BH Parade & Route 50 Mile
Every year, my hometown – where my parents still live, and only the next town over from where I live now – holds a Flag Day community parade. It began in 2002 in response to the widespread sense of patriotism following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Here’s the timeline of the event from my perspective as a spectator and competitor:
2002: I still remember the evening of the first parade. My dad was – and still is – part of the parade committee, and suggested that my mom, sister and I walk down to watch. I declined, thinking “it’s just another parade, I’m not really into parades, they’ll be back in a half hour anyway”. Almost two hours later, they came back. Yes, the first annual Burnt Hills Flag Day parade lasted that long. And it hasn’t dwindled too much – it’s still about 90 minutes long from start to finish!
2009: The parade committee and other local organizations coordinated a one-mile race to take place along the parade route, just prior to the start of the parade. So, coming off of a decent outdoor track season as a sophomore in college, I decided to go for it. I ran 5:43 and was the first female finisher. The next year, after having missed outdoor track due to illness and loss of interest, I was given bib #1 at the Route 50 Mile and announced at the starting line as the defending champion (that was scary); I ran 5:51, almost a minute behind the first female finisher, whose speedy course record of 4:55 (I think – can’t find the official results from that year!) still stands.
??? Somewhere along the timeline here, our “parking space” at my parents’ house morphed into a pre-parade party for some of our family and friends. Many of our mile races and parade-spectating energies were fueled by Dino’s pizza and wings – yum! :)
2014: I had to skip this race due to a (not-confirmed-at-the-time) stress fracture … but I still walked down and watched the parade with my family (and my boot), bummed to not be partaking.
2016: My goal was to break 5:30. I ran 5:29.4. Check. Second goal: be the first female BH-BL current or female runner – denied. I can’t keep up with some of the girls I coach (not a bad problem to have as a coach!) – so this goal still stands.
2017: My goal was to see how fast I could run coming off of a strong spring season of PRs in 10K, 5K and the mile (5:26). I ran 5:24. I’ll take it.
2018: At 8 months pregnant, my goal was to finish the race in a respectable time, not overheat, and have fun! I ran 6:41, having to slow down in the last 200 or so because I was too hot … Remember, this is June in upstate NY – and I was wearing a belly support band with a thin layer underneath to protect my skin, one of my husband’s running singlets, and my team racing singlet folded up (because there was NO WAY it was going over that belly). My friend took advantage of my slowing up in the end and flew past me to the finish – good job Bryan! J
2019: I missed this year because we were in Chicago, as I presented at a physical therapy conference on pregnant and post-partum running that same day. This was also the year that my dad was honored as the Grand Marshall of the parade, so we were pretty sad to miss it. L
2020: Route 50 Mile goes virtual amidst the coronavirus pandemic – new challenge, we’re up for it! We had a four-day window to complete our mile run on the road (no track since school grounds are not open) and submit results.
Thursday: my dad finished his FIRST Route 50 Mile (he’s never done it because he’s always on the route coordinating and ensuring it all goes smoothly!) … 12:04, and he was walking!!
Friday: we went for a family walk in the woods at a nearby park, and our daughter wanted to walk so I started my watch to see if she could get to a mile … she made it 0.03 before wanting to be picked up again. She did, in fact, do a lot of that walk on her own two feet, but it was too spotty to count as a mile.
Saturday, part 1: a friend marked out a course on a road near my house, with cones at every ¼ mile. First ¼ mile was a biiiit speedy (1:14, so just a hair under 5:00 pace), but sometimes that’s what you need to do to get a good time. Having run in the 5:45-6:00 range several times this spring and last summer, I was hoping to at least go under 5:40. Hit the finish line in 5:23 – a new PR, and a whole lot faster than I had expected to run!
Saturday, part 2: my husband, who’s been very gradually building up his running again after struggling with injuries off and on for a few years, went out to get his mile in. But he required a tutorial on the use of my Garmin watch beforehand so we knew he was legit. 7:04 for him.
Sunday: Emma’s last chance to clock a qualifying time for her first race as a registered participant (she rode in the stroller with me in one race last year). We had previously measured out laps around the house, knowing that’s how she gets her best “mileage” in – it was going to take 94 laps to make a mile, and her previous best was 75.5 in just under 30 minutes. Well, off we went – I followed her exact path (which of course included some detours to climb on a chair, pet the cat/dog, go through the “fueling station” for some strawberries to keep her going). She crossed the mile mark, 1609 meters, at 34:01. Check.
2021??: We sure hope to be back to racing down Route 50 at this time next year, surrounded by our fellow competitors and all of our community … and motivated by free Stewart’s ice cream at the finish line!
While this pandemic certainly has brought a lot of new challenges to our lives, there are many people and organizations that have found ways to keep our spirits up and our motivations high as we navigate through these new waters together. As always, we are grateful for our health and ability to participate in things like this … but we miss the “good ol’ days” too sometimes.
