Manchester Invitational Open xc 5K

The Manchester Invitational Open Cross Country race at Derryfield Park in Manchester, NH was not on my schedule. Once I heard that Dave Dunham was going, I found the perfect scenario for kicking off my weekend: an early Saturday morning race that does not impede with the weekend responsibilities. I put the word out to Shawn Conway and Brett Rickenbach who both like xc races and they confirmed they would go too. Shawn, Dave, and I arrived at the nearly empty parking lot at 7:00. We grabbed our bib numbers and previewed the hilly but popular central New Hampshire High School cross country high course. The constant up and down on the course makes it interesting. I recall Ben True has a course record in the low fifteens for the 3 mile course.

My black and white Invo8 flats, modern day CMS singlet lined up in a starting line box with Brett, Dave, and Shawn. We had a wide field and things do not settle into single file for at least beyond the mile. I was in the top 15 or so in the opening half mile. I moved up a few places heading into the mile marker where splits were being taken electronically (never made it into the results). I think I was around 6 minutes with Mark Laprade two places up from there. He ran the Berlin Marathon the Sunday before in 3 hours. I caught up to his heels in the next 300M and then climbed up the biggest hill on the course – Weston Observatory. I mentioned that he looked pretty good for the marathon legs. He laughed. We ran down and out of the woods to the pavement (beyond mile 2). I got ahead of him there and wheeled down to the field setting me up to get within 8 seconds of the top master, Michael Holmes, a recent 2:57 Boston Marathon finisher.

I would get no closer to him on the way to the finish which the last 2 minutes of the race seem to take forever. I would finish in 5^th place, in 18:31 (I ran 17:48 three years ago). The winner, Everett Hackett, smoked the course in 15:20. I met him at the end of my warmup. He coaches a high school xc team from Hartford, CT that was running later in the morning.  Dave, Brett, and Shawn were right behind me finishing 9, 10, and 11^th.  Shawn, Dave, and I went on cool down making our way down to the McIntyre Ski Area which is adjacent to Derryfield Park.

5              James Pawlicki   2^ND M40-49 43   LYNN MA Central Mass Striders 18:31.3

9              Dave Dunham    1^st M50-59 54     BRADFORD, MA Central Mass Striders 18:49.2

10           Brett Rickenbach 4^th M40-49 43 AUBURN, NH                                                     18:59.4

11           Shawn Conway 5^th M40-49 47    WAKEFIELD, MA Greater Lowell Road Runners 19:06.6    

Results: http://www.millenniumrunning.com/results-manchester-invitational-open-race-2018/28367#/race/fohgqM//

Downtown 5K - Providence, RI

The Downtown 5K in Providence was selected as the 5K New England Championship within the 2018 road race Grand Prix, as it was in 2017. I was on the injured reserve and had a front row seat watching from the sidelines which no runner can appreciate. The “downtown” reference is appropriate as the race is surrounded by the tall buildings and in particular, start and finish is steps away from the Rhode Island State Capitol. The course is flat outside the opening 200m downhill and closing 200m uphill. I have some history at the race: last raced it in 2004, running 16:32, 88^th place in what was the USATF National 5K Road Championship. It was the National Championship for a long time until title sponsor CVS backed out in 2017.

I arrived early with free and easy parking with Dennis Floyd (PR of 15:23 on this course in the early 2000’s) and Nakri Dao who was fresh off his Spartan Beast event the day before. I ran a warm up of 3 miles with the guys and settled into the start about 10 rows back.

I opened with a 5:31 opening mile. It did not feel out of place but I knew it was not sustainable. As the race got into a single file train away from downtown, I came through a mile 2 split of 5:47. I was on the struggle bus back to the finish line with a 6:00 mile. I managed to finish strong heading up the hill at mile 3 and get past a few guys. I got a time of 18:17.4 (chip) and 18:21.8 (gun) which placed me 143^rd out of 1824 finishers. I was 14^th in my age group. The CMS men did very well with the open team placing 4th, masters team coming in 1st, and the seniors finishing 2nd.   

2018 Downtown 5K USATF New England Championship 5K Results

Types of races for 2018

I have 22 races under my belt so far a week into September. I have 7 (5 road races and 2 cross country) more planned for 2018. With that expectation, I pivoted out the race type which is typically in line with what I have been doing for races as a master runner.

Race Type	Number of races	Percent
road	18	62%
cross country	4	14%
trail	3	10%
mountain	2	7%
outdoor track	1	3%
snowshoe	1	3%
Grand Total	29	100%

GBTC XC Festival 5K

Shawn Conway and I arrived early at Elm Bank in Wellesleyfor the GBTC XC Festival. This was race number one in the Cross Country Grand Prix. The start and finish area moved to the other side ofthe park next to the last of the soccer fields. CMS had five masters runnerssigned up. The weather was perfect, overcast and in the low 60’s. I rounded up GregPutnam, Nick Taormina, and David Principe for a warm up over loop 1 a fewminutes before the women started their 5K. The course was over the same terrainand loops as in the past. I was familiar with them last running here in 2015. Iran a second warm up in my Inov8 flats, waiting for masters race to start as itwas delayed fifteen minutes to allow the women’s race to conclude.

I got on the front row and jumped out to get good positionbefore the course narrowed down into a double track after 50 yards. It was essentiallysingle file after 75 yards. We had to contend with the exposed roots after ahalf mile along the Charles River. They were easy to see and navigate as long as you had a line ofsight. Nick pulled up next to me before mile 1 and gave me encouragement tostick with him. We had Arthur Besse, Greg, and David up ahead and it was looking goodfor the team. I got ahead of Nick before mile 2 near the soccer fields. Gregstopped and walked off the course with a hamstring issue. Down a man, we were unable to score a team. 

I pressed ahead in the last mile trying to close a five seconds gapbetween I and both Justin Renz and Scott Grandfield from HFC. Neither one let up an inchover the roots and back to the finish. I finished in 10^th place anda time of 18:21. Nick finished in 18:35. I felt good with the effort. I wascurious what I ran for my last effort at this race in 2015 (my first crosscountry race as a 40 year old master runner). I finished 3^rd  with a time of 17:29 behind Josh Perks (17:07)and Joe Shairs (17:21).

Greg was down and out after the race when we talked. Team doctors will have to take a look at the MRI later this week. I gathered the CMS guys and we ran 3.5 loops around Elm Bank for another 4 miles giving me close to 10 for the day.

Top 20 results of the 40+ race below.

Greater Boston Track Club XC Festival

Elm Bank Park, Wellesley, MA September 9,2018

Men 40+

Place No.  Name                Club             City    St S Ag Menma Pace     

===== ==== =================== ================ ======= == = == =====

    1  182 TJ UNGER                   HFC STRIDERS     WESTWOO MA M 40 16:33  5:20 

    2  352 LEE DANFORTH        HFC STRIDERS        NORWOOD MA M 40 16:40  5:22 

    3  103 ANDY GARDINER                    BAA              DOVER   MA M 53 17:13  5:33 

    4  106 ARTHUR BESSE                      CMS              TEMPLET MA M 46 17:26  5:37 

    5  138 JUSTIN DAGLISH                   GLRR             CARLISL MA M 41 17:46  5:44 

    6  108 DAVID PRINCIPE SR                CMS              JOHNSTO RI M 51 18:00  5:48 

    7  171 TIMOTHY GAVIN         HFC STRIDERS        WESTON  MA M 42 18:06  5:50 

    8  179 JUSTIN RENZ                  HFC STRIDERS     MILTON  MA M 46 18:14  5:52 

    9  172 SCOTT GRANDFIELD  HFC STRIDERS        REHOBOT MA M 53 18:16  5:53 

   10  107 JAMES PAWLICKI                     CMS            LYNN    MA M 43 18:21  5:55 

   11  104 MICHAEL MCGRANE         BAA                 ASHLAND MA M 48 18:24  5:56 

   12  110 NICK TAORMINA                 CMS              GLOUCES MA M 46 18:35  5:59 

   13  183 TOM VOSSEN           HFC STRIDERS       NORWOOD MA M 44 18:40  6:01 

   14  137 SHAWN CONWAY                GLRR             WAKEFIE MA M 47 18:52  6:05 

   15  325 MARK REEDER                    GLRR             BRIGHTO MA M 58 18:54  6:05 

   16  353 TITUS MUTINDA                 GBTC             DORCHES MA M 53 18:58  6:07 

   17  181 PATRICK TROY            HFC STRIDERS        MEDFIEL MA M 42 19:13  6:11 

   18  148 EDWARD PARROT   GR SPRINGFIELD      AMHERST MA M 48 19:29  6:17 

   19  174 CHRIS KELLY            HFC STRIDERS     WESTWOO MA M 56 19:52  6:24 

   20  359 EJ HRYNOWSKI                    GLRR         ARLINGT MA M 56 19:57  6:25

Mount Greylock Road Race

The email for the 8 mile road race mentioned Mount Greylock as the highest point, 3,491 feet, in Massachusetts. This appealed to me and I never been to the mountain so I was all in as long as it did not put a big dent into my Labor Day weekend. The race was part of the Mountain Series so I was bound to see a lot of CMS runners.

I picked up Dave Dunham on Saturday afternoon and we drove a bit less than 3 hours to Field Farm in Williamstown. We ran four miles with Tim Van Orden. At the end of the run, we sampled the apples. An hour later we visited Olympic Pizza for dinner. I grabbed a pint of ice cream on the way back to the hotel.  

I was up at 5:04AM, before any alarm. Dave and I walked to Dunkin Donuts for coffee. The race was less than 10 minutes away so we had plenty of time to reach the 8:30 start. There were over a dozen CMS runners milling around getting bib numbers and warming up. Colin Carroll filled me in on the secret Williams College training in the mid-2000’s which included some Greylock intervals. I ran a 2 mile warm up with David Lapierre and Dave. Numbers for the race were over 250 strong, well up from the 187 finishers with rain last year.

I got on the front row at the starting line. I had echoes of “miles two and three are tough” given to me from Tivo and Dave. They were spot on. A used a bit of caution in there trying not to red line. The course lightened up in the second half, offering some flat sections and downhill which surprised me as it did not amplify while looking at the course profile a few weeks ago. Paulo from SRR was the only runner I would pass after 4 miles. I could see Chris Smith (SRR) and Brian Ruhm (Gate City) over the last three miles but all I could do was get 5 seconds of Brian on the last climb to the finish which was 150 yards from the summit. I placed 17^th with a time of 1:03:08.07. Now I have a time to beat next year. I got 7.69 miles on the GPS so keep that in mind if you decide to run the race for the first time in the future. 2018 Mount Greylock Road Race results

JAMES PAWLICKI
43rd Annual Mt. Greylock Road Race
Overall: 17 out of 286
Male 40 - 49: 2
Time: 01:03:08.07
Pace: 7:53/mile
Speed: 7.6mph

Top 20 runners from the 2018 Mount Greylock Road Race

1 TURNER ZAMORE 238 00:53:11.62 6:39 9.0mph M 34

2 CAMERON COGBURN 377 00:56:21.80 7:03 8.5mph M 32

3 COLIN CARROLL 230 00:56:23.94 7:03 8.5mph M 33

4 MARK RABASCO 407 00:57:51.51 7:14 8.3mph M 24

5 TODD CALLAGHAN 358 00:58:08.91 7:16 8.3mph M 48

6 ERIK VANDENDRIES 336 00:58:11.02 7:16 8.2mph M 53

7 TIM VAN ORDEN 392 00:58:54.51 7:22 8.1mph M 50

8 BRANDYN NARO 315 00:59:11.95 7:24 8.1mph M 31

9 DAVE DUNHAM 328 00:59:56.53 7:29 8.0mph M 54

10 MEGHAN DAVIS 387 01:00:40.27 7:35 7.9mph F 16

11 HEATH BREWER 282 01:00:52.08 7:36 7.9mph M 34

12 KASSANDRA MARIN 406 01:01:29.05 7:41 7.8mph F 28

13 MICHAEL NARCISI 322 01:01:57.11 7:45 7.7mph M 34

14 KIM NEDEAU 242 01:02:32.25 7:49 7.7mph F 39

15 CHRISTOPHER SMITH 308 01:02:40.20 7:50 7.7mph M 52

16 BRIAN RUHM 391 01:03:03.32 7:53 7.6mph M 52

17 JAMES PAWLICKI 331 01:03:08.07 7:53 7.6mph M 43

18 PAULO AMARAL 295 01:04:00.11 8:00 7.5mph M 37

19 DAVID CORBETT 228 01:05:06.91 8:08 7.4mph M 34

20 DAVID LAPIERRE 264 01:05:34.51 8:12 7.3mph M 54

NH10 mile

Krissy and I picked up Nakri on the way up to Auburn NH for the NH10 mile, USATF New England Grand Prix. I ran this 2 years ago in just over an hour. I was aiming for 1:02-1:03 this year. The weather was decent for August, not humid. I rolled through the early miles with Jonas from Wicked who wanted to stick with my plan of low 6 minute pace. Joe Shairs kept company in the early rollers. They dropped me after four miles as climbing was beating me up and I was in a maintenance mode. 

Mile 5 passed in 31:30 or so. There was some decent up and downs in the 2^nd half. I ran was flat at mile 8 but not many were passing by other than two Dirigo RC guys. Got to mile 9 and my company and I all had the same idea: run hard down the hill. David Lapierre ripped by me entering the final turns to the finish. I dug down to get back next to him. He helped me wake up as I sprinted by him into the finish. I finished 101^st place, with a time of 1:04:24.4 (chip time). My last mile was the fastest of the day with a 6:02. 

400M to go with Dave Lapierre coming in fast
Photo by Denise Underwood

The CMS masters team took the win with Patrick Rich, Kevin Hankens, Arthur Besse, Tim Van Orders, and Dave Dunham as the scoring five.

2018 NH10 mile race results

Mile splits and map

Lynn Woods Relay

The Lynn Woods 4 X 2.5 mile relay is a fun event at Lynn Woods. There are races every Wednesday at Lynn Woods during the summer. Check out the calendar and list of races that usually run into the month of September. https://lwrun.org/ Bill Mullen and Joe Abilon do a great job with the volunteer efforts year in year out since the 1970’s.

I rounded up the same crew that the CMS masters team had last year with Patrick Rich, Nick Taormina, Nakri Dao, and I. We were the 1^st place master team and second overall in 2017.

2017 LYNN WOODS 10 MILE RELAY

                           AUGUST 23, 2017

1 . WICKED FAST (265)                      58:50

  JONAH HULBERT              14:22     14:22

  ERICH ONEIL                29:35     15:13

  DAN CHRUNIAK               44:13     14:38

  CHRIS CHAPRUET             58:50     14:37

2 . CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS 40+ (361)      1:00:32

  PATRICK RICH               14:34     14:34

  JIM PAWLICKI               29:41     15:07

  NICK TAORMINA              44:45     15:04

  NAKRI DAO                1:00:32     15:47

3 . FILTHY JAMES (65)                    1:00:37

  JAMES ANDERSON             16:17     16:17

  JOHN PRIZZI                29:43     13:26

  MATTHEW GUARENTE           46:26     16:43

  ZACH CHABOT              1:00:37     14:11

Patrick lit up leg one with a 13:57 coming into the finish right next to a second place runner. I took off with leg 2 in 3^rd place. I went through the mile around 6:13 while moving up a spot into 2^nd place. The 1^st place runner, Joe Jourdain (went on to a 13:15), was way ahead. My goal was to not get passed by Jonah Hulbert (Wicked). I came back down to the finish with a 15:57 handing off to Nakri Dai who ran 16:08 who then handed off to Nick Taormina (the anchor leg) who ran our 2nd quickest time for the team, 15:40. 

Our team placed 4^th overall, 1^st master team. We won the coveted Lynn Woods sweat shirts. 

2018 LYNN WOODS 10 MILE RELAY

                           AUGUST 22, 2018

1 . FILTHY JAMES (35)                      59:31

  JAMES ANDERSON             14:57     14:57

  MATTHEW GUARANTE           31:35     16:38

  ZACH CHABET                46:16     14:41

  JOHN PRIZZI                59:31     13:15

2 . CORONAS ON US (31)                     59:37

  JOHN CORONA                13:57     13:57

  JOE JOURDAIN               27:12     13:15

  KEVIN GREEN                45:00     17:48

  JASON GUARANTE             59:37     14:37

3 . WICKED MENS OPEN 1 (181)               59:50

  MIKE PAULIN                14:59     14:59

  JONAH HULBERT              29:58     14:59

  ERICH O'NEIL               45:24     15:26

  DAN CHRUNIAK               59:50     14:26

4 . CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS 40+ (131)      1:01:42

  PATRICK RICH               13:57     13:57

  JIM PAWLICKI               29:54     15:57

  NAKRI DAO                  46:02     16:08

  NICK TAORMINA            1:01:42     15:40