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