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 AOW Ann Marie Johnson at Mile 22 of Boston By EJ Hrynowski
The AOW for week ending May 5th exemplifies “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” very nicely. On Patriots’ Day, she was among the Greater Lowell runners prevented from finishing the Boston Marathon. But she shook off that disappointment well enough to be the women’s winner at the Westford Road Race 10k a mere three weeks later in 44:13.
Please join me in congratulating Ann Marie Johnson on her selection as Athlete Of the Week!
Photo of Ann Marie about four miles from the Boston finish line courtesy of Matt Story.
 AOW John Barbour at USATF NE XC Championships By EJ Hrynowski
The AOW for week ending April 28th is more than a local legend, he strikes fear into the hearts of the competition at a national level. That’s really tough to do when you’re at the top end of a ten year age group, but soon enough John Barbour will once again be an AG youngster and wreaking havoc on the USATF national scene.
At the James Joyce Ramble 10k, I made the mistake of chasing John in the first mile without looking at my Garmin. He rolled past the first mile clock somewhere around 5:30 and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay with him. Five or so quality miles later, John crossed the line in 36:40, in 31st place for all masters championship registrants and led the Greater Lowell Masters team (along with Mark Reeder) to second place.
Great leaders show you how it’s done, and John does a GREAT job of leading our racing team.
Forget about the age groupings for a moment, and marvel at his age graded result at 90.27% which was good for third out of about a gazillion combatants. THAT is how you run like an Angry Chicken.
File photo of John (center, wearing bright green gloves) at USATF NE XC Championship in Franklin Park courtesy of Scott Mason. Why a file photo instead of one from The Ramble? Because it shows John’s outstanding form and drive, his ancient Nike waffle flats, and because we can never have enough of Matt Curran in caveman mode.
 Our 3rd Place Trophy from 2012 By Frank Georges
GLRR will be participating in the 2013 26×1 Mile Club Challenge Relay to be held at the Tufts University Ellis Oval track this year at 8:00 A.M on June 22nd. This is a co-ed event in which teams of 26 people have each person run a mile, with the whole team completing a marathon. (Actually each person runs 4 laps around a track or 1600 meters, which is only nine meters off from a mile.) Each team consists of 10 women and 16 men. Last year, GLRR fielded two teams and our top team took third place out of fifteen teams. This year we seek to move up the standings and place either first or second. This is a fun event which is held throughout the morning. It’s an opportunity for you to meet other club members, watch them run and cheer them on. (This usually doesn’t happen at a road race as everyone is running at the same time.)
The club pays for the entry. There is no charge to run in the event. You MUST be a signed-up GLRR member to participate.
If you are interested in doing this event follow these two steps:
1) Go to this website to register:https://www.racemenu.com/events/25461-26×1-Mile-Club-Challenge-Relay-2013
You will need to make a racemenu account to sign up if you don’t already have one. When you sign up, join the team called
“Greater Lowell Road Runners A”.
2) Send an e-mail to me at glrrfg@yahoo.com. Indicate your best guess for the mile time. I will do my best to put everyone on an appropriate team.
Thanks everyone. Hope to see you all on June 22nd in Somerville!
 fabulous Greater Lowell logo courtesy of Andrew Biancheri By EJ Hrynowski
We have (at long last) arrived at the AOW week that includes Patriots’ Day, and in spite of a number of award-worthy performances I think we all know who the King of Marathon Monday was. James “the Pocatello Kid” Sullivan was the unanimous choice, and the only difficult task for the committee was going to be selecting the picture that best represented his epic run from Hopkinton to Copley Square.
But just prior to his coronation, he contacted the AOW committee and abdicated. As AOW czar, my first inclination was to reject the request outright. After thinking about it, I decided when you train as hard as The Kid, and you RACE a marathon as hard as The Kid…you’ve earned the right to designate an alternate. And a fine alternate he has chosen, the club officers and volunteers that make Greater Lowell the outstanding organization that it is.
It really starts with the members of the board (including The Kid) who put in the long hours organizing the races that contribute to our coffers. This allows us to support club members and the Merrimack Valley running community in a variety of ways, including the on-course marathon training runs that help to get so many of our runners race-ready.
The volunteers who assist our marathon runners make it incredibly easy to relax and focus on training for the race, and then focus on cashing in those fitness chips and running the race you trained for. On Marathon Monday they give up a day in the life to handle baggage, apply sunscreen, provide last minute supplies and encouragement, etc, etc, etc. The support gets even more amazing after we cross the line.
All of this is true for each running of the world’s oldest annual marathon, but was especially true this year. The importance of our officers and volunteers was amplified on a day when the Boston Marathon was attacked and forever changed. Under difficult circumstances, we saw the fortitude that is the foundation of Boston Strong.
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GLRR Club Mtg
