Monday, May 21, 2018

Trav's trail race


Although I’d run the Trav’s trail race seven times prior to this weekend I hadn’t raced it since 2009.  I’ve always enjoyed this race but it always seemed to be on the same weekend as other races I was interested in.  This year I had an unusual gap in my racing schedule with nothing for this weekend.  This course isn’t particularly easy but the footing is very good so I was hoping to run under 18:00 for the 3(ish) mile distance.

I showed up pretty early and that gave me ample time to organize and figure out which shoes to wear (I brought XC flats and light-weight Inov-8 trail shoes).  I met up with teammates Jim Pawlicki and Greg Putnam and we headed out to preview the course.  It was already nearly 80 degrees and very humid.  It felt like we were moving along during the warm-up but the watch told differently.  I changed into race gear (went with the Inov-8 shoes since there was a little mud on the bridge) and headed out for another mile.  I was thinking about doing some strides but just couldn’t get myself to do it, I was already tired.

Less than 200 showed up this year, but with the so many races out there it is hard to attract a big crowd.  I never looked at my watch during the race (but was glad to hear each half-mile beep knowing I was that much closer to the finish).  My goal was to keep Jim in sight and if possible keep Chris Kealey in sight.  He recently turned 50+ and I haven’t beaten him in at least a decade.  The downhill first half-mile (2:45) did not feel easy but I kept Jim in sight.  I counted 12 guys ahead of me as we crossed over the bridge and started the climb.  Zoom, Chris Kealey went by at that point.  He offered words of encouragement (something like “let’s go”) but I could not match his pace.  A 3:15 (yikes!) next half had me catch one fast starter and move up to 13th place.  Soon after the mile I got around Jim and his footfalls faded (I didn’t look back).  I kept thinking “get to 1.5” as I was looking forward to the downhill after that.  Chris was slowly extending his lead on me, but I still had him in sight.  As I reached 2 miles I saw one of the early lead pack runners on the side of the trail walking.  That put me in 11th.  I was pretty sure I couldn’t catch Chris but he caught Conor Welch who then took off his singlet (I took that as a sign that he was done).  With a top 10 finish looming I pushed the final downhill and closed the gap.  The climb to the finish was hot and I was beat, but I did manage to get around Conor and get myself across the line under 18 minutes.

I ended up on the ground after the finish chute working to get my breathing under control, I’d really been wheezing it up the final 800 meters.  It wasn’t pretty but I got it done.  After a quick stop at the water tubs I got together with Greg and Kara (who cruised to a win) for a warm-down.  Kara asked us if we minded going “easy”, she then proceeded to bury me.  They even doubled-back once!  I stuck around for the raffle (winning a spike bag) but it didn’t look like they would be doing the awards anytime soon so I called it a day.  I’m putting this on the calendar as a must do next year.

18th Annual Trav’s Trail 3 mile XC race
Newburyport, MA May 20, 2018
    1 Dan Chebot               30 M                               15:48  5:16
    2 Nick Lemon               25 M                               16:09  5:23
    3 Gregory Putnam        48 M Stoneham                16:26  5:29 CMS
    4 Nick Roosa                32 M                               16:39  5:33
    5 Steve Dowsett           30 M Newburyport           16:50  5:37 WRT
    6 Paul Larosa               41 M Newburyport            16:53  5:38
    7 Michael Watson         31 M North Andover          16:56  5:39
    8 Matt Cartes               39 M                               17:10  5:44
    9 Chris Kealey              50 M Newburyport            17:38  5:53 Maudslay TC
   10 Dave Dunham          54 M Bradford                  17:52  5:58 CMS
   11 Conor Welch             30 M Newburyport            18:02  6:01
   12 James Pawlicki          43 M Lynn                       18:18  6:06 CMS
   13 Justin Moleney          39 M Somerville              18:44  6:15
   14 Alec Krohto               18 M                               18:45  6:15
   15 Kara Haas                47 F Chelmsford               18:57  6:19
   16 Matt Perreault           32 M Merrimac                 19:04  6:22
   17 Nat Coughlin             41 M                               19:20  6:27
   18 Douglas DeAngelis    51 M Newbury                  19:24  6:28 TGloucester
   19 Mike Haas                45 M Chelmsford              19:30  6:30
   20 Mckenzie Wessen     32 F                                19:37  6:33
   21 Mimi Fallon               52 F WALPOLE                 19:38  6:33

50+
Pl          O’all      Time     Name                            Age
1          9          17:38    Chris Kealey                   50        
2          10         17:52    Dave Dunham                 54        
3          18         19:24    Douglas DeAngelis           51        
4          22         20:14    Mike Leonard                  53                    
5          25         20:51    Stuart Olsen                   51        
6          28         21:14    Jon Ellis                         55                    
7          29         21:28    Steven Pedersen             50                    
8          47         22:32    Shawn Leonard               52                    
9          58         23:34    Steven Bradbury              53        
10         61         23:45    Stew Hoover                   52        
11         65         23:50    Rick Marciano                 57        
12         71         24:49    Don Gallucci                   50        
13         73         25:12    Jim Samuelson                50        
14         107       30:20    Peter Lacey                    53        
15         120       31:48    Pete Finn                       56        
16         140       33:44    Ken Brown                      53                    
17         148       35:09    Richard Tabbut               59        


My first Trav’s (33 ran faster than my time this year)
May 27, 2001
    1 croft michael         M    23   15:12  5:04
    2 DUNHAM DAVE           M    38   15:18  5:06
    3 METCALF ADAM          M    22   15:25  5:09
    4 CORSO JONATHAN        M    32   15:38  5:13
    5 ST.GERMAINE MATT      M    21   15:49  5:17
    6 BARBOUR JOHN          M    47   15:54  5:18
    7 GOULTER TIMOTHY       M    17   16:00  5:20
    8 TUCKER ROSS           M    18   16:02  5:21
    9 GOGLAS KEN            M    19   16:05  5:22
   10 BEAULEY DANIEL        M    35   16:07  5:23
   15 MOLNAR ROBERT         M    25   16:38  5:33
   17 SPINNEY RYAN          M    19   16:52  5:38
   28 KEALEY CHRIS          M    33   17:34  5:52
   34 KIMBALL MARK          M    41   17:56  5:59

My most recent Trav’s (Chris Kealey buried me in this one!)
MAY 24 2009
Place Name                Age S Time1   Pace 
    1 JOSEPH EKUOM         39 M   14:32  4:51
    2 TOM WEBB             22 M   14:35  4:52
    3 matt ely             33 M   14:41  4:54
    4 MATHE KIPLAGAT       26 M   14:50  4:57
    5 MATT CARTER          30 M   15:35  5:12
    6 Chris Kealey         41 M   16:14  5:25
    7 MIKE COHEN           30 M   16:23  5:28
    8 ED JENSEN            36 M   16:39  5:33
    9 DAVE DUNHAM          45 M   16:43  5:35
   10 Justin Maloney       30 M   16:57  5:39

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