Newton 10K

Today was nice to venture over to a new race that I have never done before. The Newton 10K played host to the USATF New England Championship of which was race number four of seven. I warmed up with the CMS masters team over the first and last miles. They drove the course earlier so I got clued in on what to expect - rolling hills, generous descent in the later miles, and more shade than sun exposure. I set up shop four rows from the starting line behind the ladies. The weather was warm and recalled a very light wind on the warm up. The starting line announcer puzzled the actual take off as some runners stumbled out while others bolted off the line with confidence. Either way, I followed the ladies off the line and had a clear line up the left hand side of the road until the race exited the park and onto the residential roads. I used the opening miles to reel in some women and the CMS teammates. I encouraged each while I went by (Dave Quintal, Martin Tighe, and Sam Wood). Then I set my sights on the women's leader, Brett Ely from the BAA. I passed her after 3 miles. From that point on, I put effort into opening the stride down each hill. Each time I was really feeling like crap, I would hit another downhill and fly down. Sean McDonough (SRR) and I worked together into 5 miles, 28:36, about ten seconds quicker than my 5 mile split at the Bedford 12K three weeks ago. I took a cup of water there and dumped it over my head. The last mile was a matter of survival. I wanted to make sure to hold my distance from the top woman (which I did). I was trying to chase down two guys in front of me with 400m to go but they held the same pace I had right to the finish line. I was exhausted, knew that I gave everything I had today for the 35:22.3 chip time (5:42 mile pace) and 57th place on page two of the results.

My splits while missing mile 6:

5:37
5:47 11:24.94
5:48 17:12.99
5:47 23:00.46
5:36 28:36.83
6:48 35:25.57
Official Chip Time: 35:22.3

Closing in past mile 6 at the Newton 10K. Photo by KrissyK

Newton 10K results - June 10, 2012

Kristen took some great photos. I wish I had more room to display them here. The photos show how the last 400m were to shake out for some. It proved that there was some jockeying all the way to the finish line. I ran a short cool down with the CMS teammates and caught up with their races. That followed with some vendor offerings at the post race swag like Coconut Water to refresh before the ride home.