Saturday, November 30, 2013

Lynne's Kids 5K

Krissy and I were too lazy to get up for the 8:00am Wild Turkey Race in Salem. Thus, we waited for the home town race at 9:30am. It is billed as a 5K with a mid-17 winner last Thanksgiving. I ran over to Rolly's Tavern and Krissy had our race numbers. I pinned it on to my SRR long sleeve shirt and walked over to the start with Dennis Floyd. I jumped into the lead with Dennis and a youngster on my heels. I did not hear anyone behind me at 1 mile (sorry no split). A lady got out of her car and walked over saying I had a good lead. My tail wind turned into a cross wind after another 400m. Then I hit the head wind into mile two. I slowed down considerably. I looked to my right to see my house across Flax Pond. The police car poked along leading my way past the geese on Magnolia Ave. A blast of the sirens got them hustling across the street. More head wind down Euclid Ave. I crossed the finish line in 17:23 for the win. Dennis was a minute behind me for 2nd. I ran the same course, maybe 40 yards shorter in January in 16:11. GPS measured 3.06 miles. Krissy ran 3 seconds slower than her January race so I lost more fitness than her, right? I hung out at Rolly's and ran into ol' friends: Jay Euzikonis and Sara Garofalo. I picked up a gift certificate for the Old Tyme Restaurant which will be put to good use. I hope to find the photos taken by a young lady during and after the race. If you are her, please drop me a line. Lynne's Kids 5K 2013 race results

Monday, November 11, 2013

New England Cross Country Championships

Krissy, Nick, and I got to Franklin Park early enough to set up a tent for the team. I picked up the team packet and waited for our CMS runners to come one by one - trading bib numbers for signatures. The masters race went off first and was fun to watch and cheer on all of the runners and clubs competing. I ran a warm up with Tim and Ryan showing them the wilderness loop and Bear Cage Hill. I got changed into the racing gear and picked the INOV8 f-lite 195's. I got to the line, proud to have six guys on the line representing CMS: Nate Jenkins, Dan Vassallo, Sam Wood, and new-comers Tim Liponis and Ryan Collins from Worcester. I knew as soon as the race got going that I needed to let the massive field go ahead as I settled into the back. The 10K race ahead was going to be tough for me so I wanted to keep the pace reasonable. The mile passed in 5:28 for me and focused on catching Ryan who was ahead by 10 seconds. I rolled through 2 miles around 11:15. I passed Ryan in the next mile and rolled through the 5K around 18 minutes. I went back and forth with a few other guys from SISU and Western Mass passing through the 8K around 28 and a half. I wished I could have finished there. As a master (age 40 - 49) next year, I will be able to run in the masters event where they race 8K instead of 10K. I am looking forward to that. I did my best to compete in the last mile and was fortunate to have company of three or four to mix it up with. I rounded the last turn and got by a few guys and into the finish with a time of 35:39. I placed 82 out of 110 runners. The time might be my slowest for 10K at Franklin Park but I battled from start to finish here. My time is what it is. I did not really promote the goal but thought 35 minutes was possible if all went well. At any rate, I love cross country racing and was proud to be part of the teams out there competing. I got a lot of support from the crowd watching the race. That was huge and if you read this, thank you. I recall giving a shout out to Rodney Hemmingway from GBTC asking for some love out there in my last loop. He sprinted around the corner and snapped a photo of me 200 yards later. Hahaha! CMS placed 5th out of the nine teams (top five fastest times score for a team).  In all it was a good day. Krissy's photos are up. Full Results
The kick is unleashed into the finish at the USATF New England XC championships
Photo by KrissyK