Overall results
Vermont City Marathon photos by KrissyK
In a nut shell, I was looking for a sub 2:50 at VCM. I had
some company early with rock star and ex-teammate Jeff Goupil. His friends had
a “Fathead” of him on the side of the course which had me cracking up. I kept
it light, talking, and lurking behind Joe Shairs and the BAA crew of
masters/seniors for the first 10K. I kept my game plan and did not chase. Jeff
got anxious and took off ahead. I caught Wayne Levy and ran for a bit through
10 miles. “Brother Narcisi” (Michael) was in the mix and stepped ahead of me at
half way (1:24). He looked good and pulled away. I motored up the big hill at
15 and shared some smiles and blew some kisses to Krissy. Only 11 miles to go! A
light sprinkle of rain felt good. A few Narragansett masters flew by and then
we hit the neighborhood with a million turns. I was getting tired and felt the
first calf cramp of the day before 19 miles. My mind filled with horrible
thoughts of depleted muscles and was not looking forward to the cramp game over
the last seven miles. One can fly over the last four pretty easy on the bike
path and I was a complete mess as then both calves were cramping every few
minutes. I had to slow down to as slow as 7:00 per mile. Michael Narcisi was
coming back in the last two miles. His presence kept me going and motivated to
try to close in. It worked and I passed him as we got into Battery Park. He PR’d
and I ran a minute faster than my result here in 2013. Net time was 2:52:19 and
the gun time was 2:52:23. 46th place overall and 7th in
the 40-44 year old age group.
In closing, it was a good experience and a great weekend. Several
friends ran great races. It was awesome to see Joe Shairs win his age group. We
had an interesting winter of training and really focused on some decent long
runs in April. I was a scoring member for CMS (open/masters) in the USATF New
England Grand Prix standings (3rd runner for the open team and 2nd
runner for the masters team). Both teams placed 3rd overall. Krissy
and my father were in attendance. She took a ton of photos and I was clear
headed enough to hear her yelling each time I ran past her. Lastly, I need to
figure out the muscle cramps (calves). I took enough fluids (either water or Gatorade)
at almost each available offer, expended four Powergels (first two at 55 minute
intervals), and three salt stick tablets (one before the hour, another before 2
hours, and the last in desperation a mile after the 1st calf cramp).
I actually spit out the last one as I was reaching for water. That was
hilarious stopping and bending over for it off the ground at 20 miles. I am surprised
that I was able to get back up and run.
My splits below:
My splits below:
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| Nice summary from VCM after I finished the race |
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| Coming into mile 9 solo. Dan Verrington is lurking behind. Photo by KrissyK |
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| Smiling after the hill at 15 miles Photo by KrissyK |
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| Sprint mode into the finish waiting for calves to cramp again Photo by KrissyK |
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| Crossing the finish line Photo by KrissyK |
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