The Great Stew Chase 15K

I missed the start, heard the starting gun go off from around the corner. Guess I was too casual on the warm up over to the race, one and a half miles away. Krissy had my number waiting for me at the start. She could barely pin the number on my shirt as the race of 200 scattered off. I told her not to worry, my official time should get picked up. I looked over at the start and saw no timing mat. Crap! It is all about gun time today. I got on my way with no panic and caught the race a few minutes later. 

I moved through the race, trying to be casual about it and settled into a low 8 minute pace effort by 3 miles. The weather was in the mid-30 with plenty of sunshine. A bit of a breeze from the west. I backed off in the hills of Centennial Drive and out toward Rt. 1. On the way back, I was not feeling to great but managed to keep in the 8's for pace. The last few miles were just flat effort-wise. I came into the finish with a personal time of 1:19:29 (8:32 pace) and clock time of 1:20:49 (8:41 pace) meaning I missed the start by 1 minute 20 seconds. I managed to place 3rd in the age group. 

I changed into some dry clothes and sat down inside the Knights of Columbus for the Vegetarian Stew, Water and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. I caught up with some folks and cheered on all age group winners who were snagging winter hats. At the end of the day, managed to cover 11 miles that gave me a touch over 30 for the week. Photo creds to Shannon Cram. 

 

The Great Stew Chase 15K Results - Lynn, MA - February 4, 2024 

Wicked Frosty Four

Keeping with the New Years tradition, the Frosty Four Mile race hosted by the Wicked Running Club was in order. The weather was sunny, in the low 30’s with very little wind to complain about. I ran a mile and a half warm up with neighbors, Eric and Dennis. I got off to a good, clean start heading down Derby Street trying to keep Eric close but stay controlled. 

I settled into mile 1 behind a Notch contingent of singlets, including Eric, with a 6:48 mile. We rounded the neighborhood behind the Salem Willows and out past Dead Horse beach up the final hill. These miles slowed to 7:11 and 7:13 respectively. I caught Mike Vanne with a half mile to go and gave him some encouragement. We are often finishing our Wednesday Notch runs together so I felt right at home. I would lose one place with 400m to go but held on straight into the fast finish. 

I placed 38^th with a time of 28:26, chip time 28:24 (7:05 pace per mile). I found Eric and headed back to the Village Tavern for some fuel before heading out for a 2 mile cool down via Derby Street, Collins Cove and the Salem Common. I capped off the even by chilling out with the Lynn Woods crew at the Tavern and supported the award winner ceremony in the back room to the diligent MC work by Alan Yen! 

Frosty Four Miles – Salem – January 1, 2024 race results