We were up pretty early (4am), Francis fueled up and I had a big cup of Dunkin's. We took off for the race pretty early (615am) since last year there was a massive traffic jam after 7am. We were parked by 7am and now had time to kill. It was already getting warm (ugh). A few of my teammates asked about a warm-up and I spread the word that anyone was welcome to join for 2.5 miles on the mostly flat trails. At 815 Kevin, Pat Rich, Doug Deangelis, and I headed out for a nice easy loosen up jog. It was nice to chat which helped to stay calm. My knee was very sore and I was worried about that and my ankle. Sucks getting old!
A quick change into race gear (old CMS black singlet for this one) and a pit stop in the woods then off to the start. I got on the left side in the 2nd row (I was 14th last year and hoped to be in the top 25-30 this year). At 9am we were off. It was in the 70s down at the base and 40s with a 20-40mph wind up top. I did a quick count as we reached the start of the climb and there were 28 guys and 2 women ahead of me...so I was just outside of the top 30. Well, only 7.4 miles to go!
I settled in and started passing guys as reality set in. The mile was the only time I looked at my watch. I was about 15 seconds slower than what I wanted (based on a 1:12:30 pace), but you have to take whatever your body will give you. I was in race mode and just focused on guys up ahead. You can tell pretty early on who you is running too fast and will be back. Every time I got someone it gave me a boost. The fact that I could still see fellow 50+ runner Simon G up ahead also kept me focused.
I caught some more guys up through the halfway mark (3510) but even before the treeline the wind was whipping. I caught up to the Larosa brothers and teammate Todd Callaghan by the fifth mile. The wind was really nasty. Todd waved me behind him and I took him up on it, but a lot of the wind was from the side so it wasn't particularly helpful but WORKING with someone was very helpful. Todd and I switched off a lot, maybe every 100 meters.
I moved a head slightly after 6 miles but had Todd and Paul L right behind me as we made the tough turn with 1 mile to go. The wind was something else in the cow pasture, I almost fell a couple of times! I could hear how close the other guys were based on how loud their numbers were flapping in the wind.
I was able to hold them off and ended up taking 11th place (my best finish place since I got 3rd in 2003! The field was fairly weak, but the 50+ age group was as strong as ever!
No complaints from me, I gave what I had on this day. Time to rest up and race TOMORROW (ugh).
1100 finishers
1 Cesare Maestri M2024 1:00:53 8:01 1/22 1:00:53 4 24 M Borgo Lares IT ITALIA - VALLI BERGAMASCH
2 Eric Blake M3539 1:01:53 8:09 1/88 1:01:53 2 39 M West Hartford CT WOODBRIDGE RUNNING COMPAN
3 Sage Canaday M3034 1:03:11 8:19 1/55 1:03:11 1 32 M Boulder CO COLO
4 Andy Wacker M2529 1:04:28 8:29 1/39 1:04:28 3 29 M Boulder CO COLO
5 Lee Berube M2529 1:07:20 8:52 2/39 1:07:20 426 27 M Syracuse NY
6 Simon Gutierrez M5054 1:11:34 9:25 1/95 1:11:34 8 52 M Alamosa CO COLO
7 Kim Dobson F3034 1:11:42 9:26 1/62 1:11:42 W3 34 F Eagle CO COLO
8 Matt Lipsey M2529 1:11:43 9:27 3/39 1:11:43 9 28 M Harrisburg PA RUN SCRANTON
9 Patrick Rich M4044 1:12:29 9:33 1/76 1:12:30 228 41 M South Hamilton MA CMS
10 Luke O'Connor M2024 1:13:41 9:42 2/22 1:13:44 130 23 M Cambridge MA GRUMPY BOYS
11 Dave Dunham M5054 1:14:24 9:48 2/95 1:14:25 28 54 M Ward Hill MA CMS
12 Todd Callaghan M4549 1:14:30 9:49 1/85 1:14:30 12 48 M Beverly MA CMS
13 Paul Larosa M4044 1:14:31 9:49 2/76 1:14:32 14 41 M Newburyport MA BAA
14 Jeffrey Allen M0119 1:14:33 9:49 1/10 1:14:33 347 17 M Litchfield NH
15 Vincent BogousslavsM3034 1:14:36 9:49 2/55 1:14:38 453 31 M Boston MA
16 Heidi Caldwell F2529 1:14:43 9:50 1/43 1:14:55 W543 26 F Craftsbury Comm VT CRAFTSBURY RUNNING CLUB
17 Mark Larosa M4044 1:15:14 9:54 3/76 1:15:15 13 40 M North Andover MA BAA
18 Erik Vandendries M5054 1:15:20 9:55 3/95 1:15:20 17 53 M Chestnut Hill MA CMS
19 Francois Leger DionM3034 1:15:24 9:56 3/55 1:15:24 456 31 M Montreal QC
20 Matthew Byrne M4044 1:15:37 9:57 4/76 1:15:38 43 43 M Scranton PA RUN SCRANTON
95 in the 50-54
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 to 54
Place O'All Name Race# Ag City/state Guntime
===== ===== ========================= ===== == ===================== =======
1 6 Simon Gutierrez 8 52 Alamosa CO 1:11:34
2 11 Dave Dunham 28 54 Ward Hill MA 1:14:25
3 18 Erik Vandendries 17 53 Chestnut Hill MA 1:15:20
4 29 Jim Boule 51 51 Campton NH 1:18:04
5 32 Francis Burdett 25 53 Worcester MA 1:18:29
6 39 Christopher Smith 297 52 Woburn MA 1:20:17
7 53 David Lapierre 229 54 Chelmsford MA 1:23:10
8 81 Bruce Christensen 50 50 Bolton CT 1:28:48
9 85 Clint Dowd 93 54 Goffstown NH 1:29:23
10 87 Ed Sheldon 21 53 Hooksett NH 1:29:41
 |
| Erik V, Francis, and me |
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