USATF NE 5km championships

Race number 3 in the 7 race USATF NE grand prix seemed to take forever to arrive (race 2 was at the end of March).  I did not feel ready for a fast 5k and woke up on race morning fearing that I was headed for a migraine (I had one on Tuesday and was "hungover" the rest of the week).  The migraine never developed but I was a bit shaky all morning.

With a 1pm start I decided to do a short morning run.  The Industrial Park 3 fit the bill and a nice bagel afterwards had me set for the haul out to Westfield.  I picked up teammates Colin Carroll and Dave LaPierre and we got out to Westfield a little before noon.  Tim Van Orden and Paul Bazanchuck  joined me and Dave for a nice 3 mile warm-up checking the first 1.5 miles of the point-to-point course.  The course would drop 100 feet and we'd have a tailwind, that meant some speedy times (hopefully even one for me).  I got in another mile in flats and headed for the line where I got in about 10 rows back (based on my 100th place last year that seemed about right).  Man!  It was tightly packed at the start.

The start was a bit of a cluster with 2 of the three turns in the entire race within the first 200 meters.  It was tightly packed and a bit scary.  I stayed on my feet and once we got to the main road moved to the left and (maybe slightly illegally?) a step outside the cones.  It was impossible to pass inside the cones and by 1/4 mile I was in passing mode.  I saw fellow 50+ runners not far ahead and focused on them (Jeff Walker, Ed Parrot, Kevin Delaney).  It was great to have "targets".  I never felt comfortable but kept convincing myself that I needed to stick close to those guys.  Charlie Bemis (55+ Whirlaway) flew by at 1.5 miles.  I tried to go with him but he was really hauling and I was maxed out.  I kept looking for the downhill that Tivo said started at 1.9 miles.  Finally I reached it and kept moving along. Finally I reached it and kept moving along.  By this point it was open enough to cut the minor tangents and with 1/2 mile to go I could see the church in the center of town.  I was a bit surprised when we hit the straight but I didn't see the finish line.  Ugh!  There was one more turn and 200 meters to go.  I almost bought it on the speed-bump in the final part but kept my feet and hit the finish in 17:37 (17:34 chip time).

Very happy with my 3rd place age-group finish and pretty sure our team took the 50+ title (I was fourth for CMS in the 50+).

M55-59
1 JOHN SULLIVAN    58 | M 17:14
2 CHARLIE BEMIS    56 | M 17:15
3 DAVE DUNHAM    55 | M 17:34
4 JOHN NOLAND    56 | M 18:03
5 DAVID LAPIERRE  55 | M 18:06
6 PAUL HAMMOND   59 | M 18:24
7 E J HRYNOWSKI     56 | M 18:30
8 ROB MCCORMACK 58 | M 18:35
9 ROBERT GALLACE 56 | M 18:45
10 BRIAN ST. JEAN      59 | M 18:50