Winter

I think most of us have been around New England for long enough that we aren’t surprised winter hasn’t let go yet, and has presented some challenging running conditions the last few weeks. Being flexible is a key part of our sport: changing routes, running at different times of the day, using treadmills. We all have our preferences – I tend to like getting out early, completing a run before the craziness of the day begins. As difficult as it is, I appreciate being forced to mix it up; it provides an opportunity to see how I react when running at different times. You just never know what kinds of events might come up, so best to get some idea of what to do ahead of time. This time of year, just make sure to be safe out there – to which – if you’re new to the area, several members use industrial parks such as Cherry Hill in Danvers to run when the snow narrows the roads. It’s a good one to check out if you haven’t already.

2023 Winter Banquet

Our 2023 Winter Banquet will be held on Saturday March 11th, 6PM at the Village Tavern in Salem. This is a great time to get together to celebrate the previous year’s events (WGP, USATF, MCR) and just have a good time in general. There’s still time to RSVP, use the following evite to do so: 2023 Wicked Winter Banquet.

Stew Chase, USATF and WGP

In the last newsletter I neglected to point out that Mary Herchenhahn placed first in her age group at the Great Stew Chase on January 29th! Congratulations Mary, and apologies for missing it!

Wicked had a great showing at the first USATF race on Sunday Feb 12th! We fielded 6 scoring teams including a top 5 finish for the women’s 50+ squad! We’re all cheering on and looking forward to seeing what this group will bring this year!

And today, we also began our Wicked Grand Prix, at the Claddagh Pub in Laurence. Great showing of Wickeds at a very well attended event.

Casting for Women Marathoners?

Yes, you read that correctly. Wicked was contacted by a casting company “Slate Casting”, a Boston based company who is looking for women who are training for a marathon. We don’t know much more about them besides exchanging a few emails and checking out their website www.slatecasting.com. They do look legitimate to us, but your mileage may vary.  Their flyer is above, you can respond to the email provided or if you have other questions you can contact Julie Knowlton: julie@slatecasting.com.

Winter / Spring Marathons, Boston Marathon

We have several members participating in winter marathons this year, including board member Cailie Trombley who just received her six-star Abbott World Marathon award in Tokyo! Congratulations Cailie!

Back here in New England, we have several members training for the Boston Marathon. For those who are targeting Boston, we are once again working with Notch Brewery to provide a private bus to the start line. Check your email for details, but basically you need to register using this form, which has instructions on how to make your payment. Finally, as it’s not uncommon for people to train on the Boston Marathon course itself, we’d like to pass on a request from the B.A.A. to NOT schedule any training runs there for the weekend of March 25th. This weekend is three weeks prior to the Boston Marathon itself and it appears in the past that the sheer number of people doing their last long run on the course has caused problems.

Wicked again will be staffing the Mile 17 Gel stop on the day of the marathon. Alen Yen is coordinating this important service this year. We are fortunate to have many volunteers who have stepped up to help Wicked and Alen, our thanks goes to you!

Visit to Marathon Sports

Wicked had a great night on March 1st visiting Marathon Sports at their Swampscott location (the previous Greater Boston Running Company). Members receive a 15% discount off of merchandise at this store, but on that evening we received 20% off of most Boston Marathon gear.

• Monday Evening Falconer / BackBeat Runs
• The Monday night runs continue to gain momentum and we’ve been getting larger gatherings at the Falconer this year. You’ll see more news on this soon, but now that March is upon us, we anticipate returning to BackBeat Brewery this month. Please stay tuned into email and Facebook for more details on this transition back to the original location. Big thanks goes to the Falconer and member Matt Adams who worked with them to provide an alternate location for January and February.

• Upcoming Events

All club events (not including regular runs such as Monday night) are listed on our website. Close on the horizon are:

• Saturday, March 11, 6PM. Winter Banquet, Village Tavern Salem.
• Wednesday, March 15th, 6:30PM, Board of Directors meeting, Tom Mistretta’s house.
• Saturday, April 1st, 10AM: USATF Race #2, Frank Nealon Boston Tune-Up 15K, Upton MA
• Monday, April 17, Boston Marathon / Boston Marathon Gel Stop.
• Sunday, April 30, WGP Race #2: Black Excellence 5K.

As always, I welcome your feedback and/or questions.