USATF New England and East Region Masters track &
field championships at Providence Career & Technical Academy (200 meter flat
Mondo surface oval)
I’ve always enjoyed indoor track. I’m a big fan of
feedback and getting splits every 200 meters appeals to me. I signed up for the
Masters championships since they had a 5,000 meter which is a rare treat for
indoor track. Most of the meets have 3,000 meters as the longest race. Heck it
takes me that long to find a rhythm. Dan Verrington was also interested so we
met up with teammate Jim Pawlicki and Somerville Road Runner Joe O’Leary and
drove the 100 miles to Providence.
Joe and Dan headed outside for a warm-up but I chose to
run on the indoor surface. It was quiet as we were the first event so most
people hadn’t arrived. I did my typical 3 mile warm-up and then changed into
racing flats. I was a bit nervous as I had a pretty lousy race the weekend
before (5:59 pace for 5k at Tewksbury). My goal was to run 42 second laps for
as long as possible, which would be a 17:30. I thought that realistically I’d
run somewhere between 17:20 and 17:40. I did another mile with strides then
headed to the line with the other 16 starters.
The official went over the specifics of what lapped
runners should do (stay in their lane) and how the lap counter would work (it
would be based on the leaders but we’d each have someone telling us how many
laps WE had). Then he gave us the option of where we wanted to be on the line
as most didn’t want to be way out on the curve and chose to start in the second
row. I went to the second row figuring that’d be the safest place to be. My
seed time had me at seventh in the field and I figured second row would keep me
out of trouble.
Off we went on a 25 lap journey! The first four guys took
off (including Dan), then it was Joe O. and John Brown, then me. I was happy to
be in the clear and just work on running even splits. I felt pretty comfortable
but knew that wouldn’t last so I settled in, clicking off 41 & 42 second
laps. Joe and John slowly pulled away, but I never felt in “no man’s land”
since we were lapping people along the way. I hit the mile in 5:38, two seconds
behind my hoped for pace. I picked it up a bit, now running mostly mid-41s.
Joe pulled away but John drifted back my way. I caught John at 2 miles (11:12,
5:34 split) with Joe now about 10 seconds ahead. I got around John and began to
focus on reeling in Joe.
Jim Pawlicki was on the infield calling out how far back I
was which was helpful and I was also checking the clock every lap to see Joe’s
time as he rolled through the start/finish line. With 1km to go the leaders
(Chris Magill and Doug McLucas) came storming by. I rode their wake and that
helped me continue to close the gap on Joe. With 3 laps to go I went around Joe
and consciously tried to up the tempo so that he wouldn’t latch on. I thought I
pulled clear but Joe came storming past me on the final straight. I can’t
complain, I just didn’t have another gear. I was very happy with my
6th place finish which got me 2nd in the 50+. Generally
speaking most people found the track to be a bit slow.
I got in a nice warm-down outside in the sun and 50 degree
temperature then headed back in to watch the remaining distance events (3,000
& mile). This was a very well run meet, kudos to USATF NE!
Pl Time
Name Age Cat Pl Team
1 16:33.0 Christopher Magill
M43 1 BAA
2 16:37.1 Doug McLucas
M45 1 BAA
3 17:10.7 Ryan
Davenport M41 2 BAA
4 17:12.7 Daniel
Verrington M53 1 CMS
5 17:24.9 Joseph O'Leary
M48 2 SRR
6 17:26.1 Dave
Dunham M51 2 CMS
7 17:35.1 John Brown
M33 1 Unatt
8 17:42.7 Ray Sikorowicz
M49 3 RR
9 17:52.1 Jessica Marlier
W30 1 GMAA
10 17:59.4 George
Berg M47 4 Unatt
17 finishers
Kilometer splits
3:30.9
3:30.8
3:29.0
3:29.9
3:25.5
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| Pic by Scott Mason |
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