Run on the Fourth of July

To celebrate our nation's birthday (as well as Mike Cassidy and Martha McGuane's), a bunch of us took foot in the John Carson Fourth of July parade in Chelmsford this a.m. The race, which is turning into quite the social racing event in Greater Lowell, once again was a terrific showcase for some of Greater Lowell's finest runners and a slew of first-timers as well!

Making his racing circuit debut this year was Joshua Nicholson of Lancaster! While the race featured a ton of E Streeters, it's gotten so big, it's hard to pull everyone together, so missing from this year's photos Barry and Carlos, but take my word for it, they both ran (and did quite well!)

Here's the Nicholson grandkids six-pack pre-race The E Streeters and kids, sporting their red-white-and-blue ensembles to celebrate the dayHeather and Shea, a couple of running princessesJosh and Heather are still all smiles, course this was early in the race (it'll change for the later pics)Andrew represented well for the E Streeters, finishing 75th out of 1934 runners! Carlos was nipping at his heels, finishing 88th!Josh is all smiles, basking in the crowd's adulation heading into the finishA high-five from his godmother caps the performanceHeather gives mom a shoutout - we can't print it here on a family blog, thoughShe's so focused crossing the finishSean shows Shea how he posed at the end of his sub-four Boston MarathonAfterwards, sweatier for the experience, everyone is back to all smilesAnd this year's outing featured the running cast of the Lowell Police Academy (Jon Noone was missing from the photo, but he showed quite well for the LPA as well.

Great job by all, hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth! A special thank you to the men and women of our armed services who protect this country year in and year out, and in particular, well-wishes to fellow geek Benari Poulten of Chelmsford who shipped out to Afghanistan - today of all days - for yet another tour of duty. Stay safe over there and keep your head low, Benari!

To my fellow firecracker runners and Fourth fans, see you all again next year!