A running start to revive neighborhood

WORCESTER -- Dodging clusters of homeless men, chaotic traffic, and the occasional prostitute, Tracy Flynn just keeps her head down and puts one foot in front of the other. Every Monday evening for the last year, Flynn has left the suburban comfort of Shrewsbury to run a 3-mile road race through inner-city Worcester.

``My husband says I'm crazy, it's dangerous," she said. ``But any place is dangerous if you think about it."

Rolling hills and covered bridges this is not. But Paulie's House Run, as it is known, has its dedicated followers. Even on the hottest summer night, you'll find a dozen of them -- many, like Flynn, from surrounding towns -- chugging along Main Street. The mayor makes an annual appearance.

The weekly run was launched three years ago by Paul Collyer , who makes his living organizing races, most in the Boston area. He started the Worcester race in an effort to take back a park overrun by drugs and prostitution. He hopes runners will see the area's potential, maybe even invest in it. But finding recruits, especially from the suburbs, is a challenge.

``If I did this in Somerville, I'd have a hundred people every week," he said. ``Here, I'm almost begging people to come."

The race begins and ends near Collyer's house, a three-decker that is his current rehab project. It's a casual affair, kicking off when Collyer or one of the runners clicks a stopwatch and shouts, ``Let's go!"

Some sprinters cover the distance in as little as 18 minutes, others may take half an hour. They run at their own pace, with the pack stringing out along the sidewalks.

Unlike at more formal races, no police details are on hand to stop traffic at intersections. The route includes Chandler Street, a busy four-lane road lined by such landmarks as the Kilo Amigo Brazilian restaurant, a boarded-up pizza parlor, and an apartment building that was recently the scene of a fatal bludgeoning and arson.

Art French , a 69-year-old runner from Shrewsbury, takes it all in stride. Tan and tattooed, the muscular ex-Marine has run more than 20 marathons. Most featured beautiful vistas that drew crowds of runners, but French says he likes his scenery on the seamy side.

``I know nature's beautiful, but it's all the same," he said. ``You never know what you're going to get here."

How true. Runners routinely navigate folks hanging around on stoops, stumbling drunks, and uniformed restaurant workers waiting at bus stops.

During a recent run, an inebriated woman stormed at a reporter after spotting a camera during a recent run. A man on a dirt bike briefly kept pace with one of the runners. Two women, one in a pink Red Sox cap, meandered along the street in front of one of the largest homeless shelters in the state. A woman -- her arms full of groceries -- walked with two little girls out of a Spanish supermarket.

Most bystanders made way for the runners. One impishly shouted: ``No one's chasing you!"

Amy Paquette , a 25-year-old personal trainer from Worcester and a Paulie's House Run regular, recalled one man who lifted his shirt to show off a ``six-pack" abdomen, grinned at her, and announced loudly that he also ``does crack" cocaine.

Paquette's eyes widened and she laughed. ``It's disturbing," she said.

Flynn, of Shrewsbury, said she would never forget running past a truck delivering pig carcasses to a Chinese restaurant one steamy night. ``It was the most amazing smell," she said, shaking her head.

Alexander Engel , a track runner about to enter Bryant College, said the race's challenges spur him on. The Spencer resident brushed aside the stories he's heard of shootings and arrests in the neighborhood. ``If anything, it makes you run faster," he said.

His mother, Sue, is a probation officer.

``I just pray," she said with a laugh as she waited for her son at the finish line.

The runners get encouragement from unlikely places. Homeless people outside a shelter cheer them on. In a recent race, a tiny girl stopped her mother and excitedly pointed and waved at several runners.

City Councilor Barbara Haller said many residents appreciate their fearlessness and the attention they bring to the neighborhood.

``The perception is that this is a tough part of the city and I would agree that it is -- there was a body found two days ago down the street," Haller said in an interview Monday.

But Haller credits Collyer for trying to make a difference.

``The guy just doesn't give up, and he understands," she said, that change ``may take some time."

Paulie's House Run isn't likely to wind up as part of the traditional circuit of road races, like those sponsored by the 600-member Central Mass. Striders.

``Personally, it's not my type of running scene," said the club's president, Kevin Fallon, whose group offers weekly road races on the city's quieter West Side and at Fort Devens. ``I much prefer the quiet trails and off-road type situations."

But House Run fans relish the camaraderie of their small band. Some of them even race during the winter, when the course sticks to thoroughfares and skirts dark side streets. After every race, runners share a beer or sometimes have a potluck supper at Collyer's. Flynn brings homemade cookies.

Collyer, 43, no longer runs -- during the races he can usually be found grilling food for the runners and drinking a beer in his yard.

At one after-race gathering, he talked about a similar run he founded in East Somerville 15 years ago. The starting line was a bar reputed to have once been run by mobsters. The race continues, but the area has become gentrified.

The prospect of his Worcester neighborhood going upscale leaves him with mixed feelings.

``The grime, the prostitution, the thuggery, that stuff is not interesting to me," Collyer said. ``But I like hearing the babies crying and the fire engines going at 2 o'clock in the morning sometimes."

He took a swig from his beer.

``It'd be no fun if the race was in another neighborhood, would it?"

Worcester Mayor Timothy Murray and Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers will run Paulie's House Race on Sept. 25. Renamed the Mayor's Run Walk for the night, the event starts at 6:30 p.m. at John & Son II deli, 226A Chandler St. It is free, with a barbecue and music to follow. Megan Woolhouse can be reached at woolhouse@globe.com.