USATF XC nationals

After Eric and I bagged the state high point we headed back to St. Louis and the scenic Forest Park.  We ran over from our hotel which was less than 2 miles from where the Cross-Country nationals would be held.  It is always a good idea to scout the course if possible, that way there are no surprises on race day.  It was cloudy and temps were in the low 30’s when we checked it out.

The course was approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) loop that would be run multiple times, for the masters (age 40 and up) that would mean 4 loops.  The course was entirely grass, no dirt at all, but it was also solidly frozen so it looked to be reasonably fast for an XC race.  There were three very minor bumps that would be a far stretch to call them “hills”.   At least it wasn’t dead flat.  We ran a couple of loops then headed back to the hotel.

Race morning seemed to take forever to pass, we were the third race of the day but didn’t start until 10:45.  This left a lot of time to kill.  An hour before the race we headed over and did 2+ loops to warm-up.  It was cold (19 degrees) and windy (over 20 mph) and the wind chill was 4 degrees.  I went with two layers on top and tights, while Eric chose shorts and two top layers.  I changed into my Inov-8’s and he went with road flats, then we headed out for another mile and some strides.

We met up with Tim Van Orden just before the start and also bumped into old New England rival Rusty Snow (now living in CA) just before we lined up.  About 100 of us took to the line and off we went.  My goal was to run around 28:00 and I figured based on prior years results that would be close to the top 25.  Eric was hoping to run about 30 seconds faster but he wasn’t as race sharp (this was my 9^th race of the year and his 1^st).

They had splits every kilometer, but laps 1 & 4 were slightly different from 2 & 3 so it’s hard to say how accurate they were.  I went out hard but not crazy and found myself in about 50^th at 1 km (3:20).  I steadily moved through the fast starters and was in the mid 30’s for place at 2 km (7:01).  I felt decent although the wind was tough.  I hit 3km in 10:31 and completed the second loop (4 km) in 14:07.  At that point I’d moved up to about 25^th place but there were a lot less guys to pass now.  At 5km (17:37) I started to wonder where Eric was, I figured he was close behind but never looked back to see.  I reached 6km in 21:14 matching strides with two guys from the “Running Republic of Boulder” club.  We went back and forth until 7km (24:46) before I pulled ahead of them.  At the same time Eric flew by.  I tried to latch on but he was motoring.  He put about 4-5 seconds on me from 800 to 400 to go.  We got on the final straight-away and I started kicking for all I was worth.  Eric very slowly came back but he had just a little more than me, crossing the line 1.6 seconds ahead.  It turned out that Eric was the only one to pass me and stay ahead of me during the race.  I met my goal of a top 25 finish and nearly hit my goal time of 28 flat.

We looped the course a couple of more times for a warm-down and a few hours later went back for 3 more miles while watching the open races.  It was definitely a fun weekend.

1 550 CHRISTIAN CUSHING-MURRAY 44 SANTA ANA CA 26:08.1 5:16 COMPEX RACING

2 722 RUSTY SNOW 42 SANTA BARBARA CA 26:11.9 5:17 SANTA BARBARA RUNNING AND RACI

3 771 KEITH MULHOLLON 42 LAKE GENEVA WI 26:15.8 5:17 UNATTACHED

4 573 RICHARD FALCONE 41 CLEVELAND TN 26:32.4 5:21 UNATTACHED

5 759 EVERETT WHITESIDE 41 PENSACOLA FL 26:34.4 5:21 UNATTACHED

6 662 KEVIN MILLER 50 OLATHE KS 26:53.2 5:25 KANSAS CITY SMOKE

7 520 BO BOATNER 41 NEW ALBANY MS 26:55.3 5:25 ATLANTA TRACK CLUB

8 664 JOHN MIRTH 49 PLATTEVILLE WI 27:00.2 5:26 UNATTACHED

9 518 KRISTIAN BLAICH 45 DECATUR GA 27:18.3 5:30 ATLANTA TRACK CLUB

10 579 ERIC FORTE 45 SANTA BARBARA CA 27:20.9 5:31 SANTA BARBARA RUNNING AND RACI

11 506 VALENTIN ALVAREZ 43 MARIETTA GA 27:23.7 5:31 ATLANTA TRACK CLUB

12 772 TIM VAN ORDEN 43 BENNINGTON VT 27:24.4 5:31 CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS

13 568 MATT EBINER 50 COVINA CA 27:29.9 5:32 COMPEX RACING

14 614 JAMES JACKSON 45 CROSSROADS TX 27:34.4 5:33 UNATTACHED

15 509 ROBERT ARSENAULT 46 RIVERSIDE CA 27:35.0 5:33 COMPEX RACING

16 755 MATT WEGENKA 47 SPRINGFIELD MO 27:37.7 5:34 KANSAS CITY SMOKE

17 620 MARK JONES 41 NEWBURGH IN 27:46.2 5:36 UNATTACHED

18 522 TODD BOOTH 42 SANTA BARBARA CA 27:47.2 5:36 SANTA BARBARA RUNNING AND RACI

19 560 RICHARD DISSLY 46 BOULDER CO 27:54.8 5:37 RUNNING REPUBLIC OF BOULDER

20 710 BRIAN SCHMIDT 42 SACHSE TX 27:55.0 5:37 UNATTACHED

21 667 ERIC MORSE 46 BERLIN VT 28:15.0 5:41 UNATTACHED

22 567 DAVE DUNHAM 47 BRADFORD MA 28:16.6 5:42 UNATTACHED

23 552 DARREN DE REUCK 46 BOULDER CO 28:19.0 5:42 RUNNING REPUBLIC OF BOULDER

24 731 MICHAEL STRICKLAND 45 MARIETTA GA 28:21.2 5:43 ATLANTA TRACK CLUB

25 575 STEPHEN FETHER 46 BOULDER CO 28:22.3 5:43 RUNNING REPUBLIC OF BOULDER