Top Bananas

So this morning was the second No Bananas race along the Bruce Freeman Trail in Chelmsford. A 3.1 mile out-and-back course, this race series is the brainchild of Ruth Whalen-Crockett, whose husband Jonathan is the fitness fireball at Middlesex Community College. The once-a-month race features no tee-shirt giveaways, no clocks at the mile splits, and no drinks or bananas at race's end. For now, at least.

A cold start to the morning but things warmed up pretty quickly. After a thrilling start, Jonathan takes the lead, carrying the banana trophy to be placed at the halfway point. It's not too often you'll see a photo like this.

And hopefully, the last time, you'll ever see a photo like this:

Always discouraging when the leader in the race passes you while you're still en route to the halfway point:

But the racing series still gets the thumbs up from the E Streeters:

The star of a the show, an appealing fellow:

A photo finish, the race organizer graciously pulls up so as not to foster any ill will:

The post-race glow is obvious on this bunch of finishers. Here's the top 10 finishers of today's outing:

And for the documentarians among us, here's the GPS map and the course elevation map for future references. Photos and map courtesy of race cartographer and photographer John Piekos. Nice job, Ruth, see everyone in January!