April in Review
The start of Spring season high school sports, the Boston Marathon, and an ever-developing business made for a busy but great month. So many accomplishments beyond the big milestones covered below occurred. Follow the Instagram for day-to-day action.
April 3rd - Jessie and Seth join Special Olympics Powerlifting Program
Unfortunately the Unified 5k and Fun Run falls on the same day as the Special Olympics State Tournament for Powerlifting. Our four athletes will be in good hands as Jessie and Seth will be helping out throughout the Spring and handling our lifters on the day of the event.
April 13th - Unified Running Club Starts
I wanted to start this program in conjunction with the Unified 5k and Fun Run. However, the response exceeded my expectations and we now have more than 20 runners participating. There are athletes new to running, some that have done half and full marathons, athletes in wheelchairs, athletes with visual impairments and more. It has been the perfect representation of the community that I hoped to create and a great introduction to the sport for many people.
April 15th - 123rd Boston Marathon
Hundreds of hours go into this one day; which is what makes it so special, but also incredibly stressful. This was Missie’s first Boston Marathon and she ran for the BAA. Amber was running the marathon for the second year in a row, again for the Michael Lisnow Respite Center. Course-wise it is one of, if not the hardest, major marathon and the weather is always unpredictable. This makes finishing in itself an accomplishment. Both did great and we’re looking forward to strength training and preparing for Spring and Summer races.
April 16th - Communitas Workout
For the last couple of years, Communitas (formerly EMARC) has spent a day or two with us during their school break/summer programs. We had the opportunity to host a dozen of their members over April vacation for a workout.
April 18th - Phone Call with Adam Bleakney
Adam is the head coach of the University of Illinois Wheelchair racing program. Their facility is also the National Training Center and has trained the likes of Tatyana McFadden, Katrina Gerhard, and Daniel Romanchuk (this year’s Boston Marathon winner - first American to do so in more than 20 years). I reached out to Adam as I prepared a post about the biomechanics of push-rim wheelchair racing. He was kind enough to spend a half hour talking about what makes their program so successful and the nuances of their training methods. The pieces of this conversation and a review of the current literature (albeit scarce) will be in a post coming this May.
April 24th - Nashoba Baseball Beats Saint John’s 3-2
Ranked 2nd in the state entering the game, Ryan had the opportunity to pitch against Saint John’s. Ryan went 5 and 2/3 inning, allowing 2 unearned runs and Reed got the last four outs to secure the 3-2 win. Looking forward to watching the team build on this momentum entering a string of 5 games in 7 days. Ryan put in an incredibly consistent 26 weeks leading up to the season where he didn’t miss a week of training. Him and Reed have also been diligent in getting in-season lifts in so they can maintain their performance into the post-season.
April 24th - UML Interns Last Day
We were fortunate enough to have three great interns this Spring from UMass Lowell. Dennis returned after completing his practicum this Fall with us to complete a directed study; continuing the Cerebral Palsy research project. Sydney and Rachel are both accepted into UMass Lowell’s graduate school for doctorates in Physical Therapy. Dennis will be attending Tufts starting next month for a graduate program in Occupational Therapy. They were great assets for the gym the last few months and will certainly be missed.