Wendy Mastripolito

Thanksgiving Day - November 22nd Berwick, PA... I can’t imagine a more properly executed race. Sure it was cold, and sure it was far away, and sure it was Thanksgiving but it is one of those races where you go ...and fall in love. Was it the elevation changes? .....Was it the 2 hour drive on Thanksgiving?..... Was it the beautiful mountain views?...... Was it the VFW veterans who volunteer and warm you heart?..... Or was it the world class competition that seems to find this out in nowhere race? This was the 103rd running of The Run for Diamonds and it draws over 1,000 competitors, this year there will be 1,400 people running in “milder” conditions. It is one of those races that draws out the really FAST runners, the super freaks who run up and down mountains in a 4 and 5 min pace.... to make it into the top 5 of the older peeps groups you have to be in the 6’s or 7’s.. ouch. At mile 2 there is a hill.. it’s one of those hills that you say ... oh yeah that is SOME HILL... i...

Was jumping up and down on the finish line... Sometimes things just go so right. The weather is perfect, the legs feel perfect, the mind feels perfect.. Yesterday I ran what I consider a perfect race Although things started off a bit skurry... as I forgot my beloved watch and had to circle back to the house at 5:30am... thankfully... I had only traveled a few miles when I realized that the beloved lifeline of specs was not attached to my wrist..jeez us how could I forget the WATCH!!??! Thankfully,  Route 76 didn’t give me the normal hassles and I arrived in Philly with a quick park and jog to the start. I had plenty of time to start, in fact, I had time to walk in giant circles for 45 minutes. I saw Cecile Tynan, she and her husband were wearing matching warm ups.. I smiled and she smiled back... I think. It was plenty cold and I couldn’t wait to get this party started. I love shorter races because I can go all out and be done with it. But perhaps I should...

So... I somehow convinced Joe to run the Harrisburg Marathon with me as a long training run on Sunday. We were scheduled for a 21 miler and well, it’s “only” another 5 miles.. right!?.. (he really should never take advice from someone who can run around in circles for 24 hours) ... See Joe, someone would be handing us water, and we will be running with 1,000 of our “closest friends”.. it’s a win-win! Actually, the marathon was a delight, it was low key enough that we didn’t have to stay overnight in a hotel and we were allowed to pick up our race packet in the morning. So up at 4:30am, in the car, arrive by 7am… pick up packet and wait for start. Interesting the people you see that do marathons..the smoking dude, the girl who needed to cover up the “puppies” as they were hanging out of her sports bra... and oh yeah the “elites” doing warm ups… really? you do realize we are all going to run 26.2 miles in a bit .. right? We were lucky..we got to park near the start so...