Monday, April 2, 2018

Frank Nealon Boston Tune-up 15K

Dennis Floyd, Nakri Dao, and I arrived in Upton for the Frank Nealon Boston Tune-up 15K which was the 2nd race in the USATF New England Road Race Grand Prix. Parking was easy as was picking up the bib number inside the gym. I caught up with my CMS teammates before heading out for a 15 minute warm up. Onto the starting line, about four rows back with my CMS mates. The weather was nice for late March, sunny and almost 50 degrees.

The course rolled early and often. I opened up with a pair of 5:45's. The 3rd mile had the most climb and I registered a 6:09. I mentally was breaking the race down into thirds. Mile 4 had the most net drop (-41ft) and I returned a sub six. Mile 5 was level but recall a hill that I could see from a half mile away. I was sort of keeping Josh Perks close on the down hills. Mile six gave me a 6:00 split.

Two thirds of the race distance was in the rear view mirror. Dave Dunham came by and went by easily. I was hurting. I begged Tim Van Orden to jump back into the race and "jog" with me. He was done, walking off calf pain. I had a pair of 6:17's for miles 7 and 8. Tough ones for me. I regrouped a little bit in the last mile when Joe O'Leary came up on me. I heard his cough and I peeked back and said that I recognized that cough. He laughed and told me to bring us home to the finish.

I gave it all I had. Despite that I lost two spots in the last half mile including one to Bradford Klinedinst, within my age group which put me into 11th for the day. Overall, 93rd place with a time of 56:38 – 6:04 per mile pace. I felt pretty good with the effort. I would not have changed my approach. I really liked the course and the rolling terrain. The CMS teams did very well with 2nd open, 2nd masters, and 3rd senior team. I am looking forward to resting up this week and looking for more races which could include Doyles 5 mile and the Merrimack River Trail Race.

My coach, Joe O'Leary catching me in the last mile
Photo by Rodney Hemingway

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