Lynn Woods Relay

I tried to take it easy for a couple of days after the Moose Relay (on Sunday) in anticipation of another relay (Lynn Woods) and the US 10KM trail championships this week.  By easy I mean easy running but not really dropping down my mileage too much.  I tripled (three runs a day) on Monday and Tuesday then slept in on Wednesday morning.  Dan Verrington organized a CMS team to run at Lynn woods and it turned out to be the same team we had three years ago when we set the masters course record of 55:12.  Although the course being run now is very similar the change eliminated the 200 meters of flat pavement that we used to run at the start and finish of each leg.  Instead we now had a 200 meter stretch of trail that added another drop/climb to the already tough course and also added a 180 degree turn around a cone.  All things considered the course would run somewhat slower than in years past.

We had a perfect night for racing with reasonable temperatures for late August (low 80’s) and the humidity wasn’t that bad.  Joe Shairs, David Quintal, and Dan all headed out together for a warm-up, but it would have been way too early for me since I was running the final leg.  The worst part about this was the waiting!  About five minutes before the race started I headed out for my warm-up.  I ran over the course to get a feel for how hard it would be.  There is very little flat on this course, nothing super steep, but you are always climbing or descending.  I saw Joe looking strong heading into his last half mile.  Then I caught Dave heading out and moving us up into third place.  I got back and changed into racing flats and headed out to do another mile with some strides.  Dan went flying by about ½ mile into the race and he was just moving into second place when I saw him.  He was chewing up the GBTC lead and putting some time on the Somerville Road Runners masters team.

I waited on the line for Dan to come in and tried to calm my nerves.  Joe predicted that Dan would be leading the race when he came in, and he asked me how much lead I needed.  I told him “at least a minute”.  I wasn’t kidding; the anchor for Somerville (Greg Picklesimer) is one of the top 40+ runners in New England.  Mostly I just hoped to hold him off for as long as possible.

Caleb Evanter from GBTC was off and flying, I heard “8 seconds back” from Dave at about ½ mile into the race.  I pushed as hard as I could and tried to keep him in sight.  I check my watch at the 180 degree turn and he was 16 seconds ahead of me.  A few steps later Picklesimer went by like I was standing still, he’d made up 17 seconds on me in the first half of the race.  We turned right onto the steep single-track section and I was surprised as he seemed to come back and doubly surprised that we were both rapidly closing on Evanter.

The biggest consistent drop is over the next part of the course and both those guys just flew.  I gave all I had but they slowly pulled away and had a great battle back and forth right to the line (with only 3 seconds between them at the end).  I ended up running 14:05, Evanter ran 13:49 which was 16 seconds faster than me…so from the turn to finish we ran the same time.  I guess I’m a stronger climber.  Picklesimer nearly ran the fastest time of the day coming up just one second short.  It was a lot of fun having such a close race and each of us having someone to run against.  It is not only unusual to have three teams finish within 16 seconds but also for each leg to be so closely matched.

Teams with leg splits

1 . GBTC                                                  56:46

  ADAM GREENSPAN             14:11     14:11

  ALEX GOMES                     27:45     13:34

  MATHEW WEISSINGER   42:57     15:12

  CALEB EVANTER                56:46     13:49

2 . SRR-BADASS IN BLACK                                56:49

  CHRIS SMITH                    14:08     14:08

  ROBERT CIPRLANO            28:20     14:12

  JON MAY                            43:14     14:54

  GREG PICKLESIMER          56:49     13:35

3 . CMS 40+                                        57:02

  JOE SHAIRS                      14:12     14:12

  DAVE QUINTAL               28:27     14:15

  DAN VERRINGTON          42:57     14:30

  DAVE DUNHAM                57:02     14:05

4 . SRR - GIMPY IN GOLD                  58:23

  BRENDAN KEARNEY            14:57    14:57

  SEAN MCDONOUGH             29:54  14:57

  MATT FUHRMEISTER           44:22 14:28

  ALEX WHITE                      58:23     14:01

5 . WICKED SALTY                    1:00:36

  ERICH O'NEILL                  14:57     14:57

  DAVID LONG                      29:53     14:56

  MICHAEL SMITH              44:40     14:47

  SCOTT CARRIER            1:00:36     15:56

Leg Times

1 ALEX GOMES               GBTC                            13:34

2 GREG PICKLESIMER     SRR                            13:35

3 CALEB EVANTER          GBTC                           13:49

4 DOUG CHICK               THE COMEBACKS      13:53

5 MATT VEIGA               STILL GOT IT             13:57

6 ALEX WHITE               SRR                              14:01

7 DAVE DUNHAM           CMS 40+                      14:05

8 CHRIS SMITH             SRR                              14:08

9 ADAM GREENSPAN     GBTC                           14:11

10 ROBERT CIPRLANO    SRR                             14:12

11 JOE SHAIRS              CMS 40+                      14:12

12 DAVE QUINTAL         CMS 40+                     14:15

13 ALEX DEROSA            MPTR                           14:24

14 MATT FUHRMEISTER SRR                            14:28

15 DAN VERRINGTON     CMS 40+                                    14:30

Our times in 2008

Joe – 13:18

David – 14:04

Dan – 13:47

Me – 14:03