The Next Generation of Turkey Trotters

For as long as this blog's been alive (which has been about 15 years, give or take), I've taken the opportunity of a Thanksgiving morning run to give thanks for my circle of family and friends and the opportunity to gather many of them in one place with running being the unifying activity.

And this year was no exception, with a fledgling 5K in Westford's Nabnasset neighborhood serving as the backdrop.  For me, at least, it was also a return to my running roots, but more on that later.

Unfortunately, one of the many activity casualties of the pandemic and the changes it wrought was the 5K from the Lowell Elks, which is no more.  That always gave the E Streeters extended family a gathering point where we could collect and run along the streets of Pawtucketville.

Alas, with that race course now off the table, it was time to find a new course.

And thanks to my niece Brianne who connected through the Greater Lowell Road Runners, we found a delightful start-up 5K in Westford, courtesy of the Peternell family.

But first warm-ups, as in jumping jacks, sort of, Brook.

It's so inspiring to see the Lemay girls embracing the fun of running, and in the meantime, logging some serious mileage and award honors!

Harper may be too young to officially run yet, but damned if she isn't the cutest cheerleader out there!

Again, highest of props to the Peternell family of Lake Shore Drive South in Westford who opened their house, yard, and street to the 50+ runners this cold November morning.

The entry fee for the race?  Donations for the local food pantry!  Bravo!

This Thanksgiving outing also provided the venue for Chewie's first official 5K!

As regular readers know, Chewie has been logging the mileage every weekend with the E Streeters, but today's race gave him the opportunity to compete for reals.

Andrew was nice enough to hang with the Old Man, and the backroads of Westford gave him the opportunity for a great race course selfie.

Great job by Addy, gearing up here for the biggest hill of the course

Chewie is just hitting his stride heading into Mile 2

Heading back to Lake Shore Drive, both by running buddies were starting to leave me in their shadows

Finish line furry fury!

Haley, who's been crushing the long-distance mileage, was a wonderful sister running back out to help push her older sister in with a final burst of speed

Afterwards, we're all envisioning the Thanksgiving feast to come

And Haley will be sure to bring her third-place avocado award to said feast!

As I do every year, I appreciate being able to take this opportunity to give thanks for my family and friends, and being healthy enough to drag my sorry @$$ out there on a cold November morning to log the running miles.

This year's outing spotlighted the up-and-coming generation of runners leaving older runners like me in their dust, and I couldn't be prouder.

Today's race also hearkens back to an important piece of E Streeters running history.

32 years ago, in the summer of 1990, I officially kicked off my running career, other than the annual outing we all previously did for the Hynes 5 miler every March.  But that one doesn't really count, because we ran it in Chuck Taylors and only did it for the party afterwards.

Yep, 32 years ago, John Piekos, Scott Spence and I used to run a four-mile loop from John's house, affectionally called the Lake Run.  Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of houses now occupy the fields and trails we used to run as part of this course, so the original course is in the history books.

But today was a nice throwback to some of our earliest social and athletic gatherings, and I'm proud as hell that the Lemay girls and their friends could experience the exhilaration and satisfaction of running in a group and challenging themselves to always move forward!

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!

Climbing WaCHEWsett

Every fall, Andrew and I try to squeeze in as many hikes as possible, taking advantage of as many gorgeous New England trails, and mountains as possible, and this, year, a primo textbook fall foliage season, was no exception.

This time, we brought a friend.

Anyone who follows me on any of the other social media platforms knows our two-year-old Cockapoo, Chewie, is quite the outdoor - and athletic - puppy.  He runs with me nearly every weekend, finishes the run, then wants to go for a walk.

So this time out, Andrew and decided to tackle a smaller mountain and bring our 16-pound brown-haired pup along for the outing.  Little did we know it was us who'd be left in Chewie's dust as we climbed Mount Wachusett in Princeton, Mass., just alongside Westminster.

(Mount Wachusett draws its name from a Native American term meaning "near the mountain.")

For many Mays over the last two decades, the E Streeters would take part in a 4/5 mile race up the mountain, and it was quite common for the race course to change from year to year, depending on trail conditions, construction projects, and roadway or trail access.

For this outing, Andrew and I decided to explore the Balance Rock trail option to start, a leg that occasionally served as the finish quarter-mile for the trail race.  Apparently, the boulders of Balance Rock are evidence of glacial activity that shaped the mountain thousands of years ago.

Courtesy of the Princeton Historical Society, here's what the trail path looked like more than a century ago: (the rocks haven't moved, but man, the trees have grown!)

We realized pretty quickly Andrew and I would be no match for Chewie's mountaineering.  He just instinctively knows how to follow a trail, regardless of its twist and turns.

This particular day, we had to contend with some rain.  The temps still hovered near 70, but the rainfall brought with it some fog, especially at the summit, and some slippery footing.

As Chewie scaled the rocks ahead of us, Andrew and I decided to explore the Semuhenna trail.  Now, knowing my late brother Gerald's passion for Native American history, I needed to know the origin of Semuhenna, since I had never heard the word before.  Imagine my surprise/disappointment to find it's the name Anne Humes spelled backwards.  She apparently was the wife of Bob Humes, a trailblazer of the Mid State Trail network.

The whole trail will get you just about four miles, before arriving to the summit, enshrouded this day with a thick, heavy fog.

This particular day, though, thanks to the weather, it also helped keep the population significantly low, giving us almost exclusive access to the trails.

The summit is just over 2,000 feet, so half the size of some of the 4,000 footers Andrew and I have tackled in years past.

Back down at the bottom of the slope, our Chewie bear wanted nothing to do with his distant relatives in the wood-carvings that surround the ski lodge, a popular ski resort in the winter months.

Undaunted by the climb, our intrepid climber, a little wet for the wear, stands ready to head home.  And the four-hour nap that awaits him there.

Chewie joined us in 2021 to scale Rattlesnake Mountain in the White Mountain range.  I'm thinking our four-footed pal is ready to tackle his first 4,000 footer.  Any suggestions from readers?  Chewie awaits your recommendations!