THANKSGINVING DAY RUN, NOV. 26

Debbie Sheedy found the ice and Matt Curran didn't find what he was looking for as two dozen runners followed Bob Gillis through the soggy backyards of East Gloucester and across windswept Good Harbor Beach Thanksgiving morning.

The sky was gray and the golf course soggy but snow-less when J. D. waved us off from the Bass Rocks tennis courts at 8 a.m. By 8:05, just after we breasted the first hill onto the paved path we hit the first patch of black ice and Debbie hit the ground, wet but unhurt.

Meanwhile, back in snow-covered Lanesville, Matt was taking his time figuring that (a.) the start was really 8:30 or (b.) even if he was a little late for an 8 a.m. the start he'd just follow the tracks in the snow and catch up.

Back on the run Bob was already at a key crossroads. "Do you want to
get your tootsies wet or go out on the roads? " he asked eyeing a squishy
path through the brambles to the left. No brainer. Squish, squish off we
went through a back yard here and a driveway there. "I consider it a success
if none of the neighbors shoot us," says Bob. The neighbor dog just barked.

Down toward Good Harbor we went and across the footbridge heading
toward Salt
Island in the teeth of a gale.

Matt, meanwhile, was in aimless pursuit with no footprints in the non-existent snow to track. Until he gets to the footbridge and a sees a slew of footprints heading into east in the teeth of the gale. But the length of Good Harbor later he sees no runners and no returning footprints. The pack is gone.

Gone to the dunes behind the beach. We were back tracking through the dune paths out of sight of the beach only to be blown back across the footbridge and onto Bass Avenue and up to the tennis courts. In the prescribed one hour overall. Matt met Mark and Peter driving away. He's just not used to running from behind. pw

The 2005 runners:
Captain Bob Gillis
Austin Connors
John Connors
Dick Sampson
Rich Martin
Mike Brien
Maureen Collins
Mark Asaro
Peter Asaro
Kandy Roberts
Lauri Fleming
Rich Salit
Carrie Parsi
Tom Paradis
Ed Wogan
Sheryl Smith
Debbie Sheedy
Bob Lindberg
Peter Watson
Phil Dunn
Ryan Dunn
Dave Geary
Charlie Kellogg
Al Mallette
And Matt Curran
and J. D. too