The Central Mass Striders team heading to the Yankee
Homecoming 10 mile road race in Newburyport only had four men on the day of the race. Five are needed
to score. I decided that morning to fill in as the 5
th guy. I
left work 3:00, picked up Krissy, and sat back for a quick ride up Rt 95. I
signed up at registration and made sure I made contact with Jason Porter, Dan Verrington, Nick
Taormina, and Patrick Rich to confirm we were all there for a potential scoring team. I tried to recall the last time I ran the race. 2008 was the last time I was there and it was a USATF New England Championship event. I ran
56:48 (5:41) and placed 48
th. My expectations last night were to get
under 58:00. I got a light warm up running from the parking lot to the high school
to hear the 5K go off at 6:00. I jogged around Anna Jaques Hospital, did some
light stretching, and got into the starting line three rows from the line two minutes
before the starting gun. The start is flat and easy to find room on the wide street.
I heard a 5:28 1
st mile split. A nice downhill to the water and
heard a 2
nd mile of 11:00. I was in the back of a solid group of at
least 10 guys including Jason Porter (CMS), Caleb Evanter (GBTC), Matt Germain
(SISU), and Robert Cipriano (SRR). I did not know the other guys as they were all new young faces to me.
My pace was quicker than what I felt I could sustain
for 10 miles but just went with it knowing that I would be positioned very well
if I kept with that group for as long as possible. I was really pumped to be
in that competitive group. We took on the first real climb up toward Maudsley State Park and a water
stop just after 5 miles. I heard a split of 28:10. That was a good half way split considering my all out five mile race for the year was around 27:43 in May. The pack thinned out on that hill and I slipped off that group. I got back into the back of that group crossing the Rt. 95
overpass behind Eric Williams (Whirlaway) and Caleb Evanter. We took a left
into residential neighborhood to the left of Maudsley and watched Caleb take
off with authority. I started to feel the effect of my quicker than usual pacing. I hung in there and battled
anyone around me leaving the Maudsley area up a hill where I felt I was running so slow. I crossed over Rt 95 once again with less than 2.5 miles to go. I
was beat and just looking for the finish line. I ran with a young guy into the
last mile. I lost a few spots in the last mile as my wheels were coming off. It was a good sight to see the orange cones leading us into the
Newburyport High School driveway. I maintained stride up the driveway and into the finish
to a delighted sight of the clock ticking in the 56 minutes. I finished with a
time of 56:47 (5:41) – chip time of 56:45 – 22
nd place overall. I
was very happy with the time and effort. I had absolutely nothing left. It has been a while since I had a ten
mile time that quick. I caught up with some competitors and headed out for a
cool down with Patrick Rich and Steve Dowsett who ran us past his house off
High Street. I ran another mile with Jason Porter and Dan Verrington. CMS placed 4th overall. My
stomach was a mess so I headed back to find Krissy and get some nourishment as
I was very light headed. I will post up some photos that Krissy took
once they are
uploaded.
No comments:
Post a Comment