop was quieter but I had some company. I kept a pretty consistent pace with the second loop about a minute slower than the first."

Huge congrats to Jason.

And as if that wasn't a huge enough accomplishment, another NETT runner turned the ultra running world on its head recently by running the second-fastest 100 miler in the country this year--at only 20 years old! Yes, Young Patrick shattered his own record and ran what is currently the third fastest 100 miler in the WORLD this year finishing the Ghost Train Trail Race in 13:50. For 100 miles.

If you want to hear a detailed report of the race and learn....well...everything you need to know about YP, check out this interview on the Ultrarunner Podcast If you scroll to the very bottom of the page you can play the podcast or find it on iTunes. And here's a blog post about it from Mass Ultra

We're so psyched for both of these guys since they're both kickass runners but also stand-up guys. Just what NETT is all about.