Beef Stu

The E Streeters Boston Marathon training machine headed for the Worcester Hills today, logging 30K (that's 18.6 miles for the non-runners reading the blog), and the hills lived up to their legends.

Who knew it would be a Tour de Patrick?

Pre-race, Andrew flexed some early muscle

One of these two runners would log a 2:33 30K.  You take a guess which one.

We all held our breath for the obligatory pre-race group photo.  Not because of the course, just sucking in our guts

Immediately Scott made his move

Scott even had strangers looking to see where his post-race Stew Fest would be held

We had all the angles covered with our race cam

The Four Horsemen

And immediately in our first mile, Andrew sets his sights on the first of six town lines.  He's got this.

That is, until Tommy roared up behind him and claimed first blood.  First, and last.  A birthday gift for the man.

After that crushing town line defeat, Andrew decided to set the pace

Six miles in, we were doing our best Reservoir Dogs imitation.  Little known fact, the historic church in the background of his pic was the scene of a picnic and one of Jackie and my first dates, 22 year ago!  No plaques were erected in our honor, sadly.

The brothers grim

WAMPS like us - don't ask us, we don't know what the hell it stands for either.

Couldn't pass this one up - Wicked Good, as in this blog, AND Cookies?  It was destiny.

At mile 11, Andrew's low point, he and Scott are still stride for stride.

Barry and Tommy were shedding their clothes along the course, a common occurrence for the pair whenever they go out in public.

Andrew's tongue is only hanging out because he was trying to catch some of the snowflakes

Two miles to go, and they've both still got plenty of gas left in their tanks

After the race, the medal clearly weighs heavy around Andrew's neck.   That's what happens when you're the first - and ONLY - runner under the age of 20 to finish the race!

And finally, the reason we all did the damn run in the first place - Scott's stew!

A group stew

Tommy and Andrew are all business.  Their focus is inspirational.

And later, back home, having had some time to come off his runner's high, Andrew feels reality sink in.  How does he feel?  My shirt says it all - Mighty Thor.

Congrats to the whole E Streeter team today, but the biggest of all thank yous to Ann Scanlon, the Queen of the Course.  She leapfrogged all along the course, stopping every two miles to greet us with drinks of water and supplying us with much needed breaks and places to deposit our clothing as the day warmed.  She was a fan favorite for all, even collecting gear from other runners who kept seeing her along the course.  And this, all with a case of complete laryngitis!  But that didn't silence her clapping hands!  Three cheers for Ann, our Stu's MVP!  Or co-MVP, with Scott's stew.

Doom of the Unknown Runners

When your running status for a weekend E Streeters run is reported out as "UNKNOWN," you might as well dress the part.

Hey, Chucky, Chucky, Chucky, Chucky, stop me if you've heard this one!

Gong!

Anyway, with the 1970s comedy show homage out of the way, it was time for some serious running in Westford and Chelmsford, and for John, that meant a chance to catch up with Scott and Carlos and hear what's going on in their lives. (Note: they're all wearing their yellow jackets.)

 Here they are sharing stories about their work weeks.

On this stretch, John was able to hear what Courtney and Kayla have been up to.

At one point, they actually were spotted in the same county and got a chance to say hello

John, bewildered to see his wife's car along the course, is left wondering how Karen gets to log time with a professional personal trainer, and John is stuck with Carlos, Scott and I as his personal trainers.  Doesn't seem fair.

Nothing left for John to do but sprint and snatch the victory of a town line from the grasp of Scott and Carlos.  He paid the price, though, losing the ability to breathe again.

As the laws of physics dictate, if you leave a town, you have to go back into it again, meaning another town line race.  Who won that one?  Well, luckily we had a camera along for the run.

Finally, back at East Boston Camps, donning their identical post-running warmdown gear, Scott and John commiserate over the town line victories.  Clearly, Scott didn't like the results.

 

Off to carbo load for the 18.6 mile Stu's Run on Sunday in Clinton, Sterling, and Boylston!  Town lines aplenty there!

Three Chairs!

Just a quick and easy post to chronicle a quick and easy five-mile run through Lowell and Chelmsford.

Why?
Mostly to show you that on any given day, on any given run, you never know what kind of sights you're going to see along your course.  Always make sure to take in your surroundings, and sharpen your powers of observation as you trek through the backroads of the towns that play host to your runs.  It helps pass the time.

And always be ready to find the unexpected.

Like a slew of seemingly perfectly good office furniture abandoned on the streets of the former Julian Steele housing project off upper Gorham Street in Lowell

Seriously, we can't make this stuff up.  We feel it's incumbent upon us to document this absurdity.

Yep, Tommy and Barry, dew-rags and all, were back in the 'hood once again.  Thankfully this time, no bottles were being flung in the darkness of night.

But just in case any of you suburban types think this roadside office set-ups are distinct to Lowell, I say thee nay!  Barry found this seat of power alongside the road in Chelmsford, and it was much worse for the wear.  At least the Lowell ones, you could sit on!

Our chairful run complete, the Chairmen of the Broad headed off into the sunset. 

Chairs to you!

Penn-Ultimate!

Got a chance to spend some time hanging with Sean Penn when he came to town on Tuesday to speak at Middlesex Community College's One World Series, detailing his efforts to help rebuild Haiti, decimated by a killer earthquake in January, 2010.





 

The event at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium was pulled together by the college's Student Activities Crew.  Backstage with the Academy Award winner, it was refreshing to see how unpretentious he was and how passionate he felt about the cause that's dominated his life for the last three years.

Penn has quite the storied Hollywood career, headlining movies like Mystic River, Gangster Squad, I Am Sam, Milk, Casualties of War, and of course, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Penn wasn't in town to toot his own Hollywood horn, though, swearing off any Hollywood talk and instead insisting on keeping the dialogue with the 700 folks in attendance focused on Haiti.

Backstage, Dan Martin was keep a tight lid on things

Mary-Jo Griffin, along with Lt. General Ken Keen, who was in charge of military relief efforts on the ground in Haiti, and whose son, Ryan, is a psychology professor at MCC.

Mary-Jo shows the power of social media, tweeting live and texting back and forth with an unnamed pain-in-the-neck co-worker.  (She's does this during movies, too.)

On stage, Sean was passionate for his cause, fielding questions from a group of MCC students.

Getting the MCC swag on stage

Members of this year's class of Paul Sullivan Leadership Institute Fellows

The event can't go off seamlessly without an army of volunteers behind the scenes

The Student Activities Crew, or Gang, or whatever you want to call them.  Rebecca take note:  Melissa actually WAS in the picture at the time of taking.

Our resident Hollywood maven, Judy Burke, chats it up

Backstage, Dean of Students Pam Flaherty is beaming because Sean donned his MCC sweatshirt.

Photographer/moderator Paula Dias, and President Carole Cowan join forces with Sean.

And finally, the man on the other side of the camera lens for all of the above shots, MCC's own Argo, Kevin Harkins, he of www.harkinsphotography.com

A great day with a great guy, he was a genuine article, and a lot of fun to be around.  My personal highlight of the day was backstage with the star, trading Steven Wright one-liners back and forth.  He does a dead-on impression of the stand-up comedian and MCC alum.

Overall, a stu-Penn-dous day!