7:30 AM - Jonny, Harry, Mom and Ellen were all up the last couple days. Mom and Harry had been helping me build the dog kennel for our new little Lizzy (St. Bernard pup). It came out so well. Wouldn't have been able to do it without them. Ellen is here from Norway for a month and we wanted to let her experience what it is like to run a road race in the states. Headed in two cars up to the parking garage by House of India. There were already people on the parade route. Pittsfield has a multi million dollar parade each year and people camp out for hours ahead of time. We had to walk close to a mile down to pick up our bib numbers. We got down there in one piece and were one of the last ones to get tshirts. I thought it was sweet that we got tshirts considering that we only paid $11 to run this race! Hung out and ran into Vitus, who has know my parents since they first starting going out. Found out the starting line was another .5 miles or so down the road and it was a good thing because we had to hoof it down there before the race. Walked down there with about 5 minutes to spare for the start of the race. There were a lot of people and I liked the race course. We started on a downhill and then hit an uphill at the one mile mark, slightly uphill to the 1.5 mile turnaround and then flat or downhill all the way back. Plan was to stay with Harry who is considering running cross country for the first time as a senior. On no training, he was cruising. His 6'4" 160lb frame was nearly floating during the race. It was truly a beautiful thing to see. Lost Emm for about .5 miles or so, but she found her way back to us and we ran the race in contact with one another. Heard a few "Hey Mr. Griffin! Go GO go!" while I was running. Saw a coworker, Peter too. Felt really good. We hit the first mile at about the 8:00 mark which was fine because we were just there to have a good time. The second mile must have been about 7:40 and the last mile more like 7:15 or 7:20. Felt really good and we were just flying, despite the temperature rising to near 80. Second half of the race we ran in the shade which was good. We all had such a blast. Mom was there near the finish cheering us in. Commando points to Jonn for running Ellen in and letting her beat him at the line! 195 Benn Griffin 25M M2029 Pittsfield MA 23:29 23:06 7:34 42/101 451 219 Emily Griffin 24F F2029 Pittsfield MA 23:48 23:24 7:40 9/106 449 228 Harrisonn Griffin 17M M1619 Middle Grove NY 23:56 23:33 7:43 42/66 450 766 Ellen Scherffenberg 19F F1619 MA 31:09 30:45 10:02 28/47 537 767 Jonn Griffin 19M M1619 Middle Grove NY 31:09 30:45 10:02 62/66 538 | 
