GBTC XC

Next up (09/12/21) was the GBTC XC race at Great Brook Farm in Carlisle (MA).  I wasn’t planning on doing this race but my plans to climb Mt Rainier were canceled (thank you Global warming!).  I decided to end my vacation early, having free-time and nothing to do never works out well for me.  Easy choice to do the GBTC race since I love running in Great Brook.  I’ve run in the woods of Carlisle since my Billerica days but have only raced there twice (The Chamberas Memorial race – 2005 & The Bear race – 2009).  I’d only done the GBTC race twice, in 2009 (Topsfield) and 2017 (Wellesley).  I recall that it was quite competitive.  Dave La and I checked out the course on Saturday and that gave me a good idea what to expect and more importantly what shoes to wear (Inov-8 trail shoes).  The course featured three progressively longer loops with a great mix of ups, downs, grass, dirt, roots, rocks, and even a little bit of mud.
 

I gathered up teammate Dan Verrington for the carpool to the race.  We met up with D-la (spectating), Jim Pawlicki, Tim Van Orden (TiVO), Doug Deangelis (who joined the CMS 50+ squad!) and we went out to preview the course.  Titus Mutinda (GBTC) joined us for the final two loops of fun.  It was nice catching up with the guys and keeping things light. I’ve been feeling isolated and stuck in my own head and I find I really need this group dynamic to keep me from sinking lower.  Anyway, back to the car (which Jim called “the locker room”) and into race gear and shoes and then off for another mile around the corn fields.  Funny, when we ran yesterday the main field was full of corn 6’ high.  Today it had all been cleared, it looked so different (bleak).
 
The small field of only 32 lined up for the Master’s race (everyone over the age of 40).  I like when we get to run without the open runners, it is so much easier to see the competition.  Off we went and by the first turn I counted 15 guys ahead of me, I slowly moved up and by the end of the first loop (1/2 mile) I was in 12^th place with teammate Arthur Besse, HFC runners Robert McCormack and Steve Neri up ahead.  I passed Titus as we started the second loop and slowly closed on Arthur and Steve.  At the end of loop 2 (1.5 miles) Arthur really cranked it up and would soon be out of reach.  I passed Steve on the downhill at the furthest point out on the course (2.2 miles) and noticed that Robert was “coming back to me”.  The next half-mile was the toughest of the race with a lot of roots and some tough little climbs.  I gapped Steve a little and got pretty close to Robert.  I just could not close all the way and had to settle for 10^th place in 19:12 and had to hope that we still had a shot at beating HFC.  They ended up beating us in the 40+ team scoring 23 to 33.  I was fourth man on the 40+ team and third man on the winning 50+ team, we beat HFC 24 to 31!  We finished off the morning with a nice run on the trails on the other side of North road.  Again, it was great to get out with the guys and just chill with easy chatter and let the miles go by.  Onward!
 

1 16:37  TJ Unger            43         HFC
2 17:03  Aaron Price         44         BAA
3 17:27 Lee Danforth      43         HFC
4 17:49  Tim Van Orden    53         CMS (won a blueberry pie for top 50+)
5 18:15  Paulo Amaral      41         GLRR
6 18:26  Jason Cakouros   56         HFC
7 18:35  Steven Brightman 52         CMS
8 18:52  Arthur Besse       49         CMS
9 19:08  Rbrt McCormack  60         HFC
10 19:12 Dave Dunham    57         CMS
11 19:14 Steve Neri         54         HFC
12 19:47 Justin Renz        49         HFC
13 19:53 Steve Bosic        52         SRR
14 20:01 Dan Verrington   59         CMS
17 20:25 Doug Deangelis  55         CMS
20 21:14 James Pawlicki   46         CMS