Alumni XC race

Chelmsford Alumni Cross-Country race – I’ve enjoyed taking part in the alumni XC race that is open to all runners.  Keith O’Brien (Chelmsford Class of 1982) and I have been friends since our high school days.  He puts on a fun event with post-race snacks and plenty of unusual prizes.  The only draw-back is that the race is at 11:00 on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Getting out of work and being sore from racing the day before can make this a challenge.  This year the additional challenge was the 6 inches of snow that covered the course.

I was sore from racing in West Newbury the day before but loosened up a bit with a 6 mile warm-up on the road.  I bumped into CMS teammate Dave Lapierre and we jogged around for a few minutes before the race start.  I didn’t see Mike Cooney around (he is from Chelmsford and had won the race the last 3 years) and it looked like O’B and I would be setting the pace.  Jim Stronach jumped the gun but no one seemed to react, after about 30 seconds O’B gave the shout of “Go!” and off we went.

We caught Stronach about 200 meters in and by 400 meters O’B was in the lead with me trailing him.  I felt pretty good but the footing was bad and I kept kicking myself in the knee.  O’B seemed to be doing better in spikes but when we hit the pavement he had some difficulty.  I made a move which he immediately covered as we pulled away from the chasers.  I tried to drop O’B after the mile with a hard surge but he stayed close and when we looped back through the open field he again used superior traction to move ahead.  I decided I’d try another move after 2 miles but again he stayed on me, although he sounded like he was struggling.  I felt a bit dead legged from racing the day before but thought I could take him on the final paved uphill.  Just before that spot I said “Do you want to tie or should we sprint”?  O’B said “yeah”.  I had to ask again since it wasn’t really a yes or no question.  He agreed to tie, which is typical of the nice guy that he is.  We crossed together getting a very slow time of over 23 minutes for the 3.2 mile loop.  It did not feel slow!

I went out for another 3 miles on the road and arrived back in time to collect my prize.  I ended up winning a steak; I can honestly say that was a first.

Results:

1          23:26   Dave Dunham   Billerica 1982

2          23:26    Keith O’Brien      Chelmsford 1982

3          28:06    Kyle O’Brien       Chelmsford 1985

4          28:20    Colin O’Brien      Chelmsford 2018

5          29:09    Scott Graham     Chelmsford 1976

6          29:15    Richie Blake       Tyngsborough 1990

7          29:29    Mark Gallagher   Chelmsford 1982

8          29:50    Mark Blaisdell     Wilmington 1975

9          33:28    Jim Stronach      Tewksbury 1975

10         33:29    Dave Lapierre     Chelmsford

11         34:10    Lee Panas          Chelmsford 1980

12         34:30    Rob Therrien      Chelmsford 1996

13         35:06    Matt Shapiro       Chelmsford

14         39:42    Jay Goselich       Nashua South

 

My history at the Alumni race:

Date	Time	Place	Finishers	Distance
11/24/06	18:59	4	27	3.11
11/23/07	18:56	4	20	3.11
11/28/08	19:56	6	31	3.11
11/23/12	19:34	3	24	3.20
11/22/13	21:40	3	18	3.20
11/28/14	21:40	1	14	3.20