Great Stew Chase 15K

I ran 57:24.7 today at the Great Stew Chase 15K in Lynn. The pace breaks down to 6:10 per mile. This placed me 12^th overall, a second in front of Central Mass teammate, Nick Taormina. He and I ran together for many of the miles today. Both of us have the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day.

With Nick beyond mile 6
Photo by KrissyK

I had a solid pack to run with in the middle miles where the elevation fluctuated. David Corbett, Nick, John Page, Kevin Hill, & Brandan Ring were in a mix on Farm Road hitting the hill up around the parking lot and back down. David Corbett broke all of us and smoked the last four miles. Nick and I chased but it was futile.

The weather was decent for a January day with some wind but it seemed to benefit us some in the closing miles. I was about 8 seconds better than last year. I am happy with the effort, got just about every second out of the legs as possible. It was good to catch up with some faces that I have not seen in a while.

John Page, David Corbett, myself, Brenden Ring, Nick Taormina after 3 miles
Photo by KrissyK

43rd Annual Great Stew Chase 15K, Lynn, MA 2017 results

KrissyK photos

Lazy Dog Classy 3 mile

Stephen Martin is the race director of this one hosted by the Lazy Dog Sports Bar in Wyoma Sqaure in Lynn. The proceeds from the race go to the Lynn Classical Girls Track Team. I have lined up and finished on Broadway Street since 2013. See below. I got in a four mile warm up running over to the race and then ran the course with Nakri Dao and Martin Tighe. At the gun, I jumped right out into the lead. John Page kept pace with me down Euclid Ave. As we approached mile one and a hill, he took the lead and surged up and through the hill dropping me by several strides. I could not close that gap as the course flattened out. We hit some head wind on Broadway and mile 2. John had about a five second lead, took the right onto Magnolia Ave with his dad Mike Page and John Ayers yelling for both of us.

I thought that is how the race was going to finish but I gained a bit on John approaching Euclid Ave. That gave me some energy. It got interesting as I caught John at the corner of Broadway and Euclid Ave (Minos Roast Beef). I put on a surge there all the way to the finish holding John off and taking the win in the Somerville Road Runner yellow. It was unexpected as it looked like John was going to hold his lead after the mile. My time was 17:05 and my 3rd win at the race. John ran 17:13. Results

Krissy was not only at the finish line ready to take the photos, but she was at 2.5 miles and at .5 miles. Photos to come soon.

My Lazy Dog Classy 3 mile fun run history
Year Place Time
2013  1 16:11
2014  1    16:54
2015  7    16:42
2016  2 17:20
2017  1    17:05

I had a nice cool down with Martin, Nakri, John, and Gilley Kabamba (Lynn Classical Senior with a 2 mile PR of 10:29) who finished 3rd. Krissy and I stayed for the awards, raffle, and lunch. I recommend the Lazy Dog Burger. It looks like John and I are going to have a few more races together this year. I just hope that I can keep up with him. He already beat me at the Frosty Four Mile in Salem earlier this month.

800m with John Page on Euclid Ave
Photo by KrissyK

Trailing John with 800m to go on Magnolia Ave
Photo by KrissyK

Upon the finish outside the Lazy Dog on Broadway, just ahead of John
Photo by KrissyK

Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble

I met Dave Dunham at the Newburyport Park and Ride. Two hours later, we arrived at Whitaker Woods in North Conway for my first snowshoe race of the year. CMS teammate Kevin Tilton is the race director. Several CMS mates also arrived: Ed Shelton, Paul Bazanchuk, Sam Wood, & John Pajer. It was sunny and temps warmed up to maybe 20 degrees. I did a warm up in sneakers on top of the groomed trail with Dave and Paul. Once I got on a single track down hill, it was suicidal, and lost them so I shuttled around on my own. I got back and changed into my racing gear and Dion Snowshoes. I did another 10 minutes out on the course.

At the start line, I saw a lot of new faces (new comers). I got out at the start and settled in behind Kevin Tilton who had enough volunteers to let him race. I held my own on a few climbs in the first few miles. Kevin put a gap on us that I could not make up. The groomed trails were nice and I would say that this made the course pretty fast. The single track trail was manageable in all respects. I had a battle in the 2nd half of the race with John Corona in what was mostly flat groomed terrain. I finished in 8th place, time of 27:29.7, 1st in my age group for the 3.9 mile course. I did a cool down with Dave and we settled inside for some soup and waited for the awards where I scored home baked goods courtesy of Jess Tilton. I devoured the cookies and brownies as soon as I got home. Check out the sweet photos that Joe Viger took.

Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble Results

Joe Viger Photography

3000m Boston University Mini-Meet #3

Joe Shairs and I headed over to the 3^rd and last installment of the BU mini-meets to shave some time off our 3000m times we set a week ago. Our seed times (mine being 10:00) put us both in the same heat. The number 12 hip number put me up on the barrel start (lane 6) which is always fun. I jumped into the back end of the competition once we got going and settled in, seeing 39 to 40 second laps. I saw a 3:20 at 1K, on pace for a 10 minute race (goal was to break 10 minutes). After 8 laps, the clock time was 5:20. Joe was a few seconds up ahead. I did not take any advantage of Justin Renz moving by and chasing Joe with 6 laps to go. I was pretty flat but consistent. I passed a few runners that were coming back more than me pressing. I wound up with a finish time of 10:01.64, four seconds back from Joe (9:57.93) and matched my hip number, placing 12^th out of the 16 runners.  The 2.5 seconds delta (faster) than last week is progress. Meet results

On a side note, Shaun Dever from Greater Boston Track Club introduced himself to me. He saw my name in archives of the Wingfoot Express (newsletter). It was nice to see that he and the club have uncovered some archives going back into the mid to late 1990's.  

Frosty Four Miler, Salem

Nakri drove Krissy and I over to the Tavern in the Square in Salem for another round of the Frosty Four Mile road race for the first race of the New Year. The race entry fee goes to a good cause (scholarships for graduating high school seniors).  Like last year, I found myself with John Page at mile 1 getting compliments from his mother and sweet heart, Jill. Second place runner, Dave Long was a few yards up on us and did not look to be slowing down as he entered and exited the Salem Willows. 

John pulled away from me, seemingly trying to catch Dave. The previous day’s 3K reminded my legs up and over the Deadhorse Beadh hill that it was going to be tough to catch anyone. All three of us carried our 10 seconds apart gap from each other into the wind over the last few miles to the finish line in that order 2^nd, 3^rd, & 4th. I ran 23:29 for 4^th place and 2^nd master runner behind Dave. It was good to see my dad in attendance, cheering the race and I on at the start and finish. Results

TR Ramsdell and I after at the awards

Boston University mini meet #2, 3000m

Joe Shairs and I headed into the 2^nd of three BU mini meets to run the 3000m. My seed time of 10:10 placed me in heat # 5. The heats start with the fastest heat so that gave me plenty of time to run a few laps inside to warm up.  I picked the 10:10 seed time based off the two 3K’s I raced in February: 10:11.51 in Providence and the 10:05.47 at Harvard.  

The race was just about split between men and women. I raced toward the mid-back of the race after the gun despite having the 2nd fastest seed time for the heat. My focus was to not trip up in traffic and keep my pace as far away from aggressive. I felt like I was in the middle of the competitors after 1K in the 3:24 range. The mile went by around 5:27. 

I felt I had one surge in the legs to move up and waited for a spot with six laps remaining. I carefully made my way up to 2^nd with 400m to go. I tried to drop the pace in with 200m to go (I was about 2 seconds back from the leader) and I tied up, even felt a slight buckle from the resisting legs. The lack of mechanical demand in the legs was unfortunate but real. I finished in 3^rd place with a time of 10:03.99. Meet results

I was pretty happy with the effort and execution. I had the mid-race bargaining between the head and the legs. I positioned myself well at the end but had to respect the speed that I was requesting to go for it. It reminded me of what someone recently wrote in response to training for the mile (speed), "use it or lose it" - Derrick Jones. I did have fun and it was the greatest takeaway I have had in a track race in several years. It lit a fire that I can break 10 minutes (my unmet goal earlier in 2016) and buried the reluctance about racing indoors. I will shoot for a sub 10 minute 3000m next time. 

USATF 2016 National Club Cross Country Championships

Todd Callaghan planted the seed in August. “We have to get a team down to XC Nationals.” Six masters runners from the Central Mass Striders including myself committed to the December 10^th race in Tallahassee, FL. Todd, Joe Shairs, Greg Putnam, and I touched down in Tallahassee the day before the race. Arthur Besse was already in Florida with his family in Jacksonville. Tim Van Orden was on his way via Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Our hotel shuttle driver, a local student, hit it off real well with us tipping us what to check out and what to avoid in terms of pub and grub.  We got a little history of the local academia (Florida State University, Florida Community College, Florida A&M University).

Voted best burgers in town?

We checked into the Four Points, welcomed by the USATF race promotion and schedule of events in the lobby. We got a shuttle in a five passenger golf cart up to the race HQ hotel about a mile away to get our race numbers. The driver smiled when I asked he ever had the thing on two wheels before? Once we were back at our hotel, we hit up Birds Aphrodisiac OysterShack next door, because it was steps away and our shuttle driver claimed the best burgers in town. Oysters mean burgers in Tallahassee…..dozens of Oysters were followed by burgers or Grouper sandwiches. Tim arrived after dinner after a 2.5 hour drive from Jacksonville.

Greg up front in the Golf Cart limmo yelling at the snow birds driving in Tallahassee

Joe questioning the "texting while driving permission" golf cart law in Florida

The following day arrived. A light breakfast of coffee and oatmeal fueled the morning. The Apalachee Regional Park Cross Country course was a 20 minute drive away. Tim drove us over and we settled our bags into a huge party tent about a half mile from the start. It was chilly but the temperatures got up to the high 40’s by the time our 10K race started.  We were unable to warm up on the course so we ran back and forth along the start and finish areas while watching the masters women 6K and masters men 8K (60+) races.

Raw Oysters before a race is always a good idea

It was thrilling to watch John Barbour (GLRR) duke it out stride for stride, sharing the lead with Brian Pilcher from California. John would come up short by a few strides in the end. His age grade effort was the best of the day for the 8K. We checked in as team and got onto the course minutes before our 9:45 start. Just enough time to do a few strides and our Jameis Winston crab leg chant.

The race took off, down a good wide stretch that was sure to thin out the mass of 190 runners.

Hats and gloves in Tallahassee
CMS masters team: Todd Callaghan, Jim Pawlicki, Tim Van Orden, Joe Shairs, Arthur Besse, Greg Putnam

We had four loops waiting with something called “the wall.” It was a two stage hill with the 2^nd being a steeper stride breaker. I glued onto Arthur Besse as soon as I could for company. The course rolled and swung us past the finish line area several times making this a great course for photographers and spectators.

I hung with Arthur for about 3.25 miles before fading like a Florida Oak tree. The 5K split was around 17:45. Arthur kept pace and passed several over the next few miles. I battled out with a few other guys in fade mode. One guy with a backwards facing hat got some cheer support. “Red,” Matthew Whitis’ presence and local pace kept me going in an otherwise dismal wrap up. Read about Matthew and his second chance.  I finished up in 74^th place (6^th man on the team) with a time of 36:28 (5:53 pace per mile). Arthur finished in 35:50 and 64^th place.

Several loops at Apalachee resemble a whale

The team placed 7^th out of 16 teams, just 3 behind Cal Coast and 7 behind Bull City TC. In order: Tim Van Orden, Greg Putnam, Todd Callaghan, Joe Shairs, Arthur Besse, & I.

40+ results 

40+ team results

Tim reaching for an Orange

We ran a cool down in some loops away from the course and then came back to watch the end of the women’s and men’s open races where Melissa Donais and Nate Jenkins represented CMS well. The rest of the day consisted of hanging out with the team at the hotel pool, round number two at Bird’s (yes more Oysters!), and then shuttled downtown for the after party in College Town. We bumped elbows with teams and runners from our USATF New England Region as well as from other USATF regions. Get ready for 2017 in Kentucky!

Please check out Greg Putnam’s recap of the end to end CMS trip to Tallahassee on LevelRenner.