The People at the Lowell Ready-Set-1st Run 2011 were a great bunch of people to be around on the very first day of a new year. Karen is currently in training for the Boston Marathon. Next month she turns __(no way am I telling the world a woman's age). She was true to her training regiment and turned away friends and my willingness to help her re-load her carb levels. She's done other marathons and is really setting a glorious pace for all to try and keep up with.

---Lisa(1224), it turned out, lived in a town close to where I live and we have mutual friends. We shared both running stories and "do you happen to know..."stories. It did make it fun to travel 100 miles and be able to share home town tales with such a great person.

---Then there was Ron and company. Ron(167) was there on the first day of a new year to run his first ever road race. Rachael(169)was also doing her first race ever. Nick(yellow hat) was there to run his 2nd race. Alexander(170) was one of the more experienced of the group since he was in his 3rd or 4th race. And Diane....when Ron introduced me to Diane he said she had run 1000's of races. In this day and age of running I wouldn't doubt that 1000's of races could be run by an individual. For me, no matter what the running experience of each one individually, I was proud of the fact they were there participating--happily--in a sport that allows families to experience memories together.

----What a great day it was in Lowell on the 1st day of 2011. The music, the food, the race, the 50 plus degrees in January, and especially the GREAT people. Somehow next year, drag yourself out of bed and go enjoy the wonderful race and atmosphere.