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August 2, 2010 - 1:53pm

Trail Update: A Path into the Lowell Woods

by Dave Atkins

Don't arrest me for trespassing, but I could not resist checking out the trail that is still under construction at Fox Meadow. After following the stone dust portion to some steps that lead back up to the entrance to Fox Meadow, I followed the sidewalk around to the small parking area and discovered the path has been cleared and mulched down to the old carriage road that leads into Lowell Woods. I recorded my whole run (including the mile and a half up Gay Street) on a map below:

This map illustrates opportunities to access Lowell Woods from Fox Meadow, Sandy Valley Road, Cedar Hill, and the Hanlon School. Parts of the trail I ran were very overgrown still, but it will not take much to make this a viable trail run/hike.

The only "dicey" part of this run remains Gay Street, but some improvements are coming there too. The section of Gay Street that was repaved last year between Milk and Thatcher will be re-striped with white "fog lines" measured 11' from the yellow centerline instead of the default 12 or more feet. This will create a bit of a marked shoulder that should make the road appear narrower and encourage people in cars to consider that a runner or cyclist could be on the shoulder. The segment at the bottom of the hill (Milk St) and up to Buckboard remains narrow and dangerous for runners--don't try this run at 8am!

April 3, 2010 - 8:38am

Running Club Marks 3rd Anniversary

by Dave Atkins
Westwood Gentlemens Running Club

They began with 4 friends meeting up at the high school to get in better shape. Three years later, the Westwood Gentlemen's Running Club has grown to over a dozen who meet year-round on Saturday mornings for a group run around Westwood. Today, 14 showed up for the 4 1/2 mile run (34-35 minutes) that concluded with a trip to Murph's Place in Norwood.

The group's motto is "Size Doesn't Matter..." referring to the choice of routes available. Sometimes people have injuries or can only run a "short" 2 1/2 miles, so they can continue around a loop to High Street instead of turning up Fox Hill. The Fox Hill route is 3 1/4 miles--"medium." And a backtrack along Gay St to Thatcher makes for a 4 1/4 mile loop--"large." There are also some informal "super-size" routes available...

The group meets at the high school track at 7am on Saturday mornings.

July 21, 2009 - 5:54am

Running Group Grows

by Dave Atkins

The Westwood Gentlemen's Running Group now has a logo

and has grown to a dozen members. Watch out for this crew Saturday mornings

and say hello to our new mascot

June 8, 2009 - 3:58am

Keeping in Shape the Harpoon Way

by Dave Atkins

We had a great turnout this weekend as five of us trekked into Boston to run the Harpoon 5-miler on Saturday. John Isberg left us all in the dust, running an impressive 7:03 pace--almost a minute ahead of the rest of us.The race raised money for the Angel Fund, and afterwards, we enjoyed some free beer.

April 24, 2009 - 8:36pm

Ready to Ramble?

by Dave Atkins

This Sunday, as temperatures are projected to hit 85 degrees, why not run a 10K? The James Joyce Ramble will leave Endicot Estate in Dedham at 11am. I'll be there, but I think this will NOT be a personal record effort...

September 9, 2008 - 7:54pm

WHS Boosters 5K

by Dave Atkins

The Westwood High School Boosters will be hosting the 2nd Annual 5K ROAD RACE on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at Westwood High School. Proceeds from the race will be used to support academic and athletic teams at Westwood High. Last year, over 200 turned out for a hugely successful inaugural event. The course will begin at the High School, proceed up Nahatan Street to Clapboardtree, down to Pond, and back through the neighborhoods adjacent to the High School. Affected streets will be closed briefly during the run to ensure the safety of the runners and the race will be professionally timed.

June 7, 2008 - 3:45pm

Burning up the Streets of Boston

by Dave Atkins

It was a HOT, HOT day to run, but several folks from Westwood made it to the Harpoon 5-miler today. In addition to myself, John, Steve, and Joe, I noticed a couple of other people from Westwood in the results...here they are:

Name Overall Place Group Place Time Pace
David Costello 82 54/531 36:40 6:59
John Isberg 201 29/107 39:15 7:29
David Atkins 286 32/107 40:51 7:47
Robert Bagdasarian 834 68/107 47:43 9:06
Joseph McNamara 855 70/107 48:12 9:11
Steven Ouellette 995 79/107 50:09 9:34

What a great effort by everyone! Around mile 4, the heat really began to take its toll. And then the 5-miler turned out to be a 5.23 miler. But there was plenty of beer afterwards and all the pasta and sausage you could eat.

June 1, 2008 - 8:46pm

Corrib 5K

by Dave Atkins

Congratulations to members of the Westwood Gentlemen's Running Club who ran the Corrib 5K today. It was a beautiful, warm day for a run and we all managed to come in under an 8:00 minute pace.

place time pace name
122 22:38 7:18 John Isberg
145 23:04 7:26 Dan MacDonald
167 23:24 7:33 David Atkins
170 23:26 7:34 George Jordanides
259 24:36 7:56 Ron Adjami

You can check out my effort including graphs of elevation, speed, and heartrate if you wish. A pretty maximal effort for me.

May 20, 2008 - 8:23pm

Lowell Woods Trail Running

by Dave Atkins

I was looking forward to the Lowell Woods event a few weeks ago, but apparantly it was postponed and cancelled. But on Monday morning I decided to put on my new GPS watch and go for a run on the trails behind the Hanlon School. I ran into a few dead ends, but managed to run about 4 miles in the forest, over generally moderate terain with a few nice hills and descents. It's not Wilson Mountain, but it is a hidden gem here in Westwood for those seeking a walk or run in the woods. Here is a map of my run. I don't think the GPS was entirely accurate--I do not recall any 500 foot hills or bursts of 20+mph speed, but it was a challenging workout to run an under 10 minute pace.

April 29, 2008 - 3:37pm

Congratulations James Joyce Ramble Participants

by Dave Atkins

Many of us enjoyed the 25th Annual James Joyce Ramble 10K in Dedham this Sunday. Here are results for Westwood residents. Full results (with age groups, etc.) at CoolRunning.

Overall Place Nettime Pace Name Gender Race #
28 36:58:00 5:57 Andrew Wilson M 665
51 39:08:00 6:18 Jonah Ruddy M 1895
130 43:03:00 6:56 Jack Cachelin M 229
139 43:17:00 6:58 Mark Oconnor M 1496
178 44:29:00 7:10 Jason Kissell M 1164
244 45:45:00 7:22 John Crehan M 1483
327 47:04:00 7:35 Dan Bernardo M 1500
340 47:20:00 7:37 Glenn T Pujado M 1015
355 47:40:00 7:41 Sara Fraim F 658
444 49:10:00 7:55 Andrew Hatem M 615
455 49:17:00 7:56 David Atkins M 738
505 50:17:00 8:06 Jeff Smith M 260
578 51:31:00 8:18 Amanda Lever F 871
627 52:19:00 8:26 Terrence Earles M 1404
712 53:16:00 8:35 Hugh Martinez M 1198
731 53:30:00 8:37 Brendan Sullivan M 1525
737 53:34:00 8:38 George Oconnor M 1497
779 54:02:00 8:42 Matt Sims M 1582
795 54:16:00 8:44 Kent Hirshberg M 1492
816 54:28:00 8:46 Michael Robinson M 1332
820 54:29:00 8:47 Colin Cassidy M 66
874 55:04:00 8:52 Tim Fortune M 1238
894 55:18:00 8:54 Ron Adjami M 1508
944 55:59:00 9:01 Joseph McNamara M 249
947 56:02:00 9:02 Gary Kaplan M 735
969 56:13:00 9:03 David Belcher M 605
979 56:20:00 9:04 Robby Steeves M 1494
993 56:31:00 9:06 Tommy Vicenso M 1495
1081 57:42:00 9:18 Caroline Santilli F 1446
1147 58:39:00 9:27 Arthur Ciriello M 1585
1191 59:19:00 9:33 Steve Woodworth M 1590
1206 59:29:00 9:35 Heidi Feyler F 1915
1258 1:00:33 9:45 Angelika Evans F 1053
1305 1:01:31 9:55 Robert Steeves M 1493
1361 1:02:38 10:05 Joan McGowan F 901
1362 1:02:41 10:06 Rachel Higgins F 798
1442 1:04:42 10:25 Laurie Destefano F 1191
1460 1:05:08 10:29 Suzanne Cogan F 1481
1538 1:07:52 10:56 Erin Cummings F 1353
1597 1:11:11 11:28 Elaine Wallace F 236
1605 1:11:34 11:31 Kathleen Caruso F 31
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