A small-town fever

THE fifth annual Medical School Marathon departed from Parkhurst Hall on Sunday, October 2, in a rare burst of autumn sunshine. Runners in the AAU-sanctioned, 26-mile 385-yard event had to circle Occom Pond twice before heading up to Lyme, crossing the bridge to Vermont, and following Route 5 south along the Connecticut River to the Ledyard Bridge and the finish at the College boathouse. For the tender of foot, there was also a 12-mile race that started at the Lyme Green and finished at the boathouse.

The races were friendly affairs, social as well as competitive events, with participants encouraging one another along the route. Every survivor, no matter how far behind the leaders, was greeted with cheers at the finish. All but two of the 147 runners finished the 12-mile race, and 104 of the 121 runners entered in the marathon made it across the line - 21 of them under the three-hour qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.

There were women entered in the marathon for the first time - ten of them - and they all completed the distance. Carol Gieg '79 set the course record for women with a time of 3:06.50 and, since this was also the first time a woman had run a marathon in New Hampshire, she immediately became the state record holder. Robert Duncan's time of 2:30.4 set a course record for men.

Dr. Richard Ferrell, race chairman, said that a committee of six works year-round organizing the event and mailing out results when it's over, and that nearly 30 volunteers helped out on race day by timing, patrolling the course, and maintaining aid stations. "The race is sanctioned by the AAU," Ferrell said, "but the distance isn't certified. In order to get certified, we'd have to go through a complicated procedure to measure the course. You can't just drive a car around it. The course is maybe ten minutes slower than Boston's, we've been told, but that's partly because of hills. . . . We . don't worry about attracting world-class runners. We like keeping this a friendly, I small-town event."

What you do before and after arun is every bit as important aswhat you do during a run. Inaddition to the usual sit-ups,push-ups, and pull-ups, coachesadvocate fitting plenty ofstretching into a workout. Basicyoga-type exercises, whichstretch the muscles graduallyand gently, are preferred toforcing or bouncing on themuscles.

What you do before and after arun is every bit as important aswhat you do during a run. Inaddition to the usual sit-ups,push-ups, and pull-ups, coachesadvocate fitting plenty ofstretching into a workout. Basicyoga-type exercises, whichstretch the muscles graduallyand gently, are preferred toforcing or bouncing on themuscles.

What you do before and after arun is every bit as important aswhat you do during a run. Inaddition to the usual sit-ups,push-ups, and pull-ups, coachesadvocate fitting plenty ofstretching into a workout. Basicyoga-type exercises, whichstretch the muscles graduallyand gently, are preferred toforcing or bouncing on themuscles.