Boston University Mini Meet #2

I signed up in advance for another 3K at Boston University. Like last week, my seed time of 9:18 put me into heat two. It had a wide range of abilities from a low nine to a ten minute seed. I got out with only a few folks behind me and ran each lap pretty even. I went through the first kilometer in 3:06 and then the mile around 4:58, a few seconds quicker than last week. I kept up the pace for the next two kilometers for a 9:18.20, good for fourth in the heat. The last kilometer was tough as I was alone other than lapping a few runners. My ‘ol college teammate from Salem State, John Bowser, ran around 10 minutes to run in his first indoor track meet in 14 years. It was great to see him racing. He holds PR’s of sub 8:30 for 3K and sub 15 for the 5K. Kristen patiently captured the race on video below.

Boston University Mini Meet #1

This was mini meet number one in a series of three hosted at Boston University. I signed up for the 3K with a seed time of 9:22. I warmed up inside with CMS teammates Chris Mahoney, Justin Fyffe, Patrick Rich, Jeff Goupil, Kevin Tilton, and Kevin Gorman all of which were racing the 3K as well. Justin and Patrick ran 8:38 and 8:47 respectively in heat one which is the fastest of the heat line up. The rest of the guys including myself got into heat two based on our seed time. In typical fashion, I bolted out into the back of the pack. The race seemed to go out very fast yet my first lap was reasonable at 38 seconds. I went through the half mile in 2:30 behind Jeff Goupil, Stephanie Reilly, and Kevin Gorman who was leading our "second" pack of the heat. My 1K split was 3:07 which if multiplied by three had me on pace for a 9:21 which was reasonable. Mile one passed in 5:00. Jeff Goupil made a move up and away from our pack putting some ground on us over the next few laps. I stayed behind Kevin until two laps to go and then surged around Bruce Davie and his GBTC teammate with a lap to go. Kevin caught me with 100m remaining and he beat me to the finish line by less than 3/10's of a second. My official time was 9:18.59 for 12th place in the heat of 17. Full results are here. I feel pretty good about the time as it is my first indoor track race since a year ago (similar time on the same track). Below is my last 250 meters of the race that Kristen caught on her iPhone.

Andover Country Club 3.5 Mile Cross Country Race

I ran this race in 2004 so I was familiar with the terrain and great atmosphere. CMS teammate Al Bernier won the race back then. I ran 18:31 finishing a few strides in front of Greg Putnam who was running unattached. Race director, Dave Labrode, tagged me as a “fast guy” while registering. “Give him one of those numbers” pointing to a stack of low bib numbers. I got bib # 8. Slowly, more and more CMS guys showed up which was awesome. Jim Johnson, Bob Wiles, Mike Quintal, Dave Quintal, and Dave Dunham were present at the time of our warm up so it was evident that we had a solid team. It was nice to catch up with the guys before and after the race.

The race went by pretty quick. Picture several ups and downs along a golf course. I did not rest for a second (well maybe one hill). I had a nice back and forth duel with Dave Dunham. He advised after the race that he planned on keying off me. It certainly helped having him there in the second half of the race. He would pull away on the downs and I would catch back up on the ups. Dave Quintal entered the fray with about 800m to go and took charge. I was barely able to reel him in on the downhill grass finish for 7th place overall, 19:32 for the 3.5 mile course. Someone got 3.53 miles measured on their Garmin.

I stayed for a great post race meal: salad, pasta with meatballs, and some cookies. Life was good. Good race, good competition, good company, good food, good day. Dave Dunham has a nice write up on the race.

Andover Country Club 3.5 Mile Cross Country Race results November 28, 2010 results