Sunday was another great running day in New England. My buddy and I drove out to Monson, Mass., home of the Monson Memorial Classic. The 15th running of this event saw 375 people show up for the day's races - 292 for the half marathon and 83 for the 5k.
The course was remarkably tough, with more than 2,200 feet of elevation gain - all within the first 7 miles. We did well, though, both able to set half marathon PRs. I did 1:45:59. A check of my splits according to my Timex Global Trainer - yeah, I did mile 13 at 6:52 pace.
I am glad that this race fit into our ING Miami Marathon training schedule, but more importantly, I'm glad that we were able to help generate some funds for a few charities. While this was my first running of this race, the Monson Memorial Classic road race was first run in 1996, shortly after the deaths of Kelly Waldron and Kathy Waldron Perry. These sisters died eight months apart from different types of cancer. Kathy suffered with melanoma, and Kelly had breast, bone, and liver cancer. This race is in their memory. This year, the race organizers decided to give the proceeds to The SHADE Foundation of America and to Griffin's Friends.
Setting PRs...cool. Helping raise money for worthy causes...Super Cool!
That is a great time for a course with that much elevation. Very impressive.
ReplyDeleteI ran the ING Miami 1/2 marathon a couple of years ago and it is a surreal experience. To see the sun rise up over the city as you are running through it is awesome. There are bands playing at just about every mile even though it is not an RnR event which makes it even better.
Enjoy the race and I look forward to a race repot.
Always good to set a new PR, especially going in to another event.
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