A Titanic Run

It's August, so that means it's time for the can't-miss Thomas Chamberas 6K cross country race through Great Brook State Park in Carlisle, and as always, the E Streeters were there to represent! (No Scott to be found, but that may be because of the controversy surrounding his registration last year.)  The race raises money for a great cause, to battle Cystic Fibrosis, and we're thrilled to help support it every season!

As always, this Michael Mahon sanctioned event comes with a rendition of the National Anthem that has to be heard to be believed.  And even then, you may not believe it.

This year came with a special moment of silence for the victims of the Aurora theater massacre.  And Johnny Pesky.  And the Titanic.  We're not kidding.

That awkward moment.....

A father and son's last outing before he returns to Mount St. James for another year at Holy Cross

There's Barry's in them thar woods!  Mikes too!

 Tom Hildreth loves telling people where to go

Children of the Corn in the home stretch

Post-race, a fist bump with the man himself

One of these men is a legend.  The other is just a legend in his own mind.  You know who's who.

Barry hurts himself flexing some muscle. 

An incredbile turnout for today's race, which hopefully raised more than $10,000 to help fight Cystic Fibrosis!  Congrats to all!

There's B'ars in Them Thar Woods!

John was back in town for this weekend's run, so you know what that means, right?  That's right, an incredible run on the streets of Lowell!  Ha, ha, just kidding. We were really in Tyngsboro....  Another good one!

So yeah, it was back to East Boston Camps in Westford, because it's just not safe running those trails in Tyngsboro, you know, with the wild animals and all.

So what do we find waiting for us just as we enter the Grassy Pond trails? This sign (at least in Lowell, they spell their warnings right.)

Since we were confined to the Westford town limits, we couldn't make it up to run the coast in Seabrook and Hampton.  Luckily, Westford has beachfront property, too!

We thought this run might see the ultimate face-off between 21:07 and 21:10, to settle things once and for all. Alas, Carlos was nowhere to be found, leaving Tommy despondent on an empty track.

Back at East Boston Camps, we met up with the Tour De France, of which one member agreed to take our E Streeters team shot

And joining us as a special guest star for this run:  Professor Quirrell!  (Voldemort lie in waiting on the backside of his head.) 

There's Magic in the Night

Night one of Bruce in Boston, and the E Streeters, naturally, were there in full force to welcome the Boss to Bosston for the first of a pair of Fenway Park Shows.

Pre-show, the father-and-son duo are ready to rock the house

Can you say Facebook profile pic?  Hold that thought, there's more to come

Bruce joins the show, and gives a shout out to us, his biggest fans, sitting on the left field side.  See, he's pointing at us here.

Unfortunately, not everyone can be a fan of every Bruce song.  Meet the only man in America to sit during a Bruce concert.  In his defense, John has seen Working on the Highway live dozens of times. Luckily, he had Barry nearby to ridicule him.

Truly, there were Spirits in the Night that night, with the right-field Pesky pole illuminated during one of three homages to Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky

 Chaos, pandemonium reign.  And it's all caught on film. 

Andrew makes his point.

Rosie, come out tonight!

Barry screams why, why, why, can't Bruce do three more shows this week?

Blinded by the Light, Andrew donned his shades for the Born to Run finale.
Off to see the Boss tonight at Gillette, with a lot more E Streeters in tow!  Meet me tonight in the Promised Land!

Tyngsboro? Great, Scott!

Quick pop quiz:  What are you more likely to see in Tyngsboro?

A) A Black Bear

B) Scott Spence Running

Before today, you could have answered B and won the grand prize, since we already saw the bear a few weeks back.  But today, by popular demand, and with special guest runner on loan from Lehigh Valley, Tom Beaupre, Scott actually braved the wilds of Tyngsboro for today's E Streeter's group run!

Here's the happy crew before we set out.  We were all smiles with promises of egg sandwiches awaiting us at Carlos' house at run's end

It took some convincing, and some violence, but finally we were able to drag Scott out onto the Tyngsboro Bridge

The value of running with a camera:  you get to document such momentous occasions.  Notice Scott protected by the phalanx of runners forming the protective coccoon around him

It was returning to the scene of our encounter with Grizzly Adams' buddy, out behind Notre Dame Academy.  Andrew, the ladies' man, accepts his fate

Tom and Barry talk smack.  Actually, Tom didn't realize he was committing to another lap around the campus when he held up this sign, that's why he still looks happy.

For anyone who knew us back in our high school days at St. Joseph's Regional High School, you probably remember that we weren't always the favorites of the nuns who ran the school.  In fact, you might say we were the bane of their existence for our four years there.  Which makes this photo of us in the nun's graveyard seem all the more fitting, since the nuns were ready to kill us on so many occasions.

How the times have changed.  Once a principal's thorn, Tom is now angling for his own shot at a principal's chair in Pennsylvania.  Here is is buffing up his reserved parking space plaque.

Worried as we were about Scott's welfare running in Tyngsboro, we took turns doing the buddy system.  Here, Tom drew the short straw for the final mile escort.

Back at Carlos' house, as the egg sandwiches warm in the oven inside, it's the trail running tick check ritual.  No passengers this time around.

Great to have Tom back in the mix.  He was supposed to be staying even longer, but we kept dragging him out for early morning runs, so he cut his trip short.  Next time, he won't tell us when he's back in town!

And big round of applause for Scott for conquering his fear of Tyngsboro.  We knew you could do it, Scott!

Taking a Run at Hollywood

Last day at DisneyWorld (which means there's only one more blog after this one for those of you suffering Disney overload!), so it was time for Andrew and I to try out a new course - an early morning run into Hollywood Studios, which was within easy running distance from our hotel.  What does that mean?  It means another entry into the Top 10 Hall of Fame Running Courses, with amazing park access for an unforgettable morning run!

Fantasmic, that's the only way to describe this course, winding through probably my favorite of the Disney theme parks.  Here's the Running Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Yeah, the park really is that empty that early.  Hats off to us getting in there so fast!

Running at Hollywood Studios afford you the opportunity to run in sorts of exotic locales.

Like the hills San Francisco

And the streets of New York City

 Heck, you can even visit other planets, like Tatooine......

Or Pizza Planet!

Kermit had a big round of applause for Andrew's running stride

And finally, as the park starts to open up and get a bit busier, a running Tower of Terror

This one goes into the books for unforgetteable running experiences.  Hooray for a Hollywood Studios run!

We Got the Beach

A New Hampshire beaches two-fer on Saturday, complete with a grueling 6.4 mile run along the sands up to Northampton and back, and then an E Streeters Seabrook outing complete with boogie boards, rubber ducks and an abundance of inappropriate comments.

The day started out with what sounded like a good idea at the time, a run up and down the coast, along the beaches.  Maybe we should have checked the weather forecast first to see that the temperatures were going to reach 120.  Which would explain why some of us ran shirtless.

Barry fought his ipod and earbuds.  And lost.  Luckily, he had friends to help him get untangled.

Passers-by asked us to stage a group shot and flex our muscles.  No really, they did.  It gave Tommy the opportunity to take a good look at himself in the mirror.

No, it's not Baywatch, just a reasonably close facsimile.  Complete with lifeguard station.  The on-duty lifeguard thought we need some life-saving, based on how bad we looked at this point of the run.  We turned her down.  It's a pride thing.

Over at Seabrook, a gorgeous day provided the Borges clan with the chance to do some clamming.

Boogie boards aplenty ruled the day, with only a few sand-rash casualties, usually on the front body parts of some of the surfers.  Heather still rocks the waves with the best of them.

 After his torturous morning run, Andrew settled in for a three-hour nap, rocking the Holy Cross beach gear.

 Further proof why you never fall asleep around Tommy

At the end of the day, the E Street men gather for their group shot.  Andrew takes the gold ring for his post-nap recovery. Finn edged Carlos out for the gold in the shirtless competition.