EVENTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 7:30-8:30am — CLASS OF 2012 JOGGING TOUR OF HARVARD
Start today with health and fitness in mind! The runners of Harvard College Marathon Challenge will join members of the Class of 2012 for a leisurely, one-hour trot around the larger Harvard campus on this peaceful Monday morning. Our pace will be about 10 minutes per mile, and we'll do about a 4-mile loop. Meet at the John Harvard Statue. If you're an upperclassman or employee who is familiar with Harvard/Cambridge running, please e-mail marathon@harvard.edu to volunteer, if you can commit to being there at 7:25am (5 minutes before we start jogging/running).

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 8-9am — MORNING FITNESS RUN
This is a great chance to meet Class of 2012 runners! Pace and route to be determined. Ideally we'll divide into several pace and distance groups. So if you know your way around Harvard, and if a lot of freshmen show up, please consider leading a pace group (especially a slower one, e.g., 10 minutes/mile)! Meet at the John Harvard statue. E-mail marathon@harvard.edu to volunteer, or just show up!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 4-7pm — STUDENT ACTIVITIES FAIR
It's in the Quad (outside) and the Student Organization Center at Hilles (SOCH), not the Yard. This is a combined event for all undergrads, freshmen as well as upperclassmen. If it rains, the Fair will be postponed to a later date and will probably be moved to the Yard. Veteran HCMC participants, please help out at our table! E-mail marathon@harvard.edu to volunteer, or just show up!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 8-9am — MORNING FITNESS RUN
This is a great chance to meet Class of 2011 runners! Pace and route to be determined. Ideally we'll divide into several pace and distance groups. So if you know your way around Harvard, and if a lot of freshmen show up, please consider leading a pace group (especially a slower one, e.g., 10 minutes/mile)! Meet at the John Harvard statue. E-mail marathon@harvard.edu to volunteer, or just show up!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 9:30am sharp — FRESH POND RESERVOIR "RACE," EVERYONE'S INVITED!
Departs 9:30am sharp from the steps of Widener Library, weather permitting. Free, and no registration is required. This weekly local "race" is fun, motivating, and open to everyone, especially upperclassmen/staff/employees who know the route to Fresh Pond and can help guide others there and back! Freshmen are invited to participate; last year this was an official "Through the Gates" excursion, and it may be one again this year (check back here for updates). If you've been at Harvard for awhile but have not yet done the weekly Fresh Pond "race," this'll be THE best weekend to do it with an organized Harvard group! We'll jog the 1.75 miles to the starting line as a large group (or as several smaller groups, if enough people who know the way show up), probably taking a slightly more-scenic-than usual route to get there - nicer than running all the way down Concord Avenue. Then you'll run the "race" - either 2.5 or 5 miles, your choice - entirely at your own pace. It starts a bit after 10am. You can return to Harvard together with a larger group, or you can go back on your own if you know the way. You should be back at Harvard sometime between 10:45-11:30am. E-mail marathon@harvard.edu if you have questions.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, tentatively departing 11:00am (John Harvard statue) OR 11:15am (Weld Boathouse) — BRIAN HONAN 5K ANNUAL ROAD RACE
In the past, we've had two groups jogging to the starting line: One leaving from the John Harvard statue at 11am sharp, and the other leaving from Weld Boathouse at 11:15am sharp (pace about 8.5 minutes/mile). Check back here for details about this year. The starting line is about 2 miles from Harvard. The Brian Honan 5K, which starts at noon, is a community race. The race continues Brian's activist legacy, both in making a positive contribution to quality of life in the neighborhood and in working to support those in need. Brian would have been very proud of the fact that a very important community constituency - area colleges and their students - plays a major role in this community event. BU, BC, Suffolk, and Harvard are all involved in this effort. For the road race web site, click here. Harvard is sponsoring 100 slots for student runners. Students will run for free and get a road race t-shirt for participating. Interested student runners should complete this application form ASAP and fax it to Jim Barrows at 617-495-9703, or drop it off at 77 Brattle Street, or e-mail it to Jim. After completing the form, you should also e-mail Jim to ensure you've secured a slot, since only 100 are available. To see the route map from Harvard Yard to the start/finish line (The Kells, 161 Brighton Avenue in Allston, near the intersection of Harvard Ave. and Brighton Ave.), click here. After the race, you can jog back to Harvard, or take the #66 bus back to Harvard Square, or take the subway (Green Line to the Red Line). Bring about $3 for transportation fare.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 8am — BAA HALF MARATHON (tentatively departs 7:15am from Weeks Footbridge)
The BAA Half Marathon follows a really nice course that goes out past Jamaica Pond and the Harvard-owned Arnold Arboretum to Franklin Park before looping back in towards Boston. This course is orthogonal to the full Boston Marathon route. If you're a spectator or an official entrant who wants to jog/run to the starting line, we'll probably travel the 3-mile distance from Harvard as a group, leaving from the Weeks Footbridge at 7:15am via this route.

RANDOM LOCAL RUNS AND RACES
The Somerville Road Runners group maintains a great calendar showing area races and runs.

WEDNESDAYS 7am and SUNDAYS 8am — TUFTS PMC TRAINING RUNS
The Tufts Presidents Marathon Challenge summer runs are typically 4-7 miles. Expect about 4-8 other runners to keep you company. The Tufts program was the brainchild of Tufts president (and Harvard Law School and Kennedy School graduate) Larry Bacow, who often goes on these morning training runs and who himself has run the Boston Marathon repeatedly with his group. President Bacow and Don Megerle, who coordinates the Tufts marathon program, welcome us on these runs. They start and end on the sidewalk outside Cousens Gymnasium, 161 College Avenue, in Medford. Cousens is a 2.7-mile run from Harvard. Note that the Davis Square subway stop (Red Line) is only 1 mile from Cousens, and the #96 bus provides door-to-door service between Tufts and Harvard (it stops about 2 blocks from Cousens). So, you can take public transportation either part of the way, or all the way, to/from Harvard/Tufts.

EVERY SATURDAY, 10am — FRESH POND RESERVOIR "RACE"
This fun, organized, non-Harvard run starts at 10am every Saturday, rain or shine. It's FREE, FLAT, NEARBY, and requires NO pre-registration — just show up and run at your own pace, for either 2.5 miles (one loop around the reservoir) or 5 miles (two loops)! The start/finish line is in back of the giant water treatment plant (brick building/slate roof) on Fresh Pond Parkway, adjacent to the reservoir, at the far end of the parking lot. That's a mere 1.8 miles from Harvard Yard, 1.6 miles from Weld Boathouse, and embarrassingly close to the Quad. Lots of people bike there and back, or you can take the #72, 74, 75, or 78 bus. To see a map that'll take you from Harvard Yard past the Quad to the starting line via Concord Avenue, click here. To get to the starting line from Weld Boathouse — the shortest route from the river houses — click here. And remember, the top 5 female and male finishers each week get their names published in the Boston Sunday Globe!

OTHER DISTANCE RUNS (>8 MILES ROUNDTRIP FROM HARVARD)
For longer runs, there are several really nice distance routes that are easily accessible from Harvard. These runs, which do not require public transportation, will take you out to very cool places such as (a) the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a.k.a. "The Fells" (which is all marked dirt trails/woods, including a hill with a great view of Boston); (b) the Boston Harborwalk (waterfront boardwalks/sidewalks); and (c) the Minuteman Trail (an old rail bed, newly paved with asphalt). If you want to do one of these runs but don't know the route, just ask on the listserv. Someone who's done it before might be really happy to accompany you (or get lost with you)!

  Questions? E-mail marathon@harvard.edu
  ©2008 President and Fellows of Harvard College