Looking back - November 2017

I raced four times this month with the focus on cross-country.  I started the month at the USATF NE XC championship (11-05) – 106 finishers (45 in the 50-59). I wore my 1991 Asics track suit (which got a lot of heads turning and many comments) for the warm-up.  It seemed like I knew everyone out there and EVERYONE looked fast.  I went out conservatively hoping that I’d be able to pick off people I passed Dan V on the downhill after our first trip up Bear Cage hill.  That was pretty much the end of passing people. At 2.5 miles Brian Ruhm (GCS) passed me, I tried to latch on to him with no luck.  He was the only person to pass me during the race.  can’t say I’m displeased with the result (29:47 for 45th place) but as always would have liked to be a little faster. Our team had a decent day taking second place in the 40+ and 50+.  In the 50+ we put 5 guys in the top 16 but couldn’t overcome the BAA which put three in the top 4.  Pl   Time      Name                   Age        Team
1             26:46     Peter Hammer    51           BAA
2             26:48     Andy Gardiner    52           BAA
3             28:05     Michael Nahom 50           GSH
4             28:45     Wayne Levy        52           BAA
5             28:46     David Principe    50           CMS
6             28:49     Pete Bottomley  56           Dirigo  
7             28:52     Mark Reeder       58           GLRR
8             28:55     Jason Cakouros  52           HFC 
9             29:03     John Sullivan       57           HFC 
10           29:07     Alejandro Heuck 52           GSH
11           29:12     Edward Sheldon 53           CMS
12           29:21     Francis Burdett   52           GSH
13           29:30     Brian Ruhm         52           GCS
14           29:33     Erik Vandendries  52           CMS
15           29:47     Dave Dunham     53           CMS
16           29:59     Daniel Verrington 55           CMS
17           30:11     Tony Bates          58           GMAA
18           30:19     Titus Mutinda     52           GBTC
19           30:24     Paul Davies         50           BAA
20           30:37     Peter Fratini        52           GSH
21           30:47     Martin Tighe       59           CMS
 

Next up was the PAWS on the trail - 4km trail race (11/11) I liked the idea of a trail race and especially liked the 9am start.  It was cold, damn cold when I arrived at 745am.  I quickly picked up my number and dashed back to the car, the wind was howling and it was about 25 degrees.  I did my warm-up checking out the course, it was pretty rough at the beginning on the downhill stretch with a lot of leaves down on the rooty rocky trail.  The rest of the trail was a mix of nice single-track, wide forest road, and some boardwalks.  The course came up a bit short of the advertised distance (4km=2.48 miles), I got 2.3 on my Garmin.
Only 26 lined up, maybe due to the temps/wind and it being a first year "fun run".  Off we went and Brian Atherton and his little dog went sprinting to the lead.  I didn't recognize them but they headed out pretty fast.  I pushed the pace on the downhill and pulled clear of them.  After that I just focused on pushing as hard as I could.  I got a nice cheer from the volunteers as I rolled in at 14 minutes and ended up with a win by 1:32.
         
I got $50 at Marathon sports for the win!  
 
1 Dave Dunham 1/5         M5059 53 M      Bradford MA       14:00 5:38
2 Brian Atherton               1/3         M3039 35 M      Ashland MA         15:32 6:15
3 Heather Barackman      1/4         F4049    43 F                                      17:57 7:14
            
I picked the Gannon Golf course (Lynn MA) 5k XC race for this weekend since I'm still in cross-country running mode.  The field at the Frost on the fairway 2.5 mile XC race (11/18) has been small in the past but the course would be challenging and Jim Pawlicki had mentioned he was trying to drum up some interest from our CMS teammates. I got there at 7:15am for the 8:30 start.  Since there was little activity I confirmed with the RD that the start was in fact at 830.  He noted that we might be held up "a few minutes" due to frost on the grass.  Jim Pawlicki and I met up with GLRR's Shawn Conway and headed out for a warm-up on the course (on the cart paths, not on the grass).  It was a very hilly course and very scenic.  I changed into racing flats and headed out for another mile.
 
It was just about 830 so I headed inside to check out how long the hold-up would be.  The RD had just finished explaining that it'd be "at least an hour".  I asked about just moving the race to nearby Lynn Woods and he was not interested.  I decided that I'd race at Lynn Woods whether I did it on my own or not.  I didn’t want to wait around, especially with the time being a major unknown.  I asked the 30 or so gathered if anyone was interested in heading to Lynn for a race over the 2.5 mile course.  A few guys said they were headed over to just go for a run.  Jim was game as was Shawn who was celebrating his 47th birthday.
 
We jogged the 1/4 mile to the "old" start (at the entrance to the park instead of the relay start, this would eliminate the out/back section on the dirt road).  With a "ready, set, go" we were off.  I went to the front to get a clear shot at the narrow opening at the gate (Shawn noted afterward that he thought I was just going to run under the gate).  Jim went by as we started to climb and Shawn went with him.  I lost a couple of seconds as I fell back sucking wind.  I hit the half-mile beep on my watch in 3:10. Jim continued to lead and he was about 5 seconds up as I hit the mile in 6:10.
 
The next half-mile included the narrow Goat Path which has a 50' climb in less than a 1/4 mile.  I closed the gap on Shawn as he also closed on Jim (reaching 1.5 in 9:20).  We took the left onto Dungeon road in sync.  I made my move.  The long downhill back to the parking lot has a few little 30' bumps that really hurt especially when you are all out.  I couldn't hear Shawn but knew Jim was right on me.  I ran a 2:48 for the next ½ mile to hit 2 miles in 12:08. There were a couple of spots where I thought I finally broke away but then I'd hear Jim back at my heels.  I hit the pavement first and went into my big finishing kick.  With 50 meters to go Jim went flying by and I couldn't answer.  Shawn rolled in a few seconds later.  My last half mile was my fastest of the day (2:43).
     
We headed back to the golf course, changed and headed back to Lynn Woods for a tour of the two Towers.  We got back to the golf course and the race hadn't started yet.  Jim decided to jump in the race and I decided to hit the road (Jim went on to pick up his second win of the morning!).
 
Frost on the fairways - Lynn Woods 2.5m
Place     Time      Name                   Age        Team     Age Graded
1             14:52     Jim Pawlicki        43           CMS       75.68
2             14:53     Dave Dunham     53           CMS       81.62
3             15:08     Shawn Conway 47           GLRR     76.89
 
 

 
Back in 2005 race director Keith O’Brien first invited me to run at the Chelmsford Alumni race (11/24) that he directs.  Since that time I’ve now run ten of the races.  This year was the 21st annual and it was a perfect day to race.  I’m too old and sore to race on back to back days so my focus this year was to run the alumni race hard and not race on Thanksgiving.  I did my normal 5 mile run early in the morning (4:30am) then headed to work to put in a half day.

Temps were already in the upper 40s with bright sunshine and very little wind.  We lined up for the obligatory starting line picture and O’B sent us on our way.  I took it out HARD.  My goal was to get under 6:00 pace for the 3.22 mile. I could hear Jason Bui close behind for the first ¼ mile and then I was on my own.  I hit the mile in 5:34 which was one of my fastest opening miles this year.  The couple of bumps in the next mile and feeling the effects of the opening mile had me slow to a 6:03 (11:37 2-mile split).  I pushed hard on the downhill after exiting the field trying to build up some momentum for the bump near the outdoor track.  I had a decent third mile (5:48) which got me to the 3 mile point in 17:25. The final little (20’) hill leading up to the finish was tough.  I kept going as hard as possible hoping for a sub 19 minute effort.  I crossed the line in 18:41 for the 3.22 miles and could not have been happier with going well under 6’s (5:48s).  O’B gave away a typical collection of odd items like crabs, Cap’n Crunch (my choice), toilet paper, penalty flags, and other odds & ends.  It is always fun seeing the same hardcore runners year after year coming out and enjoying the fun event. 

Pl            Time      Name                   High School         Class of Pace
1             18:41     Dave Dunham     Billerica                1982      5:48
2             20:05     Jason Bui             Lowell                                 6:14
3             20:17     Don Fay                Billerica                1991      6:18
4             22:12     Kara Haas            Westford Acdmy 1988     6:54
5             22:34     Eric Beauchesne Chelmsford         1988      7:00
6             22:47     Keith O'Brien      Chelmsford         1982      7:05
7             23:20     Mark Gallagher  Chelmsford         1982      7:15
8             23:34     Dina NagDinoroff Burlington                       7:19
9             23:39     Mark Blaisdell     Wilmington         1975      7:21
10           24:13     Scott Graham     Chelmsford         1976      7:31
11           24:31     Frank Georges    Phillips Academy 1995     7:37
12           24:39     Steve Sartori       Lexington            1971      7:39
13           24:52     Mike Hurton       Tewksbury           1976      7:43
14                          Anonymous                                                     
15           26:03     Glen Turgis          Chelmsford         1981      8:05
16           26:18     Jessica Costa      Chelmsford         1980      8:10
17           28:23     Richie Blake        Tyngsborough    1986      8:49
18           29:55     Matt Shapiro      Chelmsford         1991      9:17
19           31:30     Lee Panas            Chelmsford         1980      9:47
20           35:07     Richard Molloy   Lowell                  1969      10:54
21           36:46     Valarie Anderson              CA          1989      11:25
22           41:24     Rick Marais         Lowell                  1969      12:51
23           42:15     Kim Chadwell      Chelmsford         1980      13:07