All About the YooHoo

It's springtime in New England, so that mean it's time to Run the Rivah once again!

The 22nd annual 10 mile Merrimack River trail race, the baby of E Streeter extraordinaire Stephen "Petey" Peterson, is as sure a sign of spring as the first robin.  This tradition is just a lot muddier.

And with a fresh rainfall on Friday, that made for some exciting footwork on the breathtaking course from Andover to Tewksbury.

Warriors come for the run.  Others come for the coffee.

Mostly, though, they come for the legendary Top 10 chili.  Happy to finally contribute to one of the coveted Rivah tee-shirts this year, thwarted for years as as I was by finishing at the back of the pack and missing out on the once-meager offerings of chili.  Luckily, the chefs behind the scenes have since increased their rations, and there's a bowl or two left over for us back-of-the-packers.  Rivah Chili: It's Not Just for the Top 10 finishers anymore.

The trailmaster taskmaster himself, flanked by the race's 21 years of previous tees, getting ready to Cuyuga the troops at the start!

Some folks just don't know how to behave as they wait for the starting gun

And they're off!

Nearly halfway through the run lies one of the most ominous, humbling, and just downright sadistic hills known to trail-runners, known to all Merrimack River Rats as simply the Power Line Hill.

Petey is apparently everywhere on this course, including waiting atop the hill to egg us all on

It's an out-and-back course, so I get to see all the runners who are faster than me coming back at me.  That includes Scott, seen here crossing one of the dozens of brooks and waterways that riddle this course.

He still manages to "high-five" a fellow E Streeter in his quest for top 25

Shortly behind him comes Sean, mystically emerging from behind this tree

Along the course, you'll find Petey providing interesting tidbits of made-up history, including here on Cuyuga Hill, where he tells runners that they're climbing the third highest hill in Essex County, founded in the year 9.  Hey, it he said it so convincingly, I believed him.

Time for some fantastic finishes, a small stretch that features the muddiest patch on the entire course.  Many, like Chili MacSpence himself, choose the path less traveled.

Others take the plank

One of the 10 fundamental rules of running:  Always Know Where the Camera Is.  A real Mudblood, live and in person

After a grueling 10 mile trek through mud, up freakish hills, and along scenic river paths, nothing hits the spot like a bowl of Scott's chili.  Many come just for the chili and don't even run.  It's that good.

Afterwards, an E Street team photo only made sweeter by the abundance of bowls of chili.  Boston Marathoners come for the chili, too, another annual tradition

This year, Scott proudly joined the 200 Club, the prestigous club occupied by the select few who have logged 200 miles during the 22 year reign of the Run the Rivah trail race!  For that level of insanity, he gets a hat.

 And in the end, like it is every year at the Rivah, it's All About the Yoohoo.

Congrats once again to Petey and his A to Z prizes post-race. Mark your calendars for next April, and in the meantime, help Petey our by starting to think of prizes that begin with the letter X.  Cuyuga!