Pottstown Goes All Out For Half Way Idea

Editor’s note:  Nice positive coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Summer racing in the Philadelphia area is usually limited to two things: 5ks or races that take place near the beach, or both. The Pottstown Half Marathon is bucking that trend with its first year race to be held on July 11.

Chris Bayless, who is the head of the Sly Fox Track Club (which is not affiliated with the brewery of the same name in the same town but often co-hosts events with track club), started thinking about putting on a half marathon because people asked him to.

“July is about half way between the spring marathon season and the fall marathon season,” he said. “That’s half way in their training for fall.” Most runners test their fitness in half marathons mid-way through training, but when Bayless looked at local race calendars, he saw a half-marathon-sized gap.

So he went to Pottstown’s city council to talk about adding one to the local race calendar. Bayless, who started directing races after he retired as head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams at Ursinus College, already puts on 45 a year through the Sly Fox Track Club.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/on-the-run/Pottstown-goes-all-out-for-half-way-idea.html#pRQM5mqK92CYtqfq.99

‘Save The Lights’ Dance Marathon Set For Memorial Day Weekend In Pottstown

Memorial Day weekend dance-a-THON.  Check out Pottstown School District’s Save the Lights website. 50 couples needed to dance.  $500 cash prize to the couple who spends the most time on the dance floor.  Registration before May 14.  Ages 9th grade to 100 years or older may register.

Polly Weand

For more information, click here: http://www.pottstownschools.com/pottstown/In%20the%20Spotlight/Save%20the%20Lights%20dance%20marathon%20set%20for%20Memorial%20Day%20weekend,%20Mercury%205-6-14.html/_top

Like this on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/SaveGriggMemorialFieldFridayNightLights

Inaugural EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler To Draw Thousands

English: EQT Tower, Pittsburgh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nearly 5,000 runners are expected to take part in Sunday’s inaugural EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler, including participants from more than 30 states and five countries, two Olympians and four American men who have broken 48 minutes for the distance.

The race, which is staged by Pittsburgh Three Rivers Marathon Inc., will begin near Station Square at 9 a.m. Sunday and finish Downtown, using a route similar to the one used for the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon. Participants will cross four bridges and go through the West End, North Side, Lawrenceville and the Strip District.

The addition of a $10,500 overall prize purse helped attract a strong field of elite runners, including Fernando Cabada, the former 25K American record holder, and three-time U.S. champion and Ian Burrell.

Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/outdoors/4962413-74/marathon-pittsburgh-mile#ixzz2jPccyzGu
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Pittsburgh Marathon: Let The Running Begin

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Runners, lace up your shoes, pin on your race number and make your way Downtown to the starting line. Pittsburgh is ready for you.

The course is set, winding 26.2 miles through 13 city neighborhoods.  The bands, musical accompaniment to aching muscles, are booked.  Medical teams will be out in force, traffic will be diverted and security measures, fine-tuned after the Boston Marathon attacks, will be in place.

A race that was on hiatus for the five years before 2009 is now a rite of spring, and this weekend, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon marks its fifth year back in Pittsburgh with a record registration.  A year’s work, planning that started after the final runner crossed the finish line last year, will be showcased as the first runner steps over the starting line this weekend.

Race director Patrice Matamoros, speaking Friday at a news conference, said the city is ready.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/let-the-running-begin-686207/#ixzz2SL13YOOH

A Perfect Marathon Day, Then The Unimaginable

Map of Massachusetts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was as good a ­Patriots Day, as good a Marathon day, as any, dry and seasonably warm but not hot like last year.  The buzz was great.  While the runners climbed Heartbreak Hill, the Red Sox were locked in another white-knuckle duel with the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park.  The only thing missing was Lou Reed crooning “Perfect Day” in the background.

The winners and the elite runners had long ago finished, when in the Fens, at shortly after 2 p.m., Mike ­Napoli kissed a ball off The Green Monster in the bottom of the ninth, allow­ing Dustin Pedroia to scamper all the way home from first base, giving the Red Sox a walk-off win.

Many of those jubilant Sox fans had walked down through Kenmore Square toward the Back Bay to watch the Marathon.

Some of them had just got to the finish line when the first bomb went off, shortly before 3 p.m.

In an instant, a perfect day had morphed into something viscerally evil.

Read more:  http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/15/perfect-day-turns-evil/W7KQHq1NWFqukte3VQ14DJ/story.html