An In-Timlin-dating Race

Hopkinton plays home to two great races each year, one of them in April when the heartiest of fools embark on their 26.2 mile trek. The other was today, the 6th annual Sharon Timlin Memorial 5K Race to Cure ALS.

Cheers to Red Sox pitcher Mike Timlin and his sister Dawn who organize the race each year and draw quite the crowd to the center of Hopkinton to support a terrific cause.

Jeers to race organizers who cap the race at 1,500 runners, and then only have 1,266 runners/walkers participate, turning away perspective runners (and $$$!) in the process.

Anyway, the last two years, there's been a couple of staples at the race - loyalist Sue Spence, who tried valiantly to pull together a running team for this year's race six months ago, and Andrew Cook, who got his butt handed to him on the course last year thanks to a fake-out ending to break his spirit.


This year, Sue's husband Scott joined her for the course, but not before taking my son on a grueling 3.5 mile warm-up in muggy conditions, forcing them both into a mad sprint to make it back to the starting line in time for the starting gun.

Take a gander at some of the race pics. Big-time props to Scott, finishing 23rd out of the huge field.













Andrew, meanwhile, is determined to make a return to Hopkinton for the Timlin race next year to erase the two torturous ones he's experienced. Wait till he experiences Hopkinton in April!