15,000 runners
4.75 miles
Oldest race in new england (75 years)
Perfect 40 degree weather with clear skies
Found my friend and lined up with him
Lots of great costumes...I saw about a dozen Wheres Waldos, a few green men, a few red white and blue men, a tea cup, many indians, thousands of turkey heads, the Jamaican Bobsled team, the Swiss bobsled team, no Forest Gumps this year.
I felt great, very little leg pain.
But....I couldnt get out of the walker crowd. There were so many of them. Maybe we lined up in the wrong spot. But we were in the first third of the race.
Still I had to weave my way through the walkers and never got up to a comfortable rhythm or pace.
So I think I will skip this one next year due to all the walker traffic.
57 minutes
Laurie
Shamrock marathon March 2016. Burlington full or relay if I can find a partner May 2016. Wine and Dine half Nov. And a tri or two thrown in just for the hell of it.
oh and got to pet a newfoundland dog which was a highlight!
oh and got to pet a newfoundland dog which was a highlight! Laurie
+1
That's a lot of runners/walkers. I suspect that some people were finished before everyone crossed the starting line.
SteveP
Marathon Maniac #957
The Turkey Trot here was the same way - lots of walkers. However, if you want to run a serious race you can line up at the front and get a pretty clear path. The costumes are the best part.
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
Yep if you line up way up front I think you can actually run it. A couple of my friends lined up behind the elites at Manchester and actually got to run. Being that Manchester has been taken over by walkers I think they need to segregate the walkers either with a different course or different start time.
Ok now to the costumes. I think they are fun too if done in good taste. Manchester has gotten out of hand with many multiperson costumes and costumes that are impossible to run in. Now it seems that the less clothing you wear the better. Its like a contest to run on a cold day with as little clothing as possible. There was one guy running is a pink string bikini. And a handful of guys dressed as indians with what looked like g strings under their loin cloths. There are some body parts I really dont want to see during a race.
Hi Laurie,
Congrats on finishing the Manchester Road Race well and with no pain! It is probably a "race" for about 10% of the people there each Thanksgiving - for the rest of the folks, it is a Thanksgiving Morning 'event.' The goal for those people is to finish, regardless of the time.
Even as a racewalker, I don't have all that much patience for the casual walkers who line up anywhere at the back of the pack in a race.It is fine if they want to participate, but they should remember that it is still a race for most people.
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.