Three different looks at the same Saturday 19th Run For Baystate Health And The United Way in Holyoke, Ma. . This race is only in it’s first couple years of existence. But it’s rapid growth took even the organizers by surprise. The group of people you see in 1 of the photos are only a portion of the over 100% plus growth versus last year’s turn out. And to have people pose for a group shot like this shows the fun and excitement of the overall day. Every time I asked who was in charge of the organizing of the race I was told “Laura”. Laura however was one of those great people that do a ton of work and take little credit. When I asked her for a photo she gave the stage to all the people in the photo instead of taking it herself. If you can make out my blue shirt in the middle of the group, Laura is the 3rd person to YOUR right in the front row. Then there are Marie and Tina with me. They are those people I single out every once in a while in my entries. They are 2 of the many VOLUNTEERS that made this race day run smoothly. And if you have read many of my entries you will agree that I tell everyone “without the volunteers you would not be running these races”. Lisa in the 3rd photo learned that perfect conditioning and physique are not necessarily the key ingredients for having running success. Her and I ran most of the race in the same little group. The others dropped off as we began to ascend the last hill towards the finish line. It came down to her, me and the laws of physics. As you can tell in many of my photos, Avreage Al (that’s me- incase you are only reading the blog and haven’t looked at the mission statement) does not have that gazelle-like stature that many of your elite runners seem to have. So in this last dash up the final hill I had the advantage given to me by pizza, pasta, and a couple of beers during my life and the laws of physics pulled me up that final hill just ahead of the thinner ( and very pretty) Lisa. All in all it was a great race and a great cause. “Thanks” Laura and all the volunteers for their efforts for the great day.
