Flashes of Panic

I was trying to imagine a run with a better return than the Rabbit Run, and I wasn’t really coming up with anything, even the prize pie table at the Close to the Coast 10K in Freeport. (That would be the “…and a bat” race.) The first time I ran, the prize bag included a liter bottle (square, and glass) of Quabbin maple syrup. This year, among other pieces, they contained custom mugs from Golden Egg Farm (“poultry and pottery”) with rabbits on them.

I ran faster this year, though not by a whole lot, and placed about where I could reasonably expect to place, so I was generally pleased. But the prize bag is definitely worth more than the entry fee ($20). Also in the bags were pounds of coffee from Dean’s Beans, orange cranberry bread from New Salem Tea Bread, and more bread, jam, and maple syrup from other sponsors without websites.

And with 28 finishers and 11 prize winners (at least one age group prize went unclaimed), the odds of going home with one of those bags were pretty good.

Of course, in order to play those odds, you had to climb a hill, making up most of the fifth mile, fondly known as “Horse Break Hill,” which slowed the winner (who averaged 5:41 per mile) to 7:00 pace. So maybe “cherry picking” isn’t really the word.