The Great Stew Chase Race Report (Read 454 times)

The Great Stew Chase of 2008 It’s about 9:15 AM, Sunday morning, February 3rd as we stand in line to pick up our bib numbers for the 15K (9.3 miles) Great Stew Chase road race that starts in Lynn and runs out to Centennial Drive in Peabody and returns to Lynn. About 300 of us are gathered in the Knights of Columbus Hall on Route 129 in Lynn for the race. There’s 59 year-old Audie Bridges of Chestnut Street, Wakefield. Audie is an accomplished runner. He tells me that he really wants to run 13 miles today so he is going for a 3.7 mile run before the race Several of my running friends are here; there is Bob from Salem, Steve from Everett, and Donna from Peabody. There are also a number of familiar faces whose names I can’t remember. On the way to the start line, I meet 61 year-old Bill Bingham of Wakefield, another veteran runner. I have known Bill and Audie for a number of years; they run year round in all kinds of weather. They are tough hombres who persevere through the worse conditions. I will be running in some pretty good company. As we walk to the start line, Bill decides to wear shorts instead of running pants. As he takes his pants off on the sidewalk, another runner teases him and tells him that at his age he should know better and that he should be taking his pants off in a bathroom. Bill has his running shorts on under the pants so we all laugh. It’s between 35 and 40 degrees, cloudy, with a noticeable wind. I’m wearing long running pants, a technical t-shirt, windbreaker, hat, and thin gloves. It’s almost 10:00 AM and I see Audie at the start, he got his miles in and looks warmed up like a fighter before a boxing match. I don’t do any warm up, I figure I have 9.3 miles to warm up and I will save every ounce of strength for the race. We’re off I would like to run at a pace under 9 minutes per mile but I feel fat, sluggish, and slow Maybe that feeling will change as we run. The first two miles clock 17:12 or 8:36 a mile; a race sometimes will pull a runner along. That must be what’s happening to me because I feel like an overweight cow I run mile 3 also in 8:36 and grab some water at the end of mile 3. Ellen Goldberg of Nahant is running with me and we talk about running as we go. Mile 4 has a lot of uphill and headwind. Because this course is an “out and back”, I can see the front runners as they approach me. They are just magnificent. They seem to all have long graceful strides and to move effortlessly. These folks were born to run. Now I see 60 year-old Billy Prentiss of Danvers running in shorts with no shirt He started with a shirt and tossed it after he warmed up. I believe the temperature is still in the 30's. I run mile 4 in 9:07 and we make the turn around a short time later. We are in a very hilly area around the old Peabody Landfill and my pace suffers as a result during mile 5, slowing to 9:16. Mile 6 has some downhill and a tail wind that help me to run a 8:51. I grab a cup of water at the aid station at the end of mile 6. The toughest part of this race is over. Miles 7, 8, and 9 go by in 9:02, 8:43, and 8:47 as I actually feel a little better. We’re on Route 129 now and I put the pedal to the metal for the last quarter of a mile. I cross the finish line in 1:21:55, a pace of 8:49. Bill Bingham finishes in 1:22:03; we congratulate each other. Ellen finishes a short time later and can’t believe one of her shoes came untied a 100 feet from the finish line. She says that there was no way she was going to stop and sprinted in anyway and finished in 1:23:03. I’m soaked with perspiration and feeling cold so I head into the K of C Hall. We all have a bowl of beef stew with a roll and a chocolate chip cookie. I learn that Audie Bridges finished in 1:13:45, a terrific time. And Billy Prentiss, running without a shirt, finished in 1:06:53. Maybe, I should try running bare chested in the winter! It’s time for me to head home; I feel somewhat exhilarated but I’m also wet and tired. Semper Fi, Dan C.

Oh, I thought that was Stew as in Stewardess. Never mind.

It was a great day for a race. It was much warmer and less windy than last year's race. I think it was 20 degrees last year. I finished just in front of your friend Billy, the shirtless runner. This year my time was 1:06:51. And get this, last year I finished in 1:06:52! A one second PR! What are the chances of that? Anyone else here run it?