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running: Area running clubs offer camaraderie, support,
#0-3700
By Jennifer Lord/ Daily
News Staff
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Members of the Greater Framingham Running Club head out
on an early run that started at the Brophy School. (Mark Fisette photo)
Running doesn’t have to be a solitary sport.
True, the basics are pretty much just you and a pair
of decent sneakers. But many frequent runners share a secret weapon that gets
them out the door on a regular basis: peer pressure, in the form of friends
who regularly run with them.
Barring a friend in the neighborhood, local running
clubs bring runners together, providing companionship, safety in numbers and
varying routes to keep the experience interesting.
"It makes a world of difference, really,"
said Ken Barrett, president of the Greater Framingham Running Club. "The
key to the whole thing is consistency. It gets you out the door knowing
you’re going to meet your friends."
The Greater Framingham Running Club has been taking it
to the streets since 1979 and boasts a membership of about 160 runners. The
group meets twice during the work week and at least once on the weekend for
runs of varying distances. It’s also affiliated with a popular track program
for children that meets Wednesdays at 5:45 p.m. at Bowditch Field in
Framingham.
Getting younger people interested in running was part
of the motivation for Mark Andrew, who revitalized Marlborough’s Highland
City Striders when he moved back to the city two years ago. As the Marlborough
High School girls’ track coach, he knows a team effort can make the
difference when it comes to keeping a runner on the road.
"Running is the great equalizer -- anyone can do
it," Andrew said. "You don’t need a whole lot of gear. Not
everyone can shoot a goal or make a basket, but just about everyone can run.
"Most of our runners are professional adults in
their 30s and 40s," he added. "Most of us have children, some even
have college-age children, and we’re just trying to stay in shape as we
approach middle age."
The Highland City Striders was originally founded 25
years ago but membership dwindled. Now the group gets together twice during
the work week but the largest turnout is reserved for Sunday mornings, when
over a dozen people meet for a long run.
"Anyone who’s run in Marlborough knows the
Highland City name is accurate -- all those hills," Andrew said.
The group has organized several local events,
including an end-of-summer 5K at Ghiloni Park and, for the third year, they
will be putting on the Main Street Mile, benefiting the high school track
team, at the Horatio Alger Street Fair in October. They also have a street
race the Sunday after Thanksgiving with an entry fee of 10 cans of food, all
of which is donated to the Marlboro Food Pantry.
The Greater Framingham Running Club is best known for
its annual Art Doyle Memorial 5K Road Race, named for the Framingham State
College vice president and enthusiastic club member who died in 2002 in a car
accident.
"We have maybe a couple dozen members who run the
Boston Marathon every year," Barrett said. "And there are some who
even run a marathon in the fall as well."
Several Framingham members have also joined the
Hopkinton Running Club, one of the newer running clubs in the area. With
Hopkinton being the starting point of the Boston Marathon, interest in the
sport tends to peak in the spring every year but the club has also found
success sponsoring the Sharon Timlin 5K Race, which benefits the Angel Fund
for ALS research, Barrett said.
The Highland City Striders welcomes runners from Marlborough and Hudson.
For information, go to www.freewebs.com/hcstriders
/index.htm.
Runners from the Framingham area can find schedules for the Greater
Framingham Running Club at www.gfrcrun.org.
Hopkinton is not only the home of the Boston Marathon, it’s also the
home of the Hopkinton Running Club, www.home.comcast.net/(tilde
)runhopkinton/.