Green Lighting & Jolly Jaunt

Last night, the Mrs and I, and some friends went to the annual Lighting of the Green in Falmouth center. I had never been to one in the 3+ decades that I have lived here. It was rather sloppy weather when we left the house, so we did not bring the camera. In the short time it took us to get there, the clouds were breaking up and we even had a little moonshine. Oh well. It was a nice time and I am happy to have finally experienced it.


Jolly Jaunt to benefit Special Olympics of Massachusetts


I left the house around 10:45 this morning bound for Hyannis. It was snowing moderately and there was about 3/4 on an inch on the ground. I had been checking the radar loops all morning and thought it would not be too bad to run in.

On the way to Hyannis the snow seemed to become heavier, but there was less on the ground as I got away from the upper Cape. I arrived at the Sheraton Resort and Conference Center in Hyannis about 11:15 and made my way inside for registration. I was met by two young ladies that I work with who had already registered. I got my number and goodie bag (this was a great one with a long-sleeved event t-shirt, key lanyards, dried cranberry samples from Ocean Spray and a set of brand new BoseTriPort IE headphones for iPod. I guess I need to get one of those now!).

After registering I went back out to the truck to get ready for the race. I felt I had on too much clothing despite the 35°F temperatures and snow. So, I dumped the running pants I had on and ran in shorts, two long sleeve tops and a light rain jacket. Oh, and a Santa hat....

Due to the weather, they made all necessary announcements inside the conference hall and we were then lead to the starting line by a single bag piper. I started right at the front of the starting line on the far right side. It was snowing quite nicely now and they were big, lumpy flakes. Unfortunately I decided to leave my camera behind in the truck. I would have loved to capture the images of the snow, the lead Barnstable Police cruiser and all the racers behind me.

Just after noon, the director sounded the horn and we were off. The cruiser lead us down the road, sirens whaling for a time which gave me a boost. The snow flakes were somewhat problematic in that they would splat right on my eyelashes. The snow did slow down though so it became quite tolerable. I did become slightly overheated in the rain jacket, but it was not that bad. Unfortunately, about a mile in I developed a nasty stitch in my left side which I fought through the remainder of the run. After two miles or so I had removed the Santa hat to allow for some heat loss which did help that situation.

I made it back to the finish at the conference center and ended in somewhat of a sprint. I read 24:12 on the clock when I crossed, but the official has it as 24:27 and a pace of 7:53 in 42nd place out of 176. Slightly off pace, but given the circumstances, I'll take it!


A fantastic day. We stayed briefly at the conference center, but then the three of us went for coffee at a nearby establishment since there was no coffee to be had at the event.. The turnout was such that they ran out of tables in the conference center.


I thought I was done with these until early spring, but I am willing to try again.

We spent the evening at my in-laws watching the Patriots beat Seattle. A nice chance to relax at the end of a long day.