Resident Starts Runner Support Group

An active volunteer with the Cranford Jaycees, Frank Diano, 47, is usually behind the registration tables at the Firecracker Four Mile Run with a staff shirt on. But this year, he decided to put on his running shoes instead.

As the Firecracker is a town tradition, Diano felt like it was about time he participated. He's lived in Cranford for 15 years.

"I made it my goal to run it," he said, adding that it was his New Year's resolution to train for the race. But like many people he wondered how long he'd be able to stick to it.

"You always make that New Year's Resolution, and you start, try, and work pulls you one way," he said.

But at the end of the Jaycee-hosted Firecracker Four Mile Run, it was clear that Diano had steadily worked toward his goal. He finished the race and placed 60 out of 106 in his age group.

"I did well, I met all my expectations," he said. He added that the Firecracker is not his last run. He is currently training to keep in shape for the annual Downtown Westfield 5K this Wednesday.

The secret to his success in keeping his New Year's Resolution lies in the runner group he started in February, he said. He recruited around a dozen people that shared his same goal – to get in shape and not embarrass themselves by huffing and puffing to the finish line on July 4. He added that 50 percent had never run in a race before.

"It's a support-type of group, together to motivate each other so that we finally do it," he said. "I felt like some people needed a little motivation and a group was a way to get over the hump."

He added that he trained an average of four days a week. The group meets at 7 a.m. every Saturday morning. During the week, depending on who wanted to train, he would run with different individuals in the group; either on a running track or looping around the street. As the race loomed nearer, the group shrank to a steady, devoted membership of around four people.

Jim Nicoll, 49, is one group member. Like Diano, Nicoll said he was satisfied with how he did in the Firecracker.

"It's fun it was something to look forward to, force yourself to get out there," he said. "We were running to get into shape so we wouldn't be totally embarrassed out there…I finished 33 minutes on the button, it was good for me. We're trying to build it up again, pick races and get together and train for them."

For him and Diano, the biggest challenge will be to keep going. Although the Firecracker Run was a successful endeavor, both hope the race is only the first mile marker in a long string of successful runs completed by the group – the second one being the Downtown Westfield 5k Run.

Diano added that right now he's buying running gear to get ready for what he hopes will be a long-term hobby. New sneakers, a GPS watch. He's also looking into buying a pair of running sunglasses.

"I'm hopeful that this is going to be a life changing thing," Diano said.