July 4th Milltown 5K

Each year Milltown, NJ, puts on some of the best festivities for the holiday in our area. Events start with the fishing derby, then the 5K, and tops it off with a 2 hour parade, which for a small town is quite awesome!

We live only about 1 mile from the race start, so we always jog over to get  warmed up.  Most of us in our group had just returned from the Lake Placid training weekend and were excited to get a quick local race in before the holiday festivities began.  Solis had a number of athletes participating.  Plus many other friends we see training. Solis Coach Keith Cook was 5th overall and placed 1st in his age group as well as setting a new PR. Pat S placed 1st in her age group and Julie M. also place 3rd in her age group too. Kristen , Ernie, Andy and Pedro also had excellent running times.

This race is very low key in that there is minimal timing equipment, and parking and registration before the race can be challenging,but  the town does an incredible job. The race makes two sort of intersecting loops, so spectators, get to see you pass one intersection 3 times during the race. The residents line the streets in the neighborhoods, and go out with water, Gatorade, and sprinklers.

While often you hear about residents being resentful for races, this town embraces it. (I am mindful, it makes only a brief impact on their day).

Other Solis Athletes took advantage of the beautiful Holiday weather to race across the tri-state area.   Jenn, was unable to attend this years 5K race because she was hard at work doing the  Owasco-Man Triathlon in up state New York.   Much like the athletes that participated in the 5K, Jenn finished 3rd in her age group.  Lindsay took advantage of a local Sprint Tri, near the  shore to start her weekend off in the right way.  Congrats to all, keep racing!

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