Week ending 04-26

Monday - 4 on treadmill at work (half-day) 2904
10 am 5m at Winni felt crappy 3441

Tuesday - 2 on treadmill (1433) then right into 4 with Jack 3251
PM track workout with Dan and Dave Q - 6x400 @ 74 felt awful.

Wednesday - o/b 6 at lunch 4418
Pm Winni 5, felt a lot better 3511

Thursday - 2 on treadmill (1434) then into 4 with Jack 3226
PM alone at Winni, felt great 6m 4057

Friday - o/b 6 at lunch 4229
PM Winni 6 with Albee 4134

Saturday - 3 warm-up, 3 warm-down, 1 mile strides, 5km race (with k splits!) 1642.8

Sunday - Town and tower bagging on the Cape 15 miles in 4 runs between 6am and 10am.

Total for the week 83 miles.

Was hoping for a fast 5km race but didn't get the result I wanted. Happy with the effort, gave all I had.

History at Goddard:
Date------ Time ---Place-Finishers- What---- Notes
07/17/88 -- 14:36 -- 2 -- 197 -- NEAC 5K -- 90's humid. Andy Ronan 1st in 14:25
06/25/89 -- 14:23 -- 1 -- 264 -- NEAC 5K -- 432/919/1354 Hodge 2nd in 1426..
08/26/90 -- 14:25 -- 2 -- 220 -- NEAC 5K -- 1st Morse 1424
08/25/91 -- 15:07 -- 3 -- 276 -- NEAC 5K -- 5k long due to hurrican 1st Morse 1456
09/26/04 -- 17:57 -- 3 -- 28 -- XC relay -- 3x5k relay
04/25/09 -- 16:43 -- 2 -- 505 -- Carlson mem. -- Lost by four seconds in the last .11

Pic from 1988 of me, Bob Hodge, Stan Bickford, Randy Thomas, Colin Peddie and Paul Gorman.

350 Done....1 to go

I used this weekend to bag the final six towns on the Cape. I didn’t want to wait until later in the season when traffic might be an issue. I headed out early on Saturday and raced at Goddard State park to kick things off. Al and Diana turned up just as the race headed off and they offered me encouragement. Al said something like “don’t leave it to a kick” or such, which is exactly true (but unfortunately something I couldn’t do anything about). Anyway, we had a pleasant warm-down in the woods and then headed off on a fire tower quest.

We first went to Tempes hill (I kept calling it Tempest hill but that is incorrect) in Wareham. It was not easy navigating the rutted dirt roads. We piled into one car and with Al driving an me navigating we found the correct spot. A quick bushwhack brought us to the ruined structure which was at one time a lookout tower. It is now falling apart and there isn’t much of a clear path to it. Next off we headed to Myles Standish state forest and Bare hill on the Carver/Plymouth town line. The tower was interesting as it wasn’t the standard tower/cab. It had easy to negotiate stairs and an open viewing platform.

Al approaches Tempes Knob

Next up was Pine hill in Plymouth, we had some navigational challenges (sometimes Google maps don’t distinguish between gated dirt roads and actual roads. We parked at the power line and hiked about a mile each way with a climb of over 300’. The tower was occupied and Al boldly called out, and wouldn’t you know it, the warden (Kathy) allowed us into the cab. It is a rare treat to get into the working cab in a fire tower and we stayed for about 15 minutes chatting. I mentioned that I was trying to visit all the fire towers and she quizzed me on a couple of them that she had worked at. After hiking down, Al and Diana headed for home and I headed for the Cape.

View from Pine Hill FT

I made a stop in Sandwich at Telegraph hill. I parked at the radio towers and jogged the last ¼ mile to the tower. There was a car parked at the tower so I tried to get the workers attention but had no luck so I jogged back to the car and headed on to Dennis. Signal hill was a drive-up with the tower only 50m from the road. The caretaker’s cabin looked like it has been unused for many years and was in a state of total disrepair. I guess they haven’t stayed at the tower after the work day ended for many years. This was my final tower of the day and I headed to West Yarmouth for the night.

Sunday came a little to quickly for me and I was out the door by 5 AM. I wanted to make it to Provincetown by sunrise and the sky was already brightening as I headed out. Sun rising on High Pole hill.

I made it to High Pole Hill and the Pilgrim monument (above) just as the sun came up. After a couple of pictures I headed over to the P-town/Truro town line and did a nice quiet run along the ocean and hit one of the higher hills in town (Mt Gilboa) as part of the run. Prior to leaving town I headed over to the huge sand dunes and did a scrambling run up Mt Ararat. The view was quite spectacular; you could see the monument and two lighthouses on the tip of the town.

I headed south with a quick stop in Wellfleet to check out the fire tower therein. It was located right on route 6 so it was a quick photo-op then off to the Wellfleet/Eastham town line. I parked at the Audubon area and did an out/back run into Eastham and a nice loop on the Audubon trails. From there I drove south to Chatham and parked near a new section of the Cape Cod Rail trail. The most unusual aspect of the run (besides a lot of wild turkeys) was the trail having the town line painted on the surface. I’ve run rail trails before but never encountered that kind of signage. The day was getting quite warm (it hit near 90 in the afternoon) as I headed off for the final town bagging of the day.

Rail trail in Chatham

I parked in Falmouth near the town line of Mashpee and had a nice trail run along the Quashnet River. The trails were well marked and the footing was very good. There was only one other user while I was out on the trail, too bad as it was a great day to be out in the woods. I headed over to the other end of Falmouth and parked about ½ mile from a fire tower (Howlands Park Hill). As I was getting ready to run up the narrow dirt road a home owner pulled in and eyed me suspiciously. I decided it was best to not enter from that side of the road as I didn’t want trouble (or to get my car towed). I drove to the northern terminus of the road and parked. I probably would have been safe as the road was not privately owned and it was only a mile round-trip to the tower. This one was staffed as well but no amount of yelling “hello” could get a response so I headed back to the car.

The final stop of the day was at Monks Hill in Kingston. It was kind of weird to see the tower from a parking lot at the Independence Mall. This was something of an urban tower. I headed up Monk hill rd (dirt road) and parked at the fork in the road and ran 2 minutes to the tower. There was a car at the tower so I tried to gain access. The warden said “no problem” and I was allowed into the cab. We chatted for about 15 minutes as he pointed out the sights and talked about his concerns for the dry weather and winds. After some pictures I was on my way home.

Monks hill fire tower

I really feel I crammed a lot into the weekend but I never felt all that rushed. Mostly it was a lot of fun, the only problem is that I’ve only got one town left and three towers. I guess I’ll have to find something else after that (shouldn’t be hard, I’ve got about 10 other lists I’m interested in).

Weekend totals:
25 miles run
6 new MA towns run in (ten towns total)
8 fire towers visited (three climbed)
1 town high point (I think)
11 peaks bagged (between 39’ and 360’)
506 miles driven
Pilgrim monument from Mt Ararat

What is left:
Only one town left and I will have run in all 351 in Massachusetts. I’m planning on running in Gosnold on Memorial day.

Three fire towers left, two in Western Mass and then one that I could not locate last time I was on Martha’s Vineyard. I guess that one will have to wait a while.

Towns Year
3 --- 1978
9 --- 1979
4 --- 1980
4 --- 1981
3 --- 1982
5 --- 1983
4 --- 1984
3 --- 1985
0 --- 1986
4 --- 1987
7 --- 1988
10 --- 1989
7 --- 1990
9 --- 1991
16 --- 1992
16 --- 1993
5 --- 1994
9 --- 1995
5 --- 1996
1 --- 1997
1 --- 1998
7 --- 1999
4 --- 2000
2 --- 2001
8 --- 2002
3 --- 2003
8 --- 2004
0 --- 2005
1 --- 2006
35 --- 2007
125 --- 2008
32 --- 2009
350 --- Total

Scott Carlson Memorial 5km race

I headed down to RI to race this weekend, figuring it would be a good chance to race on my way to the Cape for some Fire tower and Town bagging. The Carlson race was at Goddard Park where the Grand prix had been held back in the days when it was the NEAC (New England Athletic Congress) 5 km championship.

I headed down at 7AM and was one of the early arrivals at 845, ultimately 505 would sign up to run. I didn't see anyone (really...no one else was out there) when I warmed-up on the course at 915. I felt pretty lousy warming-up but that is par for the course. I was surprised and happy to see that the course had "K" markers along with the more traditional mile markers. It just makes sense to have K's in a course that is metric.

I got on racing flats and headed out for another mile and some strides. I was starting to wonder if anyone was here to race as no one was jogging around with less than 10 minutes to go. I did see a couple of fast women (Stephanie Reilly & Nicole Radzik) but no obvious fast guys. The race has attracted some fast runners in the past with a $500 CR bonus (1409 & 1644) and $250/150/100 for the top three.

I was hoping for sub 1630 and tried to head out strong. Stephanie Reilly led for the first 400 then I moved into the lead with Eric Lonergan (who won last year in 1555). We ran side-by-side through 3km then I got a stride on Eric. It was short lived as he blew by me at 2 miles. He had about 3-4 seconds on me by 4km but I slowly reeled him back in. I figured my only shot was to get ahead of him before the final 400 or I'd get out-kicked. Unfortunately (for me) I couldn't get a lead and only just barely caught him as we hit the 3 mile mark.

He put the hammer down at that point and beat me by 4 seconds in the last .109, even with me hitting 31.8 for that last part. I was pleased with the effort but not so much with the time. I guess the breeziness and the warmth (70s) were part of it, or maybe it just wasn't my day. Either way I took some solace in getting $150.

Next up: ????

Split:
Ks= 322/323/319/323/315.8

Miles = 526/521/524/31.8


The SCOTT CARLSON MEMORIAL
Saturday, April 25, 2009 Warwick, RI
===== ======== ==== =================== == = =============== == ========
1 1/76 2 LONERGAN ERIC 23 M N KINGSTOWN RI 16:39 5:22
2 1/42 477 DUNHAM DAVE 45 M WARD HILL MA MA 16:43 5:23
3 1/145 3 REILLY STEPHANIE 31 F WHITINSVILLE MA 17:18 5:35
4 2/145 514 RADZIK NICOLE 23 F SUTTON MA 18:35 5:59
5 2/76 501 SIMMONS TODD 38 M N SCITUATE RI 19:06 6:09

CMS records

I've been compiling the CMS records for various distances and I'm almost ready to post on the CMS blog (as soon as I get the software to format it correctly). Here is a taste of what I came up with.....
50 runners have broken 14:52 for a total of 117 times.
Sub 14:52
Time---Time-----Name---------Date-------- Place---- Name------------- Type
1 --- 0:13:47.0 --- Geoff Smith --- 05/20/90 --- 2 --- Heritage State Park Road
2 --- 0:13:52.0 --- Paul Goewey --- 09/29/85 --- 1 --- Bring out your best Road
3 --- 0:13:57.9 --- Stan Bickford --- 06/11/88 --- 13 --- Metrowest twilight O Track
4 --- 0:13:58.0 --- Scott Bagley --- 1992 --- 7 --- Downtown Road
5 --- 0:13:59.0 --- Stan Bickford --- 07/03/88 --- --- USATF NE champs O Track
6 --- 0:14:04.9 --- Killian Lonergan --- 06/06/98 --- 7 --- Twilight series O track
7 --- 0:14:07.0 --- Scott Bagley --- 02/01/94 --- 2 --- Addison 5k Road
8 --- 0:14:10.0 --- Rick Doiron --- 05/08/87 --- 2 --- BC relays O track
9 --- 0:14:10.0 --- Eddie Hanratty --- 05/21/90 --- 4 --- Gate City Classic Road
10 --- 0:14:11.0 --- Scott Bagley --- 05/26/91 --- 4 --- The big 5k Road
11 --- 0:14:14.8 --- Rick Doiron --- 01/08/89 --- 2 --- Dartmouth invite I track
12 --- 0:14:15.2 --- Chris Magill --- 1995 --- 22 --- Penn relays Road
13 --- 0:14:16.0 --- Jamahl Prince --- 05/11/96 --- 4 --- UNC invite O track
14 --- 0:14:18.0 --- Jack Dwyer --- 04/10/97 --- --- Searay relays O track
15 --- 0:14:19.0 --- Mark Donahue --- 1989 --- 1 --- Fleet memorial day Road
16 --- 0:14:20.0 --- Andy Ronan --- 05/26/91 --- 5 --- The big 5k Road
17 --- 0:14:21.0 --- Jimmy Fallon --- 07/30/89 --- 5 --- Short wings Road
18 --- 0:14:21.0 --- Jim Zimmerly --- 05/21/90 --- 6 --- Gate City Classic Road
19 --- 0:14:21.6 --- Mark Donahue --- 06/09/89 --- 1 --- Armed forces champs O track

Track workout

Keeping up the tradition of one speed workout per week, hit the track yesterday with Dan and Dave Q. It was pretty much ideal conditions except for the heavy rain once we started running on the track. I felt lousy warming up and not much better in the workout. Something was up with my stomach and I also just felt tired. Dave and Dan both looked pretty smooth, Dave especially looked strong on the two he led. I couldn’t muster a “fast” last 400 although it was the fastest of the day it was 1.7 seconds slower than the final one of last week. Total for the run was a little over 8miles. I think I might have caught a bug as my stomach has been off all day today.

6x400 with 400 rest
74.6
75.2
74.8
75.3
74.6
74.0


Picture above: I was pretty happy thinking I was setting an AR for 50 km. Weeks later I found out the course was re-certified and came up 50m short. Ugh!

Week ending 04-19-09

Back up to 80 MPW and continued track work and racing. Jack and I are now running outside at work, which is much more fun than the treadmill.

M - 4 @ lunch 2703

- 6 @ Dan's work 4023

T - 6 @ lunch (2 alone 1345 then 4 with Jack 3250)

- 6 @ Winnekenni 4233

W - 4 @ lunch 2831

- Track workout with Dan and Joe at PA - 6x400 @ 74-75

Th - 6 @ lunch (2 alone 1430 then 4 with Jack 3246)

- 6 @ Dan's work 4122

F - 6 @ lunch 4304

- 6 @ River 4116 (quick!)

S - 3 wup/3.1 race/3 wdwn with Ben S and Patrick R @ Ipswich - 1635.8 4th place

Sun - Town bagging 14 miles

Total for the week 83 miles

Since this is marathon week....here is a picture from my marathon PR

Bristol County Mass

Dave Camire, George Davis, Peg Donovan, & dd.



I checked off another county this weekend and with that I only have six towns in Barnstable County and one in Dukes County and I will have met my goal of running in every town/city in Massachusetts.

The morning (4 AM) came too soon on Sunday after a late night (for me) at the Greater Lowell Road runners Hall of Fame dinner. My coach and friend for the last 30 years, George Davis, was inducted into the HOF. I got home by 10 PM which is about as late as I ever stay up, but it was worth it to see George honored.

I got my Dunkin’s and headed south as the sky slowly brightened. I reached Seekonk just as the sun began to rise. I found a nice spot (in the historic Barneyville area) on the Swansea/Rehoboth/Seekonk line for an easy three-mile run. I was a bit surprised by all the activity at the Seekonk Speedway at the early hour. I thought the fans were really into it to be up that early. Upon closer inspection I realized it was actually a flea market and it was hopping at 6 AM. I guess it is never too early to get a good deal on someone else’s junk.

Next up I drove over to Somerset and parked at the Middle school. I was hoping I’d be able to sneak a run in around the Somerset reservoir, but it was fenced off. I settled for a nice hilly run on the roads around the reservoir. It was turning into a fine morning with temps already in the upper 40’s and the sun shining. If it weren’t for the wind it would be downright pleasant.

Next up was a ride to the Westport/Fall River town line. This was a very scenic section of town that overlooked North Watuppa Lake. I parked right at the town line and ran up to the Copicut woods and back. After running I went on a short excursion to find the Fall River fire tower that was located on Copicut hill. The road leading close to the tower was rutted and in really rough shape. This was the roughest drive I’d had east of Route 91. I found what I hoped was the correct trail to the summit. I’ve learned that usually if you follow telephone lines it will lead you to the tower. I was not disappointed to find the tower about ¾ mile from the trailhead. The fence had a big hole and I noted no “No Trespassing” signs so I made a quick trip to the top for some pictures then ran back to the car.


The next stop was Mendall hill and the fire tower (pictured above) located in Acushnet. I couldn’t find a close parking spot and had to park on a side road about ½ mile away from the tower. After checking it out I met up with a reporter from the Globe (and Runners World) who was going to do the final run of the day with me. We talked for a bit then headed out toward Tinkhamtown (Fairhaven). It was a nice four mile round trip where I got to explain my passion for running and the fun that town bagging could be. I think he was impressed with my ability to find the stone town line marker when I wasn’t exactly sure where the town line would be.

Totals for the day:
250 miles driven
7 new towns run in
2 fire towers visited
14 miles run

Marathon Monday

It has been 20 years since I did my one and only "Boston". Good luck to everyone racing today.


30 marathons I've done:

04/18/89 2:22:03 Hopkinton MA 17 Boston Marathon
02/25/90 2:51:00 Lowell MA 4 Bay state marathon
10/14/90 2:58:28 Lowell MA 18 Bay state marathon
11/11/90 2:19:28 Columbus OH 26 Columbus marathon
06/02/91 3:01:54 Ashford CT 1 Nipmuck
10/20/91 2:38:23 Lowell MA 4 Bay state marathon
11/03/91 2:29:28 Newport RI 3 Rhode Island marathon
03/01/92 2:54:58 Barnstable MA 12 Hyannis marathon
04/11/92 2:21:18 Columbus OH 20 US Olympic trials
10/18/92 2:52:18 Lowell MA 14 Bay state marathon
12/12/92 2:20:51 Huntsville AL 1 Rocket city marathon
10/17/93 2:51:25 Lowell MA 19 Bay state marathon
10/31/93 2:26:06 Newport RI 2 Ocean state marathon
04/09/95 2:27:51 Athens, Greece GRE 56 World Cup Marathon
09/24/95 2:30:25 Keene NH 2 Clarence Demar
12/09/95 2:25:41 Huntsville AL 9 Rocket city marathon
10/06/96 2:34:57 Portland ME 2 Portland marathon
10/27/96 2:24:05 Falmouth MA 2 USATF NE marathon
12/14/96 2:19:50 Huntsville AL 2 Rocket city marathon
10/18/98 2:21:36 Tyngsboro MA 1 Bay state marathon
12/12/98 2:22:35 Huntsville AL 4 Rocket city marathon
05/02/99 2:21:55 Pittsburgh PA 10 USATF championships
09/24/00 2:29:10 Keene NH 1 Clarence Demar Marathon
09/30/00 2:43:31 Bristol NH 1 NH Marathon
10/29/00 2:30:53 Falmouth MA 5 USATF NE marathon
11/09/02 3:06:10 Topsfield MA 1 Stone Cat Ale
12/14/02 2:36:22 Huntsville AL 10 Rocket City Marathon
10/31/04 2:50:19 Falmouth MA 18 USATF NE marathon
10/15/06 2:55:56 Brevard NC 7 Dupont forest USATF champs
10/28/07 2:49:25 Falmouth MA 27 USATF NE champs
Training log from this week in 1989

Gorrilla down Argilla 5km

Raced in Ipswich this morning. Perfect conditions, little wind, overcast and temps about 50 degrees. Warmed-up on the course with Ben Strain and Crystal Anthony. Felt crappy doing strides before the start but felt decent once we got going. Ben, Patrick Rich, and High Schooler Gregory Krathwohl formed a lead pack in the early going. I moved into 4th right around the mile mark (short). Patrick pulled away soon after and Krathwohl was in no-man's land between the lead and third. Ben slowed a bit from 1.5 - 2 miles then found another gear but not quite enough to get third. I felt good at the mile but struggled a bit after 2. The final mile had about a dozen turns and a sharp downhill that wasn't all that condusive to fast times. I kicked as hard as I could but never felt really "on" today. Happy to have run the same time I ran on the track last week, but would have liked to get under 16:30. Maybe next week....

Pic from 2007 of Ben Strain closing on the Gorrilla

Splits:
506 (short)
1035
1635.8

Results:
Chase the Gorilla Down Argilla
Saturday, April 18, 2009 9:00 AM
===== === ===================

1 15:44 Patrick Rich 32 M
2 16:03 Gregory Krathwohl 17 M
3 16:12 Ben Strain 30 M
4 16:36 Dave Dunham 45 M
5 16:59 David Long 35 M
6 18:14 Crystal Anthony 28 F
7 18:20 Carl Clarizia 35 M
8 18:43 James Deluca 22 M
9 18:45 Nan Gorton Demaso35 F
10 18:48 Miles Henderson 26 M

Track workout

Phillips Academy track – 04/15/09

Dan bagged the workout due to a bruised bone in his foot. Joe wore racing flats for the first time this season (in a workout). I was faster than the last workout by nearly 1 second per 400. Keeping the workouts short and (relatively) fast to avoid injury but still get some leg turnover. Joe looked very smooth, he could accelerate any time he wanted but stayed close to “keep you interested”. Our rest was very consistent all 400’s in 1:58. Pushed the last one to see how fast I can go, I still need to drop 1.2 seconds to hit my masters PR for 400. Seems like my wheels just won’t spin that fast.

6x400 with 400 rest:
74.8
75.4
74.3
74.9
74.6
72.2

My training log from 30 years ago this week. Yikes!

Women's single age records - Merrimack River 10m

Lisa Doucett (pictured below setting the age 53 record) leads all women with 5 single age records.

Age Time Name Year Team
10 --- 1:43:45 --- Kelli Baldasaro --- 2002 ---
14 --- 1:41:07 --- Tristan Syrett --- 1999 ---
15 --- 1:29:53 --- Vivian Wehner --- 2007 ---
16 --- 1:41:34 --- Kathyn Fetteroll --- 2008 --- TVFR
17 --- 1:45:46 --- Vivian Wehner --- 2009 ---
18 --- 1:29:01 --- Becca Levesque --- 2004 ---
19 --- 1:36:57 --- Rebecca Snyder --- 1996 ---
20 --- 1:17:08 --- Mara Kendricks --- 1999 ---
21 --- 1:25:15 --- Mellissa Donais --- 2005 --- Sisu Project
22 --- 1:18:45 --- Diona Fulton --- 2002 ---
23 --- 1:12:00 --- Joanna Veltri --- 1998 --- GBTC
24 --- 1:14:48 --- Sarah St Martin --- 2003 ---
25 --- 1:15:47 --- Deborah Schieffer --- 2000 ---
26 --- 1:15:44 --- Kellie Ann McArdle --- 2003 ---
27 --- 1:15:40 --- Dana Goldfarb --- 1997 ---
28 --- 1:12:11 --- Dana Parrot --- 1998 --- Club CT
29 --- 1:11:47 --- Michele Cutler --- 2000 ---
30 --- 1:09:43 --- Nikki Kimball --- 2002 --- CMS
31 --- 1:08:02 --- Nikki Kimball --- 2003 --- CMS
32 --- 1:17:50 --- Emma Barclay --- 2007 --- Trail Monsters
33 --- 1:09:46 --- Pam Allie-Morrill --- 1996 --- LAC
34 --- 1:11:08 --- Kelli Lusk --- 2004 --- CMS
35 --- 1:07:27 --- Kelli Lusk --- 2005 --- CMS
36 --- 1:09:40 --- Kelli Lusk --- 2006 --- CMS
37 --- 1:11:31 --- Pamela Alexander --- 1996 ---
38 --- 1:09:50 --- Jennifer Rapaport --- 2002 ---
39 --- 1:14:03 --- Kristin Hall --- 2007 --- WMM
40 --- 1:21:05 --- Lisa Doucett --- 1996 --- CSU
41 --- 1:20:08 --- Lisa Mikkelsen --- 2007 --- Inov-8
42 --- 1:20:38 --- Claire McManus --- 1999 ---
43 --- 1:14:27 --- Lisa Mikkelsen --- 2009 --- GFRC/Inov-8
44 --- 1:21:16 --- Lisa Doucett --- 2000 ---
45 --- 1:17:27 --- Patricia Robinson --- 1999 ---
46 --- 1:21:42 --- Lisa Doucett --- 2002 ---
47 --- 1:27:37 --- Dawn Heinrich --- 2009 --- WMM
48 --- 1:23:57 --- Patricia Robinson --- 2002 ---
49 --- 1:22:44 --- Elizabeth Riordan --- 1996 --- LAC
50 --- 1:28:43 --- Lisa Doucett --- 2006 --- CSU
51 --- 1:37:35 --- Sherisa Sterling --- 2004 ---
52 --- 1:40:28 --- Pamela Murphy --- 2007 ---
53 --- 1:25:20 --- Lisa Doucett --- 2009 --- CSU
54 --- 1:24:44 --- Carol Kane --- 2000 ---
55 --- 1:46:27 --- Jean Boswell --- 2000 ---
56 --- 1:35:37 --- Linda Usher --- 2005 --- CMS
57 --- 1:47:37 --- Karin Oleski --- 2006 --- GFRC
58 --- 1:30:41 --- Heather Beam --- 1995 ---
59 --- 1:40:34 --- Linda Usher --- 2008 --- CMS
60 --- 1:43:56 --- Linda Usher --- 2009 --- CMS
61 --- 1:59:04 --- Jean Barry --- 2006 --- GLRR/GAC
62 --- 1:53:52 --- Jean Barry --- 2007 --- GAC / GLRR

River - Single age records

Rich Busa has the most single age records with 8. Dan V and Matt Curran are next with 5 each. Matt keeps setting them and five years later Dan breaks them. Picture is of me (in the Grey Wolves singlet) leading Craig Fram (in the CMS purple haze singlet) up the powerline in 1995. Craig outkicked me by one second and set the still standing age 36 record.




Age Time Name Year
11 --- 1:20:25 --- Elijah Bucher --- 2008 --- NiteHawks
12 --- 1:25:59 --- Elijah Bucher --- 2009 --- NiteHawks
14 --- 1:02:46 --- Philip Galebach --- 2006 ---
15 --- 1:29:18 --- Chris Estrella --- 2006 ---
16 --- 1:07:21 --- Brendan McCarthy --- 2005 --- Easy 10 Track
17 --- 1:04:02 --- Matt Pimentel --- 2000 ---
18 --- 1:01:41 --- Patrick Moulton --- 2000 ---
19 --- 1:10:38 --- Martin Van Buren --- 2000 ---
20 --- 1:07:32 --- John Blouin --- 2009 --- GBTC
21 --- 1:11:55 --- John Couillard --- 2003 ---
22 --- 1:01:31 --- Eric Lavigne --- 1999 ---
23 --- 0:58:58 --- Kevin Tilton --- 2005 --- CMS
24 --- 0:58:31 --- Ben Nephew --- 2000 --- GBTC
25 --- 0:59:48 --- Kevin Tilton --- 2007 --- CMS
26 --- 0:57:46 --- Kevin Tilton --- 2008 --- CMS
27 --- 0:57:42 --- Ben Nephew --- 2003 --- GBTC
28 --- 0:59:39 --- Greg Hammett --- 2006 ---
29 --- 0:57:32 --- Paul Low --- 2003 --- CMS
30 --- 0:58:23 --- Paul Low --- 2004 --- CMS
31 --- 0:57:06 --- Paul Low --- 2005 --- CMS
32 --- 0:56:30 --- Paul Low --- 2006 --- CMS
33 --- 0:56:53 --- Dave Dunham --- 1997 --- CMS
34 --- 0:58:10 --- Richard Bolt --- 2005 --- CMS
35 --- 0:56:42 --- Dave Dunham --- 1999 --- CMS
36 --- 0:57:36 --- Craig Fram --- 1995 --- CMS
37 --- 1:00:23 --- Marty Lechleider --- 1995 ---
38 --- 1:00:35 --- Kevin Retelle --- 1995 ---
39 --- 1:00:21 --- Jason Cakouros --- 2005 --- HCC
40 --- 1:03:27 --- Geary Daniels --- 1997 ---
41 --- 1:04:47 --- Kevin Retelle --- 1998 --- WRT
42 --- 1:01:27 --- Dan Verrrington --- 2005 --- CMS
43 --- 1:01:29 --- Dan Verrrington --- 2006 --- CMS
44 --- 1:03:10 --- Dan Verrington --- 2007 --- CMS 40+
45 --- 1:02:49 --- Dan Verrington --- 2008 --- CMS
46 --- 1:02:46 --- Dan Verrington --- 2009 --- CMS
47 --- 1:05:04 --- Matthew Curran --- 2005 --- Team Gloucester
48 --- 1:04:54 --- Matthew Curran --- 2006 --- Team Gloucester
49 --- 1:06:19 --- Matthew Curran --- 2007 --- Team Gloucester
50 --- 1:07:15 --- Matthew Curran --- 2008 --- Team Gloucester
51 --- 1:07:45 --- Matthew Curran --- 2009 --- Team Gloucester
52 --- 1:14:13 --- Bob Gillis --- 2007 --- Team Gloucester
53 --- 1:12:54 --- Bob Worsham --- 1999 ---
54 --- 1:13:35 --- Marshall Randolph --- 2003 ---
55 --- 1:13:39 --- Bob Sharkey --- 2007 --- Team Newport
56 --- 1:09:06 --- Charles Kellogg --- 1996 --- MVS
57 --- 1:19:29 --- Robert Smith --- 1994 ---
58 --- 1:14:40 --- J Gwinn --- 2002 ---
60 --- 1:16:35 --- Marshall Randolph --- 2009 --- CSU
61 --- 1:13:32 --- John Pelton --- 2000 ---
62 --- 1:30:39 --- Dana Sumner --- 1994 ---
63 --- 1:24:00 --- Robert Smith --- 2000 ---
64 --- 1:25:09 --- Dana Sumner --- 1996 ---
65 --- 1:30:39 --- Dana Sumner --- 1997 ---
66 --- 1:30:04 --- Robert Smith --- 2003 ---
67 --- 1:35:57 --- Robert Smith --- 2004 ---
68 --- 1:41:00 --- Peter Watson --- 2008 --- Team Gloucester
69 --- 1:46:48 --- John Parker --- 2009 --- TVFR/NE65+
70 --- 1:41:35 --- Tony Federer --- 2009 --- WMM
72 --- 1:45:05 --- Richard Busa --- 2002 ---
73 --- 1:41:25 --- Richard Busa --- 2003 ---
74 --- 1:50:50 --- Richard Busa --- 2004 ---
75 --- 1:48:42 --- Richard Busa --- 2005 --- Team Saucony
76 --- 1:45:32 --- Richard Busa --- 2006 --- Team Saucony
77 --- 1:55:29 --- Richard Busa --- 2007 --- WMAC / NE 65+
78 --- 2:01:18 --- Richard Busa --- 2008 --- WMAC/NE 65+
79 --- 2:11:32 --- Richard Busa --- 2009 --- GFRC/NE65+

Weekly update

Week ending 04-12-09

I eased back a bit this week knowing that I had three 80+ mile weeks in the bank and a busy weekend with the River race and the George Davis track meet.
M- 4 @ lunch on treadmill 2923, 6 @ Dan’s work in the pouring rain with Dan & Al – 4225
T- 4 @ lunch on tread 2920, 6 @ Dan’s work (felt quick) 4009
W-4 @ lunch on tread 2934, track workout with Dan & Joe 6x400 @ 75
Th-4 @lunch on tread 2930, 6@ Dan’s work 4020.
F-4 @ lunch on tread 2730, 5 on River setting the course with double-j, Greg, and TiVO – 6213
S-3 w-up in cold rain 2331, 5,000m race 1635, 3 w-dwn with double-j 2214
Sun- 10 miles on the River picking up flags 9048

Total for the week 70
Month=131
Year= 1,078
Life = 105,189

Old pic above from the 1994 Challenge Stellina in Susa Italy

Saturday

Boy, what a long day. I was already a bit tired from the long (even though it was only 5-miles) setting up of the Merrimack river course on Friday afternoon. Thanks a bunch to TiVO, Double-J and Greg P for assisting.

Saturday morn I was out of the house at 6. I made a stop at the 2.5 mark of the race and lugged the waterstop down to the trail. Then it was over to the River for set-up. A hardy group from Gilly's AC was already heading out. They were doing 10 miles before the race, then racing and finishing up with another loop of the course. 30 tough miles to prep for a 100KM trail race later this year.

The race seemed to go quite smoothly thanks to all of the volunteers (too many to name here). I worked the finish line results board with Dreamy Jim. Needless to say, standing around from 6 am to noon is probably not the best prep for a 5,000m track race, but I love the Rivah!

I pulled into the parking lot at Umass Lowell at the same instance as Double-J. We ended up spending the next three hours hanging out in his car and checking the meet schedule. The meet was moving very slowly and the cold rainy conditions were just plain ugly (for just about everything but a 5,000). I hadn't run a outdoor track meet since June of 1995. The above picture is of me and Petey at the Dipsea trail race from June of 1995.

I convinced Jim to warm-up a little early as I need some additional time to do strides and get myself ready. We were timing everything based on the women running first which meant when the W-5,000 started we still had 20 minutes to prep. Well wouldn't you know it. We finished our 3+ mile run and I hit the bathroom. I was surprised as I headed for the car and Jim was sprinting toward me. The women's heat was combined with the men's and we had about 2 minutes until they would start the 5. Yikes!

I hightailed it to the car and got my flats on and put my singlet on as I ran for the track. Dang, all the time sitting around and now we were rushed at the last second. I was not ready to race, but fortunately I'd got all of my gear together and was able to dash to the start. I was the last one to the line and the starter was going over the commands. Then we were off.

I settled in behind a group from Merrimack right away but by 400 I felt they were slowing so I moved around them. The top 6 were already well ahead and it looked like I'd be running the race alone. The rain was coming down pretty hard and it was only in the upper 30's. I went with gloves and never took them off. Basically I tried to run even. I caught one guy at 2 miles who fell off the pack at 1.5. He went with me for a lap then dropped back a few seconds. Every lap I'd hear Obie calling out as I went by, which was nice. I wore Jim's U-Lowell singlet circa 1991 and got a few shouts from some of the current UML kids. There were only a few hardcore fans out there by that time :-)

I had seeded myself at 16:40 and my stretch goal was sub 16:30 if all went well. I was very happy to hit 16:35, all things considered. It was my fastest performance of the year (I went through 3,000 faster than I raced 3,000 at BU earlier this year).

Thanks to double-j for letting me hang out in the car and for getting me over to the line for the race. Jim and I had the track to ourselves for a 3 mile warm-down.

Splits:

79.8

79.0

79.8

80.2 - 5:18.8

80.4

80.1

79.8

80.0 - 5:20.3 - 10:39.1

79.4

79.9

79.8

79.3 - 5:18.4- 15:57.5

38.4

6th place (1st and only 40+) 16:35.99

George Davis invitational 5,000m

Just a quick results posting. Double-j and I almost missed the race as they combined the men and women into one heat and we didn't hear about it until about 3 minutes to the start! Mad scramble to get on racing flats and get to the line. More about this later, gotta post the Rivah results first.

Men 5000 Meter Run Finals:

Place Overall Name Year Team Time Score
1 1 Clark, Kevin SR Roger Williams 15:40.66 -
2 2 Keshian, Gregory SR Babson 15:56.90 -
3 3 Johnson, Jim UML alumni - 1999 16:01.91 -
4 4 Holmes, Adam SR Merrimack 16:07.37 -
5 5 ortiz, jose whirlaway 16:14.91 -
6 6 Dunham, Dave UML alumni - 1987 16:35.99 -
7 7 Doherty, John FR Merrimack 16:40.60 -
8 8 Surabian, John FR St. Anselm 17:10.23 -
9 9 Powers, Chris FR St. Anselm 17:17.49 -
10 10 Stanwyck, Chris JR Merrimack 18:33.89 -

Merrimack River trail race

River tops
Ben Nephew hasn’t entered for this weekend’s 18th running of the Merrimack River trail race. He has the most consecutive finishes of CMS team members, with ten. His streak is also second, behind only Tom Speidel who has run every edition of the race. Ben is also currently tied with fellow CMSers, Rob Smith and Dave Dunham. Rob and I both will not be racing this year due to injury (Rob) and nagging injury (my ankle). I’ve listed below the top 25 times ever run at the River. CMS runners own twenty of those times. Ben has three from when he was running for GBTC and the other two come from Dave Hannon (NETT) and Greg Hammett (now running for CMS).
1 56:30 Paul Low 2006 CMS (pictured on the right)
2 56:42 Dave Dunham 1999 CMS
3 56:53 Dave Dunham 1997 CMS
4 57:06 Paul Low 2005 CMS
5 57:29 Dave Dunham 1996 CMS
6 57:32 Paul Low 2003 CMS
7 57:36 Craig Fram 1995 CMS
8 57:37 Dave Dunham 1995 CMS
9 57:42 Ben Nephew 2003 GBTC
10 57:44 Paul Low 2007 CMS
11 57:46 Kevin Tilton 2008 CMS
12 58:10 Richard Bolt 2005 CMS
13 58:23 Paul Low 2004 CMS
14 58:27 Dan Verrington 1996 CMS
15 58:31 Ben Nephew 2000 GBTC
16 58:34 Dave Dunham 2000 CMS
17 58:58 Kevin Tilton 2005 CMS
18 59:01 Dave Hannon 2003
19 59:04 Ben Nephew 2002 GBTC
20 59:10 Peter Maksimow 2005 CMS
21 59:24 Richard Bolt 2002 CMS
22 59:35 Kevin Tilton 2006 CMS
23 59:39 Greg Hammett 2006
24 59:44 Ben Nephew 2006 CMS
25 59:48 Kevin Tilton 2007 CMS

sub 15 Masters

Here are the results from the Carlsbad 5,000 which was run last weekend. Simon Gutierrez is a long time US mountain team member and Mt Washington champion. Dennis Simoniatis was my roommate in college and has been one of the top ranked masters road runners for the last six years.

1 14:55 Christian Cushing-Murray Santa Ana CA 41
2 14:57 Alejandro Salvador Newport Beach CA 42
3 14:58 Simon Gutierrez Alamosa CO 42 (picture and bio from the 1992 Oly trails marathon)
4 15:06 Dennis Simoniatis Draper UT 46
5 15:27 Andrew Duncan Washington DC 41
6 15:28 Shaun Haley Tucson AZ 40
7 15:42 Hector Dean Carlsbad CA 40
8 15:57Rob Arsenault Riverside CA 43
9 16:13 Dan Arsenault Huntington Beach CA 46
10 16:15 James Sheremeta La Jolla CA 45

Another County done

Plymouth County – Completed

This weekend I finished running in all of the towns in Plymouth County. The last four towns were Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester. I finished them off in two runs each of three miles. I started the day with a race in Brockton then after a short (1m) warm-down I headed for the point where Lakeville, Freetown, and Berkley meet. I parked next to a wildlife sanctuary and shuffled up the road to the Berkley line, did a little bushwhack to check out the stone monument beside then retraced my steps. From there I headed up past what must be the upper class neighborhood that resides on Dunham road. Most of the run was in either Lakeville or Freetown with just a few steps in Berkley. I then headed further south to Rochester. I parked at the end of Dexter lane just past the local gun club and headed out for a trail run in the Haskell swamp WMA. Most of the trails were quite nice and well maintained. I went mostly east and south east until I was along the highway then curved to the west to get into Mattapoisett. I had a few moments of hesitation on the way back as the trail junctions looked different when approached from the other direction. Luckily I could hear the guns firing for most of the run and figured any trail that brought me closer to the sound would be a good trail. Total for the day 15 miles

Towns of Bristol county and the first date I ran in each:
Marshfield 09/27/1987 (Pic above is circa 1987)
BROCKTON 02/17/1991
Hingham 03/23/2008
Hull 03/23/2008
Norwell 03/23/2008
Scituate 03/23/2008
Carver 04/19/2008
Duxbury 04/19/2008
Halifax 04/19/2008
Kingston 04/19/2008
Middleborough 04/19/2008
Pembroke 04/19/2008
Plymouth 04/19/2008
Plympton 04/19/2008
Wareham 04/19/2008
Abington 08/02/2008
Bridgewater 08/02/2008
East Bridgewater 08/02/2008
Hanover 08/02/2008
Hanson 08/02/2008
Rockland 08/02/2008
West Bridgewater 08/02/2008
Whitman 08/02/2008
Lakeville 04/05/2009
Marion 04/05/2009
Mattapoisett 04/05/2009
Rochester 04/05/2009

Week ending 4-5-09

Transition from March into April included my first track workout and my second consecutive week over 80 miles.

Picture from 1991 New Haven, 1991 was the year that I last ran in Brockton.

M – 6 mile Lunch run on treadmill = 4301

6 mile bird sanctuary run with Dan = 4127

T – 6 mile Lunch run on treadmill = 4304

6 o/b on the River with jj and Albee= 4356

W – 6 mile Lunch run on treadmill = 4301

6 mile bird sanctuary run with Dan = 4011

Th – 6 mile Lunch run on treadmill = 4301

Track w/o with Dan and DQ at Phillips 6x400 @75 – total 8m= 5552

F – 6 mile Lunch run on treadmill = 4301

6 mile bird sanctuary run with Dan = 4129

Sat – 8 mile o/b at Winni with the Q-brothers and both Marks – 5930

Sun – 3.75 w/up= 2844, .5 of strides, 3.75 race=2036 , 1 w/dwn=748. Then 2 sets of 3m run in six towns. Total = 15 miles

Total for the week = 85 miles
April = 61
2009 = 1,008
Life = 105,119

DW field 3.75 mile race

I had trouble finding a race that I wanted to do this weekend. With Volunteer Income Tax prep on Saturday I needed to find something on Sunday. After finding the app for the DW Field race in the Hockomock Swamp Rat I decided to make the trek down to Brockton. Actually with the driving I've been doing to get to snowshoe races and to town-bag, Brockton really isn't that far. The race was a 9 am start which suits me well, it also would give me time to head a little further south after the race to bag a few towns.

I got there a bit early and after signing up headed out to run the course as a warm-up. There was a nice little hill at the start that took you past the golf course and the observation tower. The course was closed to traffic and very scenic along the shores of the lake. It was also quite windy, but it seemed like mostly a cross wind.

I did some strides while waiting for the race to start and felt pretty lousy. I was feeling lousy all morning but had a lot of pre-race nervousness. I'm not sure why as it seemed like a pretty small race. I wanted to get a solid time in despite the slightly rolling terrain and the wind.

I led the race for the first 1/2 mile then heard footsteps. The guy trailing me blew by me on the long downhill after the tower. I kept close and pulled back even with him about 3/4 mile into the race. It was good to have someone to work with. We hit the mile in 5:16, which I knew could not be correct (with the hill and wind there was no way I went out in 5:16). We stayed side by side for the next mile and hit 2 in 10:42 (5:26), still short of 2 miles but maybe the second mile was about a mile long? We had a slight tail wind for the third mile and hit that in 15:55 (5:13), which again seemed too fast (short).

Just as we hit 3 miles the guy took off and I just couldn't respond. I kept him close over the last .75 but ended up in 2nd place about 4 seconds back. I heard a few other people mention that the miles were not right but that the distance was "close". The course is used for a summer series as well (although they start further up and a few people mentioned 3.8 as the correct distance for the loop we did).

I was definitely pleased with a sub 5:30 pace effort, even if it was 5:29.5 or so! I did an easy 1m warm-down (or "cooling") and headed south to bag a few towns.

Next up: 5,000 m @ the George Davis invitational track meet at UML on Saturday.

Track workout

Did my first track workout since the injury back in August. It felt good to get back on the track. Kept it short, which is what I was doing last year. Any longer than 2 miles worth of intervals and I end up injured. Dan V and DQ joined me, or rather I joined them. Actually they were at least 4 seconds up on me for all of the 400s.

2m warm-up
1m on track with stride
6 x 400 @ 75/76/75/75/75/73 with 400 rest (1:53-2:00)
400 on track
2+ warm-down

Sunny and warm, with a good breeze on the final turn.

Town bagging update

I'm approaching the end of my quest to run in every town in Massachusetts. Only 20 towns to go. I'm hoping to finish on the Cape sometime before summer traffic.

Remaining towns:

Acushnet

Berkley

Chatham

Eastham

Gosnold

Fairhaven

Fall River

Freetown

Lakeville

Marion

Mashpee

Mattapoisett

Provincetown

Rochester

Seekonk

Somerset

Swansea

Truro

Wellfleet

Westport

March

March

This was one busy month, even with it having the fewest races so far this year. I traveled all over the country and had a heck of a lot of fun.

I started out the month by visiting the highest point on Long Island, which is the Suffolk County High point (Jaynes Hill) outside of Huntington NY. It was a bit nasty that morn and I was greeted by strong winds and snow. Luckily it cleared up as I watched my teammates win the 50 Km road national championships. Justin Fyffe completed his first ultra in fine style, taking the silver medal. Ben Nephew and Dan Verrington took third and fifth to give CMS a dominating team victory.

The following day my work closed due to the big snow storm. I had already gone in so I took full advantage of the fitness center and put in 10 miles on the treadmill. On Friday I flew to Portland OR for the snowshoe national championships. Ex-CMSer Richard Bolt took me out to the race site and we previewed the course. We didn’t see Mt Hood the entire weekend as it snowed almost continuously. We did some exploring that included a waterfalls, the Portland city high point, and the Willamette stone (which is the location where the meridians were laid out for all of OR). The race went well; I had hoped to be in the top 15 and was pleasantly surprised with a sixth place finish. I was only slightly disappointed as top five are named to the US team and I had been in fifth from the mile to 6.1 miles. I guess I need to work on my kick. Rich took 12th despite a balky knee which has severely curtailed his running.

I kept the theme of “no full week of work” alive, flying back on Monday and taking a half day the following Friday. I headed out to Northfield to set the course for the Mass snowshoe champs that I was directing. I detoured to Warwick MA and did a run up to the summit of Mt Grace and back. The fire tower on top of Mt Grace afforded great views including a close-up of Mt Monadnock. After two loops setting the course on the last of the spring snow at Northfield, I headed to Sunderland and another round-trip to a fire tower. Mt Toby had great views of Amherst and the Holyoke range. The Northfield race went well, 46 finished, I would’ve gotten more but I think a lot of people saw no snow out their window and couldn’t imagine snow so close by at Northfield.

The next day I met up with Dan, the Quintals, and double-J and we headed to New Bedford for the second race in the road Grand Prix series. I was nervous as this would be my longest run thus far since coming back from the stress fracture. I was also having trouble with a sore hamstring. It didn’t bother me once I got going and settled into a good rhythm. I ended up running with Albee the entire way (he was doing an easy work-out) and I hit my goal, setting a 40+ PR of 1:17:11. It was a bit of a disappointment to get 25th in the 40+, I had been hoping for top 15, but the field was strong. The 40+ team just missed winning, taking a close second to Whirlaway by a scant 7 seconds! That bodes well for a good battle over the next five Grand Prix races.

The next day I was traveling again, this time to Kansas City for work. As always I mixed in a little pleasure. I visited five county high points over two days, with ones in Kansas and Missouri and also ran at a couple of nice state parks. I was also surprised to find a great running path only ½ mile from my hotel. There was quite a bit of foot traffic even at 5 AM when I went out for an early morning run. When I returned home on Friday I got a rare treat…Double-J ran with me and I got a tour of his house (VERY fancy). JJ tells it like it is and when we finished the run (which I thought was a good effort) he noted “That is the slowest time I’ve EVER run on that course”.

The next day was a full one, starting with a run at Winnekenni with some of the gang (mostly with Mark Behan and Ken Tripp who slowed down enough to give me some company). I made a brief appearance at Vita and then headed west for an unusual afternoon race. I decided to bag the final western Mass towns I hadn’t run in. A brief stop on a sunny 50 degree day and Sheffield/New Marlborough were off the list. A little later (and a hilly 25 minute run later) I bagged Mt Washington – the town not the mountain. Then I was off to Ergremont/Hillsdale NY for the final WMAC snowshoe race of the season. The course definitely suited me, it had 1,000’ of climb in just over a mile then a bit more forgiving downhill. I managed to gap teammate Tim Van Orden on the climb and had enough to hold him off on the drop. The win secured my spot in the series as the top 40+ but left me .28 behind overall champ (and CMS teammate) Ben Nephew. It was a great end to a memorable Snowshoe season that had a record 17 races. I ran a personal best of 12 snowshoe races in a season, topping my previous high of 10. Hopefully we’ll have a strong season next year as Nationals come back to the East.

I kept my streak alive during the final week of March by taking a half-day on Friday. This time I was off to Florida to visit my parents. I had a lot of fun, even though it was a short trip. We visited the highest point in the county they live in (Pasco) and checked out a local hill that had a nice view. They also took me out for dinner on my 45th birthday.

Instead of coming home directly, I detoured to bag some Bristol county towns that I still needed to run in. The short trip was over early Sunday morn as I caught a 7 AM flight back to Boston. I figured since I was already 30+ miles south of home that I’d head out for some Mass. Town bagging. I planned out four runs in eight towns. First I headed to Rehoboth and parked next to the fire tower on Long Hill (pictured above). I don’t know how they would be able to spot any fires as the trees surrounding the tower were all higher than the tower itself! I got in a 3-mile run that took me from Rehoboth to Dighton and back.

Next up was a short drive to Raynham and a run on part of the Bay Circuit trail and a short stint on a rail-trail in the Great Hockomock Swamp. This was a nice quiet location despite being right behind the Raynham dog track. I got in three miles in both Raynham and Easton then quickly headed for run number three. I parked in a cul-de-sac and ran onto a rail-trail behind the Mansfield airport. The trail was paved after I crossed the road by the airport. It was also marked out in ¼ mile increments and had a surprising number of walkers on in considering the weather (40’s and drizzle/rain). It looked like this section of the World War II veterans rail-trail had been recently worked on and it had a nice crushed stone path along the paved part. I got in three miles covering Mansfield and Norton, and then headed for my final run of the day.

I headed to F. Gilbert Hills state forest in Wrentham and did a nice three mile trail run which included a run up to the highest point in the forest (High Rock). The rain/drizzle from earlier in the day had lessened and it was nice and quiet in the forest, even though I was just a stone’s throw from busy route 1.

The final day of the month was a typical day with a six mile run at lunch and then six in the afternoon. The big difference was that I didn’t run with Dan as he has started doing track workouts on Tuesday. I headed for the River to check out how the course is looking. I dropped and email to some of the guys but figured I’d be running alone. Double-J and Albee showed up, which made for an excellent run. It was a great way to close the books on the Month.

Totals:
354 miles – my best since August of last year
Weeks of – 75, 79, 83, and 50
3 races placing – 6, 108, and 1
Mass Towns – Sheffield, New Marlborough, Mt Washington, Raynham, Mansfield, Norton, Foxboro, Easton, Dighton, Rehoboth, and Wrentham
7 County high points – NY:1, FL:1, KS:2, MO:3
3 Fire towers - Mt Grace, Mt Toby, Long Hill

Looking ahead:
I’m planning on starting outdoor track workouts, gotta get some leg speed if I want to run well at Rhody. I had planned on trail races and orienteering this April, but my ankle just won’t cooperate. I’m now hoping to do a couple of track races. I haven’t raced on the outdoor track since 1995!