Gold Star Run for Honor 10K

Krissy scored a few comp entries as her employer, East Boston Savings Bank, sponsored the Gold Star Run for Honor 5K/10K. Thus, Joe Shairs and I headed over to Saugus for the 10K that started in front of the town hall. Joe pressed the pace in the opening mile and I followed along. He did most of the heavy lifting as it was just he and I and the open road with light vehicle traffic around Saugus. We knew the course was going to be short, as in 6.10 miles. We would have been sub 35 if this was a 10K distance. Joe took the win here so don’t be fooled by the same time below (shame on racewire and B&S Fitness). I was pleased with the effort and mile splits as follows.

5:23

5:40

5:39

5:48

5:49

5:33

:27 for the last .10 mile

Gold Star Run for Honor 10K

Saugus, MA May 24, 2014

1 Joe Shairs Peabody MA 321 10K 46 M Top Fin *** 34:19 5:32/M

2 James Pawlicki Lynn MA 315 10K 39 M Top Fin *** 34:19 5:32/M

Travs Trail Run

May 18 Full Results

Krissy and I headed up to Maudslay State Park. I love this place and the trails. I have run several Thanksgiving Day races up here. I ran just one other Trav's race that being in 2011. I ran 16:11 and placed 11th. CMS folks in attendance included Nate Jenkins, Derek Dorval, and Greg Putnam. We crashed down the first hill with reckless abandon. This race just has to go out fast. No choice. I had 4^th place behind Greg who was pulling away on hills leading into mile 1. I got passed by Lance Harden about 1000m into the race. He went on to finish second. I passed mile 1 in 5:31 and I was working too hard for that. Foot steps caught up to me 200m later. I surged to make them work in order to pass. This went on for the next 8 minutes. I pushed and recovered a few times. Mile two was 5:46 (ouch). I never got a glimpse of who it was on my tail as they never passed me to reveal identity. They were certainly keeping me honest. I noticed I was pulling away on each downhill and ran out of that approaching the bridge. We had the nasty climb back up to the finish and I managed to pull away by a few seconds. I ran scared and was really hurting on that climb. I held them off, 5th place - 16:27 - and turned back around in the finish line chute to introduce myself with a hand shake for the good fight. I found out later at the awards that he is 51 years young – Spyros Barres – from CT. He just ran 2:44 at Boston! Nate won under 15 minutes and Greg was just under 16 minutes with a 4^th place finish. Derek was 11^th. I picked up a Trav’s Trail Mug and a New Balance voucher. 

Backshore 5 mile road race

May 9 - Full Results

I took advantage of the opportunity of having a day off from work so it was easy to not fight traffic on this Friday night race that starts and finishes at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. Krissy and I met up with Dan and Kat Vassallo in Peabody for a quick 20 minute ride up to Cape Ann. CMS had four guys in attendance with Patrick Rich, Nick Taormina, and Dan Vassallo. It was nice to be lining up for a race again. I was concerned how the race would shake out so I had low expectations – figuring a sub 29 would be ahead. I ran a workout two nights earlier, ad hoc, with Junyong Pak at the 5K that he broke down into 400m repeats with 200m rest. That, right there, was the only “fast stuff” these legs have witnessed since April 21. Dan and Patrick took right off and I settled into the pack for the opening mile that included Mark Mayall, Alex Vlahos, Ryan Hayes, David Long, and Larissa Park. The opening mile was 5:26 and I knew that pace was not going to last but it was fun racing and mixing it up. Mark, Alex, and Ryan pulled ahead on some hills. My battle would be with David. I found that fitting as our encounters last year went back and forth all of last year. The next two mile splits were 5:34 and 5:45 as we got back out to the ocean. Ryan and Mark were about 10 seconds ahead and I had a step on David. I started to gain on Ryan very slowly on our way back to the finish and David faded a touch. This was good. Mile four passed by in 5:35. I could see the last hill ahead with the finish line 200m mentally in my head. I had to press the last 800m to catch Ryan and did at the base of the hill. Krissy was there yelling and taking photos (hope to get them downloaded soon). I passed him only to be passed back on the other side, sprinting down and into the finish. In the process, we gained on Mark who seemed to me letting up as he had 4^th place wrapped up. Thus, a 6^th place finish and a pretty satisfying time of 27:44 for me. My last mile was 5:27. It was at least a minute quicker than I expected. We went to the “after party and awards” that included some BBQ a few miles away at Mile Marker 1.