A chase it was. CMS mates Mike Quintal, Joe Shairs, Dan Verrington and I battled over the 15K (9.3 miles) course this morning. Looking at our finishing paces for the day, some would argue that we were just out for another Sunday, long run. The weather gods brought plenty of sun today, but also brought some wind that did not help us on our way out to Dearborn Road where the turn around at 4.9 miles awaited. The four of us were never separated more than five seconds on the way out. Each took turns fighting the wind and or tucking in for wind protection. Meanwhile, Eric Narcisi and Marc Leblanc were about 10 seconds ahead leading the race. Tomoaki Uchiki from GBTC trailed them by a few yards.
Dan took charge on the way back. Joe pulled away from Mike and I once we had the wind at our backs heading into mile 8. I kept talking to Mike over the last mile encouraging him to place any surges that he was dropping earlier in the race. A few last hills remained to get to mile nine. I dropped Mike a bit and was trying to reel in Joe. The best I could do was get within three seconds as we approached the finish line. Mike was right behind me. My Garmin advised that I ran 5:42 pace so I was pumped because that is close to what I ran last year. Technology does not always work right but the pace was according to covering a distance of 9.5 miles, not 9.3 miles. Chalk it up to GPS tracking error. I wound up in 6th place with a time of 54:12. CMS had four runners in a row as Tomoaki passed Dan right at the line. Kristen took a ton of photos. Results.
My dad Leo and I after the race.
Now that's some good, tight racing! Great race Jim.
ReplyDeleteNice race Jim. The wind was brutal.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first year running the Stew Chase and I really loved. Great seeing you, too. I had Brian's Garmin on and it also said the course was 9.5 miles, so maybe the course was a little long.
ReplyDeleteBri found your blog by googling some of our old race results today. :)