GBTC Invitational masters mile

Todd Callaghan (CMS) picked Brett Rickenbach and I up at the house for a quick drive into Harvard at noon. This gave me a chance to sleep in late and have a big breakfast. We got bent for $10 to park which I knew was coming. We stashed our gear next to Joe OLeary and the SRR guys inside. A big group of us headed outside for a 2.3 mile warm up in mud, slush, and ice around the athletic fields. We warmed up early enough to check in a second time to get our hip and chest numbers. We had a long wait. There were five heats of the mile to wait through before our masters race (2 heats) lined up. I got into heat 1. It was going to be competitive between Al Bernier (CMS) and Ethan Nedeau (aR) for the win. Todd and Dan Verrington (CMS) were in the heat as well so I was familiar with half the field. Brett was track-side yelling splits at me. I heard the 36's turn to 38's after a few laps. The race thinned out quickly and I hung back. I was cooked with the 2:27 at 800m running behind Mark Capparella (Mass Velocity). I could see Al and Ethan battling at the end of the straight away that I was on. Todd was going at it as well with a pair of guys. I went around Mark with 400m to go to finish a distant 6th and a time of 5:03.1 - 9 seconds slower than my effort at BU earlier this month. In summary, pretty much a shit-show for me but the effort put on by peers and t'mates kept the overall spirit up. It was nice to see Al win the race as the man has wheels. Todd as well kicked some ass showing he is no rookie to the indoor oval. The CMS masters headed out with Jesse Morrow (SRR) for an out and back on the Charles River on the ice and slush. In the end, I was grateful for the opportunity to race in the masters mile at the track meet today. The mile event is also race #1 in the All Terrain Runner series so I am all in and should be able to run some if not all of the races this year. I am undecided about a race next weekend (Super5 or a track event in Providence). The week after will be the Great Stew Chase 15K in Lynn which will provide for a good tune up for 10 miles in Amherst next month. I think I am done with the indoor track racing but will keep an eye out for maybe one more that I hear is a masters event in Providence.