Clock to the Rock 5K - Lynn

The Downtown Lynn Cultural District hosted the Clock to the Rock 5K in Central Square. The awesome Boston traffic got it the way and was pretty sure I was not going to make the 6:00 start. It took me over ninety minutes to reach downtown Lynn. I had 8 minutes to park, change, sign up, and get to the line. I reached the registration table while the race was getting lined up on the starting line. I made it to the line with about two minutes to spare. I sprinted out into fourth place. Up front was a young kid running with a back pack. William Jackson and Michael Smith followed as we ran along the barriers on the side of the road marking the course. William took the lead and I got behind him when we reached the Lynn/Nahant rotary maybe .75 miles in. A police officer said we were going the wrong direction. We were running the last mile instead of the first. We slowed down and nearly stopped - looking confused. William and Michael shrugged it off and started running again. I followed knowing that we were doing the course in a counter clockwise direction.

We were supposed to be going clockwise so we missed a turn 400 meters into the race. As William said, "what's done is done." We stayed together but at a slower pace now. I was thinking that we were going mess up the results and or get disqualified. By nature of the course and our misdirection, we ran into the race to jeers that we were going the wrong way. I felt pretty silly but kept a sense of humor about it. Michael picked up the pace at the end to cross the line in 1st and I followed Bill. In fact, I walked across it and told the timing truck what had happened. Another conversation took place with someone affiliated with the race. I stayed out of it and was ready to write off us getting credit. We did run 3.15 miles but in the wrong direction. They recognized our efforts and let the results stand. I ran a cool down with William and Michael, running the course in the correct direction. We followed up with hanging out at the after-party in the Lynn Museum and live music by a local funk band. It was a pretty cool scene. It was easy to forgot about our mishap. Awards were given out and I grabbed an age group trophy and managed to pick up a race shirt that I missed at registration. Patrick Taylor swung by to check out the festivities and we hit the road for a burrito at Taco Lupita around the corner. At least I will be prepared for the course next year!

Lynn Item article and photos: Quirky finish to the Clock to the Rock 5K