10
years ago (November 2010): I headed out to Oregon for the USATF
trail marathon championships at the beginning of the month. I spent a
good part of the morning in the car trying to stay warm. I went out much
more aggressively than I normally would in a marathon. After a couple of
miles, I found myself alone churning out the climb as the miles slowly ticked
by. I must have been as high as 5th or 6th place
when we hit the top because only a few guys passed me during the last 13
miles. After the climb I tried to keep a steady pace as the trail was
mostly flat for three or four miles before we started the long drop back down
to Ashland. I caught teammate Tim Van Orden just after 18 miles, he was
struggling with an injured Achilles tendon and when I caught him, he was
jogging backwards! Tim gamely hung on and finished in a solid 3:08.
I was very happy with a 3:03:25. The bonus for me was winning a gold medal in
the 45-49 and even better was taking 10th in the USATF overall.
2 Mario Mendoza M 24 2:47:04 M-Open
3 John Tribbia M 28 2:47:55 M-Open
13 Tim Van Orden M 42 3:08:03 M-40-44 CMS
14 Scott Dunlap M 41 3:09:00 M-40-44
Next
up was a cross country race in Freeport Maine, the Whoopie Pie race.
The course was great, with lots of twists and turns. I warmed up on the
course and felt pretty decent doing some strides. It was just above
freezing and the wind was blowing when about 75 of us took off. The local
high school team took off; their knowledge of the home course and the narrow
trail may have caused them to go out a bit too fast (or maybe just youthful
exuberance). I was in about tenth place when we hit the woods about 400m
into the race. Todd Coffin went by me about 800m into the race and I
tried to keep him close. I got as close as three or four seconds with
less than 800 to go, then at 400 to go Todd glanced back and took off. He
was gone and increased his lead back up to ten seconds. I was pleased
with taking third in 17:38.
2Todd Coffin M 49 17:28 5:38
3 Dave Dunham M 46 17:38 5:41
4 Jorma Kurry M 39 18:03 5:49
5 Bennet Wade M 17 18:47 6:04
I
followed this up with another cross country race (WRCR), this one at
Maudslay State Park. I met up with Dave Quintal and we headed out and ran the
course for a warm-up. The start was crazy, but not as crazy as years
past. I worked my way around some of the kids who went out fast. I
moved up as high as 5th place and was passed by just one guy (just
after the mile). I had a feeling that Dave wasn’t far behind and I know
he has a lot more speed than me at the end of a race, so I kept pushing as hard
as I could. I was a little disappointed with the time (17:37) but happy
with the effort. Dave came in one place and 10 seconds behind me.
2 Tom Leger 16:44 5:22
3 Tim Murtagh 17:03 5:28
4 Chris Kealey 17:10 5:31
5 T Esponnette 17:19 5:33
6 Dave Dunham 17:37 5:39 CMS 40+
7 David Quintal 17:47 5:42 CMS 40+
Three
days later I was headed onto the grass for another XC race. This year was
my fifth time running at the scenic grounds of the Andover Country club.
Temps were in the upper 30’s to low 40’s an hour before the start. It was
cool seeing a bunch of other teams warming up in big groups. My plan was
to try to stick with Jim Pawlicki for as long as possible. 400 lined up
for the start and went off like crazy when the gun fired. Jim pulled away
a bit as we moved around the fast starters. Dave Quintal went by at about
½ mile into the race and I went with him. On the long back stretch around
two-miles into the race I slightly gapped Dave and made a move on Jim. I caught
Jim as we rounded the sand trap and green and headed onto the cart path.
On a longish downhill I tried to make a break but just couldn’t quite get
away. Jim caught back immediately and with a little over 800m to go Dave
went by. Jim just edged Dave at the line and I rolled in 3 seconds later.
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