One might wonder why four runners would fly from Toronto to New Hampshire to run a marathon in Lowell, MA when there was one right here on the same day.  The answer is that the Baystate Marathon is ranked #3 as a Boston Qualifier!    Also, how else would you get your picture taken with the co-pilot?

The race was along the scenic Merrimack river with beautiful fall foliage.    My mission for this race was to get a friend in under 3:50 so she could qualify for Boston.

It was very cool at the start but they had the highschool and arena open so there were warm places to wait and lots of bathrooms.   The race was basically a double loop up one side of the river, over a bridge, down the other side of the river, over a bridge and around again.   The strangest thing was having the wind in our faces going both ways!   Running with a customized paceband and watch  has always been my approach to marathons and it worked again this time.   Amanda ran strong and finished strong and not once did she swear at her pacer – although I’m pretty sure she wanted to.

Although not a very large race, only 3000 between the full and half marathons, there were lots of spectators out cheering.   The local highschools manned the waterstations and competed for best water station with the winning team getting a donation to their x-country team.

The finish, in a ball diamond was fun.   We ran in on one side then around the outside to finish at first base.