Baystate Marathon (USATF NE
championships): I came into this race with multiple goals (as I usually
do). The number one goal was to finish and score for the CMS 50+
team. Second was to finish in the top 10 in my age group which would give
me at least one point in all of the seven USATF NE grand prix races. I
felt that sub-3 hours was do-able and would be aiming for my 50+ personal best
from last year of 2:57:10. I was a bit worried about my knee which has
been bothering me for a month and lately has taken a turn for the worse.
I’d been favoring it a bit and that had caused my ankle and heel to be pretty
sore at the start of my runs, I’d written that off as “not a problem” as it
tended to warm-up after a mile or so.
Al Bernier and I got to the race about
an hour early and picked up his number. We bumped into a few of our CMS
teammates and spirits seemed high despite the steady winds and the temps in the
40s. At least it’d be a tailwind on the final 8m stretch from Tyngsboro
back into Lowell! I ran an easy ¾’s of mile to loosen up and got to the
line as they called “1 minute to go”. Based on my projected 100th
place finish I lined up in the 6th row. Nearly 1,300 in the
marathon and another 1,200 in the half marathon (separate start) headed off at 8am.
I felt pretty good except for the ankle
which was very tender right from the start. I kept thinking it’d loosen
up. A 6:46 opening mile had me right where I wanted to be and I saw my
parents on the sideline (mom ringing a cowbell and dad wear some crazy hat),
I’m not sure they saw me but I gave a wave. I settled in to 6:40 pace and
was happy to have the ½ marathon runners head off over the Rourke bridge at 3
miles. I found myself in a group with Kassandra Marin (aR) and Jackie
Solimine (WRT). That seemed like a good spot to be as Jackie and I have
been close in a few races this year and Kassandra is always in the mix when we
race. We caught up to Brad Klindinst around 4 miles and tried to spend as
little time in front heading into the wind. The worst stretch was
probably from N Chelmsford center to the Tyngsboro bridge. We ended up
getting STOPPED by the police around 5 miles as the halted the race to let a
fire truck turn. Weird!
I was worried about my ankle but
otherwise feeling pretty good, mostly just killing time until the 2nd
loop. Our little group stuck pretty much intact until 12 miles.
Jackie accelerated and would go on to run a fantastic 2:52. Brad fell
behind me as I also got dropped by Kassandra on the Rourke bridge. The
uneven surface was wreaking havoc on my ankle. The thought of dropping
out never crossed my mind but I was beginning to think that my running would be
curtailed after I finished. I hit the half-marathon mark in 1:28:10,
almost exactly the split I ran last year. I was pleased with that and
bridged the gap to Kassandra. The wind was MUCH worse the second time
around and I kept thinking “Get to the bridge and then it’ll be a fast
finish”. Miles of 701, 701, and 707 from 16-18 had me worried but once I
started heading for home I thought things would improve. The 19th
mile was a 6:55 but Kassandra was now gone ahead. A 6:54 20th
mile had me calculating what I’d need to break 3 hours. I figured I could
run low 7’s and still sneak under. Man, my ankle was really hurting every
step was a jolt. Just before the 22 mile mark the 3:00 pace group came
rolling by. That was not a good sign. I thought I’d picked it up
but the clock doesn’t lie (7:07). It’d only get worse from that point.
Brad came rolling by (as did about 50 people) but I had no fight in me. I
was making bargains “okay get through this and take a day off”…”finish and then
take a week off”…”do this and you never have to do another marathon
EVER”. It wasn’t pretty but I kept forward motion.
I crossed the line a few seconds under 3:02
and slowly hobbled through the longest chute in the history of road
racing. It literally took me ½ hour to get to my car. Oddly my knee
didn’t bother me at all during the race but the ankle would barely support me
after the race. I’m not sure what kind of damage I’ve done but will find
out. Appointment to see my podiatrist tomorrow (and my PT today!).
I did meet my goal of finishing and placing in the top 10, and CMS took the win
in the 50+ team category!
|
M50 Pl
|
O'all
|
Time
|
Name
|
City
|
St
|
Age
|
Team
|
||||
|
1
|
15
|
2:40:23.3
|
Robert
|
Ashby
|
Brunswick
|
ME
|
50
|
Dirigo
|
|||
|
2
|
16
|
2:40:45.3
|
David
|
Principe
|
Johnston
|
RI
|
51
|
CMS
|
|||
|
3
|
43
|
2:52:00.8
|
Paul
|
Davies
|
Roslindale
|
MA
|
51
|
BAA
|
|||
|
4
|
55
|
2:55:34.7
|
Peter
|
Burke
|
Westbrook
|
ME
|
50
|
Dirigo
|
|||
|
5
|
75
|
2:58:15.4
|
Xianbao
|
He
|
Brookline
|
MA
|
53
|
BEN
|
|||
|
6
|
77
|
2:58:30.6
|
Mark
|
Reeder
|
Brighton
|
MA
|
59
|
GLRR
|
|||
|
7
|
80
|
2:58:44.5
|
David
|
Consigli
|
Medway
|
MA
|
53
|
BAA
|
|||
|
8
|
110
|
3:01:51.8
|
Dave
|
Dunham
|
Bradford
|
MA
|
54
|
CMS
|
|||
|
9
|
130
|
3:04:56.2
|
EJ
|
Hrynowski
|
Arlington
|
MA
|
56
|
GLRR
|
|||
|
10
|
134
|
3:05:19.3
|
Terry
|
Mcnatt
|
Needham
|
MA
|
53
|
CSU
|
|||
|
11
|
145
|
3:07:09.6
|
David
|
Lapierre
|
Chelmsford
|
MA
|
54
|
CMS
|
|||
|
162
|
3:08:48.0
|
Jim
|
Garcia
|
Westford
|
MA
|
60
|
GLRR
|
||||
|
12
|
164
|
3:08:50.6
|
Wei
|
Tang
|
Roslindale
|
MA
|
55
|
BEN
|
|||
|
13
|
184
|
3:10:27.3
|
Nick
|
Hopley
|
Amherst
|
MA
|
50
|
GSH
|
|||
|
14
|
187
|
3:10:56.3
|
Hubert
|
Williams
|
Newton
|
MA
|
52
|
N/A
|
|||
|
15
|
193
|
3:12:05.6
|
Bobby
|
Bligh
|
Wakefield
|
MA
|
54
|
HFC
|
|||
|
16
|
198
|
3:12:26.6
|
Paul
|
Young
|
Andover
|
MA
|
53
|
CMS
|
|||
|
17
|
203
|
3:12:47.5
|
Lixin
|
Gao
|
Lexington
|
MA
|
52
|
BEN
|
|||
|
18
|
209
|
3:13:12.8
|
Richard
|
Bunt
|
Middlebury
|
VT
|
50
|
N/A
|
|||
|
213
|
3:13:39.2
|
Doug
|
Pratt
|
Leyden
|
MA
|
60
|
N/A
|
||||
|
223
|
3:15:27.1
|
Mark
|
Lanzillo
|
Kennesaw
|
GA
|
61
|
N/A
|
||||
|
224
|
3:15:27.2
|
Stan
|
Peijffers
|
Andover
|
MA
|
65
|
N/A
|
||||
|
19
|
238
|
3:16:25.7
|
Paul
|
Hughes
|
Scituate
|
MA
|
52
|
N/A
|
|||
|
20
|
246
|
3:17:20.9
|
Robert
|
Day
|
Chester
|
NH
|
59
|
GLRR
|
|||
|
249
|
3:17:38.5
|
Paul
|
Donovan
|
Hollis
|
NH
|
53
|
GCS
|
||||
|
252
|
3:17:53.9
|
Richard
|
Wein
|
Boston
|
MA
|
51
|
N/A
|
||||
|
258
|
3:19:31.0
|
Robert
|
Hewes
|
Three
|
MA
|
52
|
GSH
|
||||
|
1
|
8:49:47
|
CMS
|
|||||||||
|
2
|
9:12:15
|
GLRR
|
|||||||||
|
3
|
9:19:53
|
BEN
|
|||||||||
|
Splits
|
|
||||||||||
|
1
|
6:46
|
|
|||||||||
|
2
|
6:40
|
13:26
|
|
||||||||
|
3
|
6:40
|
20:06
|
|
||||||||
|
4
|
6:40
|
26:46
|
|
||||||||
|
5
|
6:47
|
33:33
|
|
||||||||
|
6
|
6:43
|
40:16
|
|
||||||||
|
7
|
6:44
|
47:00
|
|
||||||||
|
8
|
6:42
|
53:42
|
|
||||||||
|
9
|
6:46
|
1:00:28
|
|
||||||||
|
10
|
6:39
|
1:07:07
|
|
||||||||
|
11
|
6:51
|
1:13:58
|
|
||||||||
|
12
|
6:42
|
1:20:40
|
|
||||||||
|
13
|
6:47
|
1:27:27
|
|
||||||||
|
14
|
6:51
|
1:34:18
|
|
||||||||
|
15
|
6:48
|
1:41:06
|
|
||||||||
|
16
|
7:01
|
1:48:07
|
|
||||||||
|
17
|
7:01
|
1:55:08
|
|
||||||||
|
18
|
7:07
|
2:02:15
|
|
||||||||
|
19
|
6:55
|
2:09:10
|
|
||||||||
|
20
|
6:54
|
2:16:04
|
|
||||||||
|
21
|
7:00
|
2:23:04
|
|
||||||||
|
22
|
7:07
|
2:30:11
|
|
||||||||
|
23
|
7:12
|
2:37:23
|
|
||||||||
|
24
|
7:16
|
2:44:39
|
|
||||||||
|
25
|
7:33
|
2:52:12
|
|
||||||||
|
26
|
7:51
|
3:00:03
|
|
||||||||
|
26.2
|
1:48
|
3:01:51
|
|
||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment