Topsfield XC

Cross country is fun in a sick kind of way. You never get a chance to ease up or relax. Every second and every place counts. It has been a while since I raced at Topsfield, but I had good memories of racing (Northern Area Meet) in High School and somewhat more recently the GBTC race back in 2002.


Dan V, Dave Q and I headed over together and double-j was waiting for us in the parking lot with our numbers in hand. We gathered up the rest of the (small) CMS group and headed out to check out the course. It was a lot drier than expected, which was something I didn't want. Slower = better for me.

I like the contrast of the big paw logo and my "little paw" - Pics by Kristin W

I felt like crap warming-up and even did some strides to try and get loose and get rid of the nerves. The field took off at the start and I went out in probably my slowest start in years. After about 400 I started to roll a bit, there was just about no one behind me. I picked out Dave Q and worked up to him. Dave put in some big surges during the first mile (trying to close on Dan V) and I tried to run even. John Barbour (GLRR 50+) went by just before the mile (5:42). I beat John by 1 tick at Lone Gull and knew he was the guy to follow. We pulled Dave back and began to pass some fast starters during the second mile. At the top of Moon hill I could see Dave Harper and Dan V about 20 seconds ahead and Jim P a little in front of them. We hit 2 in 11:57 and rolled down the hill.

Somewhere on the next little climb I passed Dave Q and drew even with John B. We passed a couple of guys on the down and reeled in Dave Hannon (NETT) and Doug Chick (GBTC) on the climb back up Moon hill. John really motored that next part and seemed to easily pull away. I moved around Dave H on the downhill and snuck a peak back to see where Dave Q was (he saw me peek). The last mile was a hurt-fest, even the downhill seemed to have uphills!

I took a final peek on the last 200m and could see Dave H was closing on me. I gave it my all, but had nothing in the tank as Doug Chick came out of nowhere to blow by with one step to go. Dave H was just a step back. Ugh, that hurt!

I barely had enough left to struggle through a 2 mile warm-down (mostly alone - I was just too slow for the group). All in all I felt it was a good run. I really would have like to have got Barbour but maybe next time :-)

Next up will be the Baystate marathon which I'm totally unprepared for. I'm hoping to run 2:59:58 and I'm pretty sure that Dan V and Dave Q are planning on running with me.

Men 8k Individual Results
Place Name Club Time Score
1 Jarrod Shoemaker BAA 25:48 1
2 Ryan Place GBTC 25:53 2
3 Dan Smith GBTC 26:17 3
4 Matt Carter BAA 26:17 4
5 Mike Griffin SISU 26:26 5
6 Jim Johnson CMS 26:32 6
7 Peter Mallet 26:47
8 Kevin Gallagher BAA 26:57 7
9 Kevin Tilton CMS 26:57 8
10 Matt Haringa GBTC 27:18 9
11 Ryan Miller SISU 27:27 10
12 Dennis Wolff RIADHA 27:31
13 Junyong Pak GBTC 27:33 11
14 Matt Germain SISU 27:37 12
15 Rob Espinosa GBTC 27:42 13
16 Dan Navaroli CMS 27:45 14
17 Josh Gordon BAA 28:00 15
18 Dan Lounsbury NBB 28:32
19 Ryan Eckel GBTC 28:32 16
20 Jim Pawlicki CMS 28:35 17
21 Dan Verrington CMS 28:49 18
22 Dave Harper CMS 29:01 19
23 John Barbour GLRR 29:10 20
24 Doug Chick GBTC 29:16 21
25 Dave Dunham CMS 29:17 22
26 Dave Hannon NETT 29:17 23
27 Dave Quintal CMS 29:31