3K BU Development Meet #1

I lined up for a 3K at the first of three development mini meets at BU on Saturday. I got into the second of four heats with my 9:24 seed time. I drove in with Kristen and Brett Rickenbach who was aiming to get under 9:50. I got a decent warm up with Brett outside a half hour before the first heat was scheduled to start. We came upon a Mercedes SUV parked along Commonwealth Avenue with the passenger side glass broken and door wide open. That ranks right up there with the Honda Fit lying on it's brakes right outside the track at BU back in 2007.

Much like the 5K two weeks ago, I managed to bolt right out and settle into last place for a few laps. The race had over twenty athletes and it was pretty tight for the first lap or two. Anyhow, I went through 1K around 3:08. With a surge or two, I settled in behind Craig Fram, Terry McNatt, and Bruce Davie taking us through the mile around 5:01. Several folks like Joe Fischetti and Al Bernier were yelling at me which helped keep me motivated. I heard a 2K split of 6:18 which was heading to a 9:28 3K if I kept the pace. I got anxious with four laps to go but was not too confident with a big move or surge so I waited until one of the three masters was going to make a move. It was just about at the last lap when Craig Fram moved out and I followed. We got around Terry and Bruce and had a mad dash for the finish. I just got to the line before him. I stopped my watch a few steps later, bent on knees, and saw a 9:21 on my Ironman. I shook Craig's hand and thanked him for pushing at the end of the race. Al ran over and mentioned a time of 9:18. I was pretty happy with the effort. I had the race within the race for the 2nd half of the 3K. The official time was 9:18.37.

Brett ran a great race and exceeded expectations with a 9:37 3K in the next heat. Andy McCarron ran 8:44 followed by Al Bernier, 8:57, in the fast heat of the 3K. Tim Cox was leading my heat at one point and finished with a solid 9:09. I had to hustle out for an appointment in Gloucester but was very pleased to see Greg Hammett run a solid mile in 4:30 and 800m in 2:04 to prove he's not messing around this winter. Jeff Goupil was leading the mile when I left the building. He finished with a solid 4:44 and 2:15 in the 800m. CMS represented well in a very early track race for the winter. I recommend to anyone who is looking for a low key track event on a quality track to make it to these BU development meets. They now offer preregistration to ease the registration lines a bit so please take advantage of that and help the event run smooth. I hope to get to one of the next two meets which happen to fall on the day after Christmas and New Years. My right Achilles is a bit grumpy so I will keep an eye on that.