February 2017: It was 17 degrees colder on this morning (19 degrees) and “breezy” when I showed up at 7am in Tewksbury for the Fudgesickle 5k series (02/04/17). It didn’t seem too bad during my warm-up lap with most of the wind being a cross-wind. 129 lined up and three guys I didn’t know took it out. Justin Daglish pushed hard and gapped the chase group I was in. I hit the mile in 5:47, five or six seconds behind the leader. I reached 2 miles in 11:25 (5:38 mile) and got the leader right after the turn onto Helvetia Street. I never got around Justin but kept him very close. He put 12 seconds on me over that last .6 and I felt I had a decent kick. I crossed the line in 17:53.6 which put me one second ahead of my time from 2 weeks ago.
2 Dave Dunham 1/23 52 M5059 HAVERHILL, MA 17:54 5:46
3 Austin Thiele 1/5 21 M2029 ANDOVER, MA 18:16 5:53
10 Amy Bernard 1/13 39 F3039 HAMPSTEAD, NH 19:55 6:25
Next up was the Bradford Valentine 5m, where I was hoping to get a decent time to help boost my confidence going into the USATF NE 10 mile champs in a couple of weeks. The snow came on Thursday (a foot of it) and then it snowed again on race morning. Plans for a fast 5m were out the window, but the race was on so it'd be about competing not about hitting a time. There was very little (to none) pavement showing, just a layer of snow and more coming down. It was 19 degrees and the wind was blowing. I had hoped to run under 30 minutes and now was thinking that 32ish was more realistic. I switched into racing gear and put on my Inov-8 trail shoes along with Yak Traks for the best possible chance to get some traction. On my way back to the start I bumped into U-Lowell teammate Pat Sweeney who was kicking himself for forgetting his Yak Traks. I also bumped into my sisters who were dressed for the occasion and got a picture as I tightened my shoes right before the start.
Off we went and Dan Verrington and I were the only ones click/clacking along whenever we hit some slightly less snowy pavement. Pat Fullerton (also CMS teammate) took it out and was alone in front right away. He peeled off just before the mile as the 6k course went right and we went straight. Two other guys peeled off as well and I found myself in 6th place striding along with Dan. On the downhill after the mile I got ahead of Dan and tried to focus on the three guys in front of me (Goupil, Webber, and Rand). I caught the group and at 2 miles moved into 2nd place. Webber and Rand seemed to fall off but Goupil latched on as we started the tougher part of the course. From two to three we climbed 50' and also merged back into the 6k course which meant we'd need to pass about 100 people (and everyone was looking for the best footing). I felt better as we hit the top, knowing I had 1.5 of downhill or flat running left. Jeff upped the tempo and I kept thinking, "just hang with him another minute". I kept thinking that until we turned onto Route 125 and I could see the finish line 1/4 mile ahead. I locked onto Jeff and with about 50m to go we took the slight right/slight left to get into the finish chute. Jeff had to slow to stay on his feet and I ducked around him and let loose everything I had left (not much) but with 25m to go Jeff went back by to take 2nd place with me one second back.
1 Timoth
Catoggio 30:10 6:02 31
1/63 M 1/9 M3039 Boston MA
2 Jeff
Goupil
30:43 6:09
29 2/63 M 1/8 M2029
ARLINGTON MA
3 Dave
Dunham
30:44 6:09 52 3/63 M 1/16 M5059
HAVERHILL MA
4 Nathaniel
Webber 31:26 6:17
25 4/63 M 2/8 M2029
ATKINSON NH
5 Joe
Rand
31:46 6:22
24 5/63 M 3/8 M2029
HAVERHILL MA
6 Dan
Verrington
32:09 6:26 54 6/63 M 2/16 M5059
BRADFORD MA
7 Burger
King
32:28 6:30
36 7/63 M 2/9 M3039
AYER MA
Next up was a trip back to Tewksbury for the final Fudgsicle race of the season. I showed up an hour before the start expecting to warm-up with Danny V but he was a no-show. I saw Dave Corbett (Mystic) heading out for a warm-up but I wasn't quite ready to head out. I hadn't seen Dave since we had a good back/forth battle at Fudge 5 years ago. Dave took it out pretty hard on the first slight downhill. I hit the mile in 5:41 about 2 seconds behind Dave and right with Justin Daglish. We closed the gap on Dave and by 1.25 we were running in a pack with Dave leading the way. I hung with them through 2 in 11:22 (5:41). Justin tracked down Dave and passed him a little before the 3 mile mark and went on for his second win of the year. I settled for 3rd place but my fastest time of the year.
1 Justin
Daglish 847 1/16 39 M3039
CARLISLE MA 17:42
5:42
2 David
Corbett 894 2/16 33
M3039 STONEHAM MA 17:48 5:44
3 Dave
Dunham 803 1/29 52 M5059
HAVERHILL MA 17:53 5:46
4 Charlie
Bemis 820 2/29 54
M5059 DERRY NH 18:18 5:54
6 Amy Bernard 821 1/17 39 F3039 HAMPSTEAD NH 19:39 6:20
The final race of the month was the USATF NE 10 mile championships. My goal for the race was to try and find the senior (50+ age group) pack and follow them. Danny V and I carpooled out to the race. I felt a bit “blah” and was a little worried, not too worried, 10 miles is a long way so plenty of time to correct along the way. I went with a tights top long-sleeve as it was chilly despite the sun and 40 degree temps, the 20-30mph winds made it feel a lot cooler.
Nearly 800 took off in a near sprint from the start. I went out looking for Ed Sheldon and Dave Principe and kept my eyes open for a Whirlaway 50+ pack. A 5:56 at the mile put me pretty much where I wanted to be. Matt Germain came by with a pack of Sisu guys and I tried to latch onto them. I hooked up with James Callaghan (BAA) who was running very tough on the uphill and I’d catch or go by him on the downhill. We chugged along together with the top 2 women not that far ahead. At four miles I saw Robert Cipriano (SRR) up ahead. He is a 50+ runner so I caught his five mile split to gauge how far back I was. He had about 8 seconds on me as I hit the ½ way point in 30:26. I knew the second half would be faster than the first five so I still had hopes of running under 60 minutes.
From 5 I started closing on Cipriano and I got even with him around the 7 mile mark. Cipriano and I had a good battle going which was fun (in a weird way), he was also strong on the climbs and motored by me a few times. We turned the corner at 9 miles and hit the teeth of the wind and I could hear him fall back a bit. I was happy with the effort, the place (5th in the 50), but a little disappointed to not crack 60.
M50-59 1 13 ANDY GARDINER 54:27.5 5:26 51 BAA
M50-59 2 38 GREG PICKLESIMER 56:48.5 5:40 50 SRR
M50-59 3 57 ED SHELDON 58:23.6 5:50 52 CMS
M50-59 4 62 DAVID PRINCIPE SR 58:34.6 5:51 50 CMS
M50-59 5 83 DAVE DUNHAM 1:00:13.5 6:01 52 CMS
M50-59 6 84 ROBERT CIPRIANO 1:00:15.3 6:01 57 SRR
M50-59 7 90 SCOTT ANDERSON 1:00:25.2 6:02 52 WRT
M50-59 8 99 MICHAEL COONEY 1:00:49.4 6:04 55 WRT
M50-59 9 103 BRIAN RUHM 1:01:00.2 6:06 51 GCS
M50-59 10 108 CHARLIE BEMIS 1:01:09.8 6:06 54 WRT
M50-59 15 147 DAN VERRINGTON 1:03:28.3 6:20 54 CMS
M50-59 30 227 MARTIN TIGHE 1:08:09.9 6:48 58 CMS
M50-59 37 270 JOHN PAJER 1:10:10.6 7:01 54 CMS
M50-59 57 418 STEPHEN LASKA 1:18:08.1 7:48 55 CMS
M50-59 61 432 WILLIAM GONSORCIK 1:19:16.5 7:55 50 CMS
M50-59 64 458 ROBERT THOMAS 1:20:57.4 8:05 57 CMS
M50-59 70 492 FRANK RUGGIERO 1:23:26.1 8:20 58 CMS
50+ Teams (10 teams)
1 CMS 5:08:49
2 BAA 5:11:04
3 WRT 5:11:56
4 SRR 5:16:12
5 GCS 5:34:33
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