Looking back - November 2015

5 years ago (November 2015): I only raced twice this month as I began my comeback after prostate surgery.  I signed up for my ninth Winner’s Circle “Wild Turkey Trot”.  This was the third time I’d done the race at Pipestave (instead of Maudslay).  A little over 300 runners lined up on the baseball field for the “Braveheart” style start.  It is always a little crazy at the start with a 200 meter on the field before a sharp 90 degree turn. I lined up on the far left and took the first turn wide, staying out of trouble. By ¼ mile I found myself in 10th place and by ½ mile I’d moved up to 6th place.  Alliette moved into the lead and powered away from the field to win by 20 seconds.  I got really tired and struggled on all of the uphill sections (and there are a lot). I can’t complain with an 18:35 over this tough course, and I took first in the 50-59 age group.  Mom ended up winning the 70+ age group for the second year in a row.

1 1/3 TOP3-M Kevin Alliette           Methuen MA        34 M 17:22.3 5:36
2 2/3 TOP3-M Alex Demeule          Merrimac MA       18 M 17:43.7 5:43
3 3/3 TOP3-M Quinn Parker           Hampton NH       22 M 17:47.6 5:44
4 1/24 M1829 Andy Scott               Merrimac MA       24 M 17:57.8 5:47
5 2/24 M1829 James Macvarish       Braintree MA       20 M 18:09.7 5:51
6 1/36 M5059 Dave Dunham          Bradford MA        51 M 18:35.1 5:59
7 1/16 M1317 Kevin Bonanno         Topsfield MA       17 M 19:07.7 6:10
8 3/24 M1829 Bryce Parker            Hampton NH       20 M 19:16.6 6:13
9 2/16 M1317 Ryan Ducrow           Amesbury MA      16 M 19:26.1 6:16
10 1/23 M3039 Keith Leblanc         Amesbury MA      37 M 19:28.9 6:17
 

Next up was the Chelmsford Alumni XC race. Although I went to Billerica which is the fiercest of rivals for Chelmsford, I had the great fortune of befriending a number of Chelmsford runners. Keith O’Brien (CHS class of 1982) hosts this great little race on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Typically he gets 10-30 runners from the Merrimack Valley to come out and have a friendly race.  The traditional XC course features multiple loops around the ball fields, soccer fields, and the school itself. It comes out to exactly 3.25 on my Garmin. The race typically goes out at a reasonably easy clip then the tempo increase each mile until someone decides to race for the finish. I moved to the front and upped the pace to see who was up for it and O’B and Jason Bui went with me. By 1.5 I had dropped 5 seconds back I knew for sure I had no chance but I kept the effort “hard”.  I held on to take third place in 21:00.

1 Jason Bui                     20:24
2 Keith O'Brien                20:25                Chelmsford 1982
3 Dave Dunham            21:00               Billerica 1982
4 Bob Kearns                  22:00
5 Jim Burke                     22:13
6 Kyle O'Brien                 22:22                Chelmsford 1985
7 Mark Gallagher             22:31                Chelmsford 1982
8 Glen Turgiss                 23:12                Chelmsford
9 Richie Blake                 23:18                Tyngsborough 1990
10 Mark Blaisdell             23:28                Wilmington 1975
11 Scott Graham             23:55                Chelmsford 1976
12 Mark Suprenant           24:09
13 Steve Sartori               24:27                Lexington
14 Lee Panas                  24:44                Chelmsford 1980
15 Amy Molloy                 25:07
16 Kevin O'Brien              25:15
17 Melissa Joyce              26:06
18 Frank Georges            26:18                Lowell
19 Jill Lohmeier               26:25
20 Angie Anderson           27:10
21 Jim Rhoades               27:15
22 Jim Stronach              27:56                Tewksbury 1975