Greenbelt's Vineyard Hill Trail Run - 5K - South Hamilton

This is a fun, low key 5K and 10K trail race at Vineyard Hill in South Hamilton. I did a warm up across the street on the Patton property that had some mix trail and road leading to a farm. I got on the starting line with a comfortable temperature but still humid. One loop, 5K, was what I signed up for. Others opted to run two loops for a 10K. The loop consists of rolling hills on single track and fire roads. There was some soft muddy sections and a little standing water due to previous rain in the area. It made for filthy and soaked shoes by the end of the race. I finished in 5th place (27 finishers) with a time of 25:27 (ran a low 24 last year). I had no sight of the runner ahead after 1 mile and did not get pressure on my heels to the finish. The best part of the race is most was in the shade. I did not cool down or stay for the awards (perhaps left an age group award behind) as I had a full day ahead to get on with. As you can see splits showed an opening mile in 8:32 followed by two low 8 minute miles. 

Greenbelt's Vineyard Hill 5K Trail Run Results

Lord Hobo 6.17K

I reached out to Eric to see what the plans were for the weekend. Already mid-morning on a Saturday, he convinced me to run the Lord Hobo 6.17K in Woburn. It started at 11AM. We arrived at Lord Hobo and the parking lot jockey told us to drive 1.6 miles away to the Cummings Center for registration and bus back. Complying with the directive, we arrived to a registration line of 100 people at 10:20AM. There was no time to wait, register and catch a bus to the start line over a mile and half away. We decided to bail on it and just go over to the event and run through the race. 

We ran over to the start where we tried to park and register 45 minutes earlier. We bumped into Judy and Frank who managed to sign up and remain parked there. Frank said he was willing to sign Eric and I up. We had seven minutes before the start at 11AM. No one was in line at the registration inside Lord Hobo. We had our bibs in seconds. Furthermore, the start was going to be delayed by 15 minutes as there were too many runners still getting signed up and bussed over. 

Everything seemed to be working out in our favor. We went back outside and kept to the shade listening to Nick "Fitzy" Stevens (radio host and sports personality) on the microphone giving the crowd some laughs. He was planning on running the race as well. The race went off with me starting a few rows from the line. 

Within in the first miles I saw EJ Hrinowski. I yelled out for him and embarrassed him with some love. It's been a few laps around the sun since racing with him. He pulled away with a Thirsty Irish Runner. Mile one went by in 7:10. Mile two entertained a hill on Cross Street in Winchester slowing to a 7:40 mile. The course took a right onto Rt 38 and went down the retail section of Woburn before taking a right onto Green St which hosted a two stage hill helping me to a 7:59 mile. 

0.8 miles to go with a few side street turns back to Lord Hobo. 

40

James

Pawlicki

48

M

28:30.2

7:27

28:34.8

487 finishers for this one. I finished 40th overall with the 7:27 pace. Top three male and female got trophies. All others, a medal big enough to shield off swords. I grabbed a libation, water and race swag bag with a cotton race t-shirt. Eric finished as top 50+ with the 6:56 pace. In all, good time after a stressful process to drive around Woburn and almost get turned away and not race. 

                                  Eric, Frank, Judy and I