Carver Cranberry 5 mile

400m to go in Carver

Krissy and I connected with Joe Shairs and Greg Putnam in Stoneham for the ride down to Carver. Hilarious conversation took place over Zoos and questionable AM radio audio. We got to the land of Cranberry bogs early, just a few cars away from Dave Dunham. The bib number pick up was too easy (need to give positive feedback to the race director). Tents were set up outside the school and sorted by team name. This was a huge improvement over last year. I met up with the CMS women’s team and saw their new Saucony threads. I also got a chance to introduce new CMS President, Stephen Laska to some of the masters team. I warmed up with the CMS crew of Dave Dunham, Martin Tighe, Joe Shairs, Greg Putnam, and the real Dan Vassallo. We collected Jason Porter and Adam Malek on the way back to the school. The temperature was warm in the sun, bearable in the shade. It was humid. I got in about four rows back at the starting line and took off with the race. The pace was quick but was a matter of just keeping up with traffic. Mile one passed by in 5:19 for which I had to repeat the split for Stephanie Rielly who was on my left. I ran a bit with Alex Gomes through mile 2 as I put a step on Stephanie. He was breathing hard and quick. My forward progress of passing runners began to slow down as did my pace. I ran through each hose on the side of the road. It felt good each time to dash under them to beat the heat and humidity for a few seconds. A big thanks to the Carver residents and the trees along the course that provided some honest shade. Stephanie Rielly passed by after three miles before I came upon a walking Adam Malek. I yelled for him to get back in and hustling (he went through three miles in 14:56). He did. I told him to just look ahead and finish up the race. He was the 2^nd scoring member for CMS last year. I kept plugging away and came upon Jason Porter. I passed through 4 miles and noted the mile split of 5:35. I was ready for the finish line and happy to reach crest the last of the few hills on the course into the shaded straight away finish. I got under 28 minutes, barely, with a 27:58 (5:36 / mile). Not too shabby. I wanted to run closer to 27:30 but that is where my fitness is. The CMS open team finished 6^th overall while the masters finished 4^th overall. It was the usual super competitive USATF New England.

Photos by KrissyK

Photos by Scott Mason

Photos by Ted Tyler

Carver Cranberry 5 mile Race Results via Coolrunning

Kudos to Racewire for up to the date notifications of registration, result, and finish line photo.