USA XC champs

USA XC championships – Lexington KY 12/09:  This year I ran the most XC races since high school (14) with 9 races.  Although team nationals in KY wasn’t really the focus of my season it was the finale.  My main goal was the USA masters XC which was held back in mid-October, since that was specifically for masters (40+).  I thought team XC would be fun as the 10km distance was more suited to me.  I figured my pace wouldn’t slow much from the 5k distance we raced in Oct.  CMS would be fielding a team but only a 40+ squad.  It would have been nice to have a 50+ team but just getting the group to the 5k XC champs (and New England’s) was great…and a lot of fun.

I headed off to KY via Manchester and met up with fellow CMS senior David Principe in Louisville.  The snow in Atlanta had messed up his flights but he managed to reroute and got in only an hour later than expected.  We drove the hour to Lexington and headed to the race sight to check out the course.  It was 30 degrees and windy when we headed out on the multi-loop course which featured an opening loop of about 2.5 miles then two short loops of a little less than 2 miles each.  Dave was a bit tentative due to his recently sprained ankle which was aggravated by the very rough opening 400 meters.  The course was fantastic!  The start was very wide and when it did narrow at about 800 meters it was still the width of a road and would never get any narrower.  There would be no need to panic and go out too fast.  After the course preview I did a little extra running on my own and put on my Inov-8’s and did a few strides.  It was good to be moving after flying and driving.

Dave and I hung out at our hotel for a bit then met up with teammates Derrick and Josh for some grup.  I figured we were in Kentucky and I wanted to eat locak, fresh, free-range.  Not sure why but I couldn’t get them to serve me horse (which I was craving).

The race was scheduled for 10:45 and we were only 15 minutes away so we didn’t need to be up too early.  I got a bagel and some coffee while Dave had a couple of pancakes.  He (and I) found the pancake machine to be fascinating.  Press a button and a minute later out pops a fully cooked pancake.  I scored a bunch of other food for later consumption.

We got to the race by 9;30, better early than 5 miutes late, and I headed out on my own at 9:45.  The other guys would warm-up later and at a faster pace than I would.  I did end up running most of my warm-up with a couple of guys from NJ who grilled me aobut teammate Greg Putnam.  As a good teammate I told them Greg had been “sick and injured and wasn’t 100% for the race”.  After my 3m warm-up I changed into flats and my uniform and we all checked in (all singlets mucht match).  After that I did another mile to stay loose and try to not get any colder.  It was aobut 20 degrees and the wind was strong.  The course wasn’t muddy but was GREASY in spots where there was frost or the grass was packed down from the early races.

Nearly 300 of us toed the line.  I settled in back in the third row and off we went.  It felt relaxed, just a matter of not getting knocked down.   My goal was to settle in for the mile then pass as many people as I could.  It was a little scary as we closed ranks as the path narrowed but I moved to the inside and had a clear view of the ground in  front of me.  I couldn't see anyone I knew but wasn't worried.  I reached the mile in 5:58 and thought it wasn't too bad.  Now I started to focus on the guys in front of me.  I knew better than to accelerate too fast as we had a big climb heading to the start/finish  and it would be into the wind.  Around 2 miles (601/1159) I spotted 3 BAA guys together and got up to them.  It was nice to have someone blocking the wind.  Things had thinned out by the time I hit the start/finish a little after 2.5 miles.  I pushed it on the downhill into 3m (557/1756) and passed Chris Lawrence and his teammate really pushed and was soon out of sight.  It was too fast for me but I think it helped me to my fastest mile of the day (552/2348).  I was passing people the whole way.  Around 4 miles I noticed Wayne Levy (BAA) up ahead and focused on closing the gap.  I was 5 seconds back as we topped out at the start/finish again.  Wayne has been crushing me this season so he was not having a good day.  No mercy!  I caught him around 5m (601/2949) and kept moving as well as I could.  There were a lot of GLRR spectators and others yelling for New England runners which was nice.  I could hear shouts for Wayne so I knew he was still close behind.  I saw Dave Principe up ahead taking a LONG look at the final turn.  I'd closed on him from 5k on but he was actually looking to see if Wayne was going to blow by him with his strong kick.  I lost 2 spots on the final climb (to a couple of guys I'd passed between 5 and 6).  I reached 6m in 35:47 (5:58) and felt I had a good finish over the last .3.

Although I wasn’t really part of that it was great to see the guys do so well.  It was nice to meet up with the guys and do a few warm-down miles.  We closed out the day at an interesting brew pub.  Later we heard the club got 4th which helped them secure 2nd place in the USATF masters grand prix.

It is so hard to figure out if I had a good race or not.  Places rarely give any indication as they are so dependent on the strength of the field.  I think I ran a smart race and at the end had nothing in reserve so I guess that qualifies as a good race.

50+ results

1          33:37    Peter Hammer    Needham MA      51         10         BAA

2          34:15    Carl Combs         Cheney WA         52         25

3          34:17    Kent Lemme       Pittsfield MA       51         26         GSH

4          34:32    Mike McManus    Oakland CA        52         34

5          34:59    Christian Cushing Santa Ana CA      50         44

8          35:15    Michael Nahom   GSH      50         54

11         35:21    Mark Hixson       GSH      52         63

21         36:25    Francis Burdett    GSH      52         101

25         36:56    Alejandro Heuck  GSH      52         120

28         37:13    David Principe     CMS      50         129

31         37:34    Dave Dunham     CMS      53         136

34         37:50    Wayne Levy        BAA       52         142

36         38:04    Chris Lawrence   BAA       54         152

40+ results:

Place*   Time     Name    Age       Team 

1          32:43    Neville Davey      42         West Valley Track Club A-1

2          33:02    John Howell        44         Bowerman Track Club A-1

3          33:07    Jorge Maravilla    40         West Valley Track Club A-1

4          33:11    David Angell       41         Roanoke Valley Elite E-1

5          33:14    Jef Scott            45         Unattached U-1

                                               

16         33:52    Chris Mahoney    40         Central Mass Striders A-1

39         34:40    Greg Putnam      48         Central Mass Striders A-1

42         34:55    Derrick Jones      46         Central Mass Striders A-1

66         35:22    Joshua Perks      43         Central Mass Striders A-1

73         35:29    Joe Shairs          49         Central Mass Striders A-1

129       37:13    David Principe     50         Central Mass Striders A-1

136       37:34    Dave Dunham     53         Central Mass Striders A-1

40+ teams:

1 West Valley Track Club A-1 53 1  3  10  18  21  31  33  56   Top 5 Times: 2:48:16.0  

2 Boston Athletic Association A-1 62 6  8  11  14  23  45  60   Top 5 Times: 2:49:36.0  

3 Bowerman Track Club A-1 69 2  4  9  26  28  36  38            Top 5 Times: 2:49:20.0  

4 Central Mass Striders A-1 160 12  27  29  44  48  76  79    Top 5 Times: 2:54:16.0  

5 Club Northwest A-1 170 15  25  30  42  58                      Top 5 Times: 2:55:14.0