Boston-Bound!

Alison Aiken is headed to Boston! That's right... last Sunday she achieved the impossible; in the first-ever Smuttynose Marathon along the seacoast in Hampton, New Hampshire, she ran a Boston-qualifying time of 3:44:20. Yayyy, Alison! What made the accomplishment even more special was the fact that Ali's training partner Kristen Courcelle was also on-hand at Smuttynose. The two runners, determined to qualify, ran in several triathlons and foot-races this summer, and they did speedwork together too -- often in hurricane-like and rainy conditions. But regardless of weather, they never bagged out of a workout. The result: Kristen also qualified with over a minute to spare. Both of them ran strategically perfect races and remembered their rainy sprint workouts in the final miles. There were never two more deserving qualifiers!

Big congratulations also go out to Marty Courcelle, Newton Baker, and Mark Aiken, who ran strong marathons and to Heather Jarochym who kicked rear-end in her first-ever half-marathon.

All in all, it was a beautiful day in which many accomplishments were made and many goals achieved. And that's what recreational running is all about.


**Note: you will notice the sleeve-like things hanging off Alison's waist (directly under her race number) in the photo; these arm warmers were cut out of an old pair of ski socks and were meant to be "throw-aways" once she warmed up as the race got underway. But not Alison. She carried the old socks for 25 miles, and she will have them for the next race she runs... and probably the one after that and the one after that.