2024 Bolton Road Race

Today I ran my 11th Bolton Road Race. It’s our hometown race and I’ve written about it before. I first did it in 2005 when we moved to Bolton from Vernon.

It’s a classic 5-miler on a hilly course. Today, a cold gusting wind made it even harder. The 1:00 P.M. start and short commute (we rode our bikes the two miles to the start/finish at Bolton High School) made for an easy Sunday morning.

I think all four of us will be hurting on Monday morning since last night we had to move the clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time. Ugh. I wish we would just stay on eastern standard time. Enough about that.

Shepard was the strongest of the Livingston’s. He had a personal best 27:59 and finished third behind Will Sanders and BHS alum Evan Jaworski. Both of those runners are strong and they have years and wisdom over Shepard, so he was first in his age group. He was happy with his result. Alyssa Natario was the women’s winner in a fine time of 30:54. I chased her for a while, but then she just pulled away from me. Second female was Sybil Sanders, and rounding out the podium was Greta Roberts Broneill.

Debbie was 38:37 and 31st overall, a bit slower than last year’s time. She didn’t feel great, but ran 11 miles yesterday and is using this race as training for much longer races ahead. Dahlia was 39:46 and 35th place. She got her personal best on this course. Both of them place in their age group.

I was 31:59, my slowest time on this course (when not pushing a jog stroller), but I was happy to just finish. I wasn’t thrilled when I got to the last hill. I felt like I was crawling. Dominic Lombardo, one of the BHS XC runners caught me and I was happy for him. He had a very good race and I’m stoked for the upcoming track season and even more excited for this fall when BHS returns some strong boy runners.

It was great to see many friends and the volunteers were awesome. I was disappointed with the turnout. There were only 169 finishers, which is a bummer. That meant we got to take home lots of bananas, Clementines, and cookies. Competition from a Hartford Marathon Foundation (HMF) race in Putnam likely pulled runners away. I think the 5-mile distance (vs. 5K), 1:00 P.M. start and the hills are all deterrents.