Mark the date: Saturday, September 27!

 Yes, I know, I've already mentioned it a few times: The Victory Lap celebration of the new track (which, by the way, is friggin AWESOME) is all set for Saturday, September 27. A few more details since the last post (please note = all these details are tentative and will be confirmed in the coming days/weeks): 

--The event will be from 3p to 5p on Saturday. If you arrive early and if you stay late ... that's OK! We'll be there -- before, during and after. 

The "program" will consist of three main elements: 

--1-The actual Victory Lap, where we all walk a lap of the new track (did I mention? it's AWESOME!). Hopefully, this will be chronicled with drone (or other) footage. At the very least! Many selfies and social media posts that I will likely not see!

--2-Kids dash races, modeled after the Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club summer track series (which, if we have our way, will be held on the North Field Track next summer!). It will be broken up by age groups, and dashes will range from 50 meters (for the youngest) and 200 meters (for the oldest).

--3-The Alumni Mile, which is open to all. Already, there is Much Anticipation (and perhaps even a little Trash Talking) for this race. It will be a mile, none of this 1,600 nonsense. We'll likely have pre-registration, so we have an idea of how many runners we'll have. We'll definitely have separate races by gender, and possibly by age group, again depending on the number of entries.

Aside from those three "formal" elements, mostly we'll just encourage you to hang out and soak in the somewhat surreal fact that we have an outdoor track on the Marist campus. 

Also, we may host something informal off-campus for those who want to continue to hang out + those who want to get a pre-race dinner in advance of Sunday's Dutchess County Classic road race. 

There are more things in the works for this day, but for now that's the update. Please come back to celebrate. Bring kids, family, friends, anyone! And please, spread the word to one and all. Neat.

Staff lap

 

The new North Field track is getting closer to completion, as you can SEE from this selfie taken from Coach Billy's phone with Coach Alisha and me in there as well. Not all the lines (and markings) have been completed. But it's getting MUCH closer to being a finished product. Neat. 

'Victory Lap' celebration

 Hi everyone, hope summer is going well. Historically, there are not many posts on this blog during this time of year and that will likely be the case again this year. Several alums have been inquiring about the "Victory Lap" celebration of our new track on Saturday, September 27. I don't have many additional details yet as we are still ironing them out internally. A few things that have come up: 

--Yes, the Alumni Mile will be happening, and there seems to be Great Enthusiasm for this. We will do our best to have official timing there -- no confirmation of that yet. In terms of heats, age groups, etc. = we'll see! We'll probably have some form of registration in advance so we have an idea of who will be racing.

--The Dutchess County Classic half marathon and 10km are on Sunday, September 28. It's one of the reasons we picked this weekend for the celebration, as many alums come back here to race. However, the Classic ALSO has a 5km on Saturday afternoon. Will that conflict with the "Victory Lap" celebration? No. And Yes. If you are planning to race the Alumni Mile, doing the Classic 5km probably won't be practical as the timing won't work. If you want to race the Classic 5km AND come to the celebration? Definitely doable.

--The time of day for the celebration? Still working that out, but almost definitely in the afternoon and possibly late afternoon into early evening (so we can show off the stadium lights!). But again, it's fluid and we'll be there for a few hours. But in terms of planning your travel to Poughkeepsie, if you live within a few hours, driving up Saturday morning is definitely doable.

Hope this information helps and REALLY looking forward to seeing many of you in a few months. Neat.