Monadnock Regional Milers: President's Column
Tuesday, April 14Message from our new President
Happy Spring!!
Finally the coldest weather has gone and we have the spring and early summer season ahead of us. Please join us for the many opportunities the club has to offer from weekly runs, to local (and not so local) races, to volunteering opportunites and our periodic social get togethers.
I want to thank all of you who gave me their vote of confidence in the recent election of the board. The previous officers have spent years building a great club! Many thanks to those fine folks, all of them. With the help of a diverse and talented board and a great group of members, I think we can supply the new energy and fresh ideas to take the club forward.
The Milers is a social club about runners and running. My goal is to help our members reach their personal running goals whatever those may be....... AND HAVE FUN!!!!!! I am open to any ideas you may have for what the club can do for you, and you for it.
Keep those feet flying!!!!!
Ginger
Friday, January 16
Happy New Year
What a year end and beginning! Many Milers suffered/coped bravely without power for one to two weeks in December, and then zero and below wind chills challenged intrepid runners at the Temple Chip Chase and our first chiller Jan 10. Kudos to all hearty runners! The great majority of us know how to dress for winter running. An amazing few manage in shorts and singlets! Please be careful and prepared. As I recover form a surprise appendectomy, I look forward to rejoining the action in February. Today I ask for nominations for the 2009 President's Award, and also for nominations for President, as my tenure ends this spring. I will organize the final Chiller March 21 at 88 Prospect Street in Jaffrey, and invite everyone for fun running and warm snacks! Keep moving! Yours,Lisa Ramey
Saturday, November 15
Cold and blustery
Hello, November! Many of us really enjoy fighting the cold winds of November through March when running - a short run feels like more of a workout; at every turn, the wind is STILL in your face, and beginning shivers melt away with midrun sweat. Running on dirt roads is like treading on a natural rolling painting of colored leaves imprinted in the grey clay, much like decorated pottery underfoot. Views open up through the leafless trees. You have REALLY earned some good cocoa! Nice segue into our Chiller season, starting in January and alternating with Gate City's Freeze Your Buns runs. I expect our first Chiller will be January 10, if Gate City starts Jan 3, but no dates are definite yet. If you have never hosted a Chiller, feel free! So far, Ginger Smith in Hancock, Lisa Ramey in Jaffrey, and Jenn Helsel in Rindge are planning chillers, firm dates to be set in December for races every other week in January through March. Don't forget Temple's New Year's Day Chip Chase, already on coolrunning. Layer, enjoy, and keep moving! Yours,Lisa Ramey, President
Monday, September 1
Race into fall
September started with a bang, with many Milers of all ages meeting in Francestown for Buzzy's 5 k and the Francestown 5 miler. Great company, great weather, great refreshments, and great energetic runners! Ginger Smith has begun a new ebulletin, to be sent monthly, with occasional, more frequent hot news updates. She also works hard to provide photos of happy sweaty race finishers for the website. Two more opportunities for better communication have arisen. Matt Richard has researched a message board option - further details to follow -, and two Keene Sentinel running reporters have approached the club about participation in a fitness and running blog - further details to follow. Very exciting, especially in a time of high gas prices, with greater need for carpools, and hopefully greater interest in non motorized activities.
Please join us for two races on Sept 27 - the wellness 5k in Peterborough, an out and back along Summer Street and the bike trail, with registration at the gazebo behind the Toadstool, 9 am start; and Greenfield's inaugural Firefighter's 10k race and 4 mile walk, 11 am start at Oak Park. On Oct 11, we'll host our 5k Harvest Classic at MacDowell, with a cookout to follow, and don't forget the Tufts 10k, very well represented by Miler women!
Enjoy this great season, keep moving, and communicate any requests. Yours, Lisa Ramey
Monday, August 4
Summer thunder
Despite summer thunder, Milers have run many formal and informal runs , the most recent being the John Morgan 5 mile Classic in Jaffrey. back after a four year hiatus thanks to the Milers and the Jaffrey Friends of Recreation. The summer sizzlers wind down with two more runs, at the Depot with blueberries on Tuesday, August 5, and at the Orchard for Runner Appreciation night on August 12. Track practice has been nonexistent this summer unfortunately; Mark Blanchard's excellent track advice in our website's Coaches Corner is hopefully benefitting runners in their own programs. The Conval track is still available for any who wish to do measured repeats. Please join the crowd at the Run for the Honey, August 16 in Hancock - go to hancock5k.com for more info- and also in Rindge on August 23, and in Francestown September 1. Smile and keep moving! Yours,LIsa Ramey, President
Monday, May 26
Summer fun
Hello! Sizzlers start tomorrow, at 6:30 at Norway Hill in Hancock, and will run every Tuesday at varying venues, listed in the Ledger Transcript. MAGP and NHGP races are as listed in my March note. A fun sprint triathlon is scheduled in Winchendon for July 27, the day after the John Morgan. Several Milers ran up in Burlinton , Vt. this weekend. Kudos! This week , Thursday at the Monadnock Hospital cafeteria we'll have a Miler meeting at 6:30 for approximately one hour. Our next Miler potluck will be June 21 at the Little's in Francestown. Stay tuned! Stay involved! Keep moving!Yours, sincerely, Lisa Ramey, President
Saturday, March 22
Are You Ready for some Races?
Welcome, spring! We have several weeks before the bugs arrive, and less and less snow to clog the roadsides. For those who enjoyed our Chiller races, thanks for your support and company! Our "Kiss Winter Good bye" Pot luck dinner will be at Rick and Allain Schnable's home in Lyndeborough on April 12th at 5:30 pm. Please RSVP to lisasramey@msn.com, or to the Schnable's at razs@tellink.net with your dish. We will give the 2008 President's Award that night as well.
The NHGP race schedule is out - (1) Sun, Apr 13, Nashua Soup Kitchen 10k; (2) Sat, May 17, Bedford Rotary 12k; (3) Sun, Jun 1, Pack Monadnock 10 mile in Wilton; (4) Sat, July 19, Concord's Bill Luti 8k; (5) Saturday, Aug 9, Sandown's Old Home Day 5 mile; (6) Monday, Sept 1,Portsmouth's St. Charles Children's Home 5k; (7) Sun, Oct 19, Manchester's Race for the Fallen 5k.
Other local races other than the MAGP, listed by Shaun McMahon, include a Big Brother/Big Sister 3.5 mile race May 31, from Adams Playground in Peterborough. The Jaffrey John Morgan 5 mile race will be July 26. The Wellness Fun Run/Walk will be Sept 27, new course, flat 4 mile loop. And the Harvest Classic will be a 5k loop at MacDowell Dam Oct 11. Please run for the fun and for the camaraderie.
Two volunteer opportunities that raise money for the club are the CIGNA race in Manchester mid August, and the Tufts 10k Oct 13. Let me know if you're interested.
I hope to see you on the roads, at track which will begin at the Conval track in April, and for which we are looking for a coach(!), and at our potlucks, which should continue throughout the year!
Yours sincerely, LIsa Ramey, President