USATF New England Road Race Championship number one kicked
off the new year at the Jones Group 10 mile in Amherst, Ma. There was a buzz of
communication that took place in the days before day light on Sunday morning
with a pending snow storm. The race director pushed the start of the race until
1pm to offset any poor driving conditions with whatever mother-nature spit at
New England over the weekend. Joe, Krissy and I left Peabody at 9:30 and rolled
into Amherst two hours later. The rain / snow line was right around Rt. 495.
The skies got brighter as we approached Amherst which greeted us with light
drizzle, temps in the mid 30’s, and a little wind that did not appear to impact
the race course too much. I was happy to hear that the course was 99% clear and
the dirt road was certainly runnable (no ice).
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| After mile 9 in Amherst looking ragged Photo by KrissyK |
I warmed up with the CMS guys and decided to wear the Inov8
195’s that Todd Callaghan (GCS) gave me last year. I got a good start and
quickly looked for company to roll with for the next few miles. I was pretty
cautious to not go out too fast. I have done this race at least five times so I
know the hilly terrain well. It does not get any easier with the experience and
age increase. This is not a PR course. I had my GPS watch on but purposely kept
it covered under my long sleeve. The first two miles are and up and down, down,
down affair. I was at the back of a group that I felt was fast enough for my
liking. Sean McDonough (SRR) and I talked before the race and we had a similar
goal of sub 58. We started the climb into mile 3 where we both spectated last
year during this very race. I reminded him of that as we passed the water stop.
It was nice to be racing this time. We
had a steady dose of climbing and light ascending before flattening out into
the dirt road. I recall big snow flakes coming down but it did not cause a
problem. I set sights on catching
Stephanie Reilly (Team Run) which I was successful in doing around 4 miles. She
was cursing and swearing the dirt road which was firm amongst the puddles but
my traction was decent.
I caught Kevin Alliette (WRT) and we passed through mile
five. I was too lazy to check my Garmin for the time and distance so I asked
him what we just passed through 5 in? 29:08 replied Kevin. He took off on me
shortly thereafter and put almost a minute on me to the finish line. In the
distance, I could see Joe Shairs and then Dave Dunham and thought maybe I could
close in. I was closing on Todd. I was only able to get within his heels. I
encouraged him, no, told him, that he needs to start rolling around 6.5 miles which
has some decent down grade if he wanted to catch the master runners ahead. It was
at this point that my right calf was starting to not feel good. The Inov8 195’s
and my less than perfect stride were no doubt catching up to me (denial that my
fitness is not where it should be). Todd took off. I only wish I had the
fitness to join him as he got some decent momentum. I focused on getting to the
low point of the course and did not worry about how I was going to get up the
hills and into the finish. I was a mess on the climb up to mile 9 but held it
together as best I could. I started to hear Stephanie behind me so I had to get
a move on (hustle) as I was in no mood give up position in the last mile. I got
it together after the rail road tracks and held on into the parking lot where I
got within a few feet of Ryan Miller. I finished 53rd out of 510
runners. My time was 58:26 (5:51 pace) and just three spots away from page 1 on
the posted results. Page one has been elusive for me in the New England
Championship races. The effort was strong the whole way despite fadeding a bit after 7 miles which was totally expected. My
training for the week was not the best as I missed some days after wisdom teeth
(2) extraction and some good ‘ol pain all week (thankfully does not hurt while running). No excuses though….
Nice race Jim
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