USATF New England 1 Mile Road Championships

I signed up my first road mile in decades. This was the USATF New England Road 1 Mile Championship in Hopkinton, MA. It was first run last year in 2024 and seemed a popular event over the Marathon Championship in terms of participation from the USATF members.

The cool part was that my race would be contested among Men's Masters/Seniors age grouping 40 through 59. The race course was a quarter of a mile away looking like an out and back with some elevation changes. The turn around at half way was an easy turn around an island, not a single cone. 

My goal was to run a 7 minute mile so get to 3:30 at the half. I ran about 87 seconds at the ¼ mile and clocked about 3:28 at the turn around which had a little climb to reach. I was spent on the return. I passed only one runner to the finish running a chip time of 7:07 or gun time of 7:10. I finished 98th out of 104 runners. Pretty humbling experience. 

The race was simple but out of my comfort zone. I ran a few more miles after the race after checking in on the Notch mates on how they fared. I checked out some trails behind the school before watching the men’s open, women’s masters and then women’s open races which was fun to watch as a spectator roadside.

40-59 Men's Masters Results

Video of my finish

Miles Over the Moon 4 mile

Krissy and I headed over to the Miles Over the Moon 4 mile in Salem. This is a Friday night race with a 7:30PM start. I wanted to chill out and save some legs for Sunday’s road mile. Splits were as follows: 8:51, 9:01, 9:21, 9:17. It was controlled throughout the course but still had the heart rate climb each mile to a high of 160 bpm average for the last mile. 

I ran some miles with friend, Al Amore Jr up until a half mile to go. I saw my first Salem State College XC/Track Coach, Steven Zcarnecki on Osgood Street. I gave him a hug as he jumped out when I acknowledged him. Great to see him. Popsicle’s awaited the runners at the finish line. Krissy’s must have handed out hundreds and even mine, grape flavor! 

Full results

Place	Name	Group	Place/Group	Chip Pace	Chip Time	Gun Time
177	James Pawlicki	Male 50-59	16/29	9:15 min/mile	37:04	37:20

 

St. Peter’s Fiesta 5K

Hit up the St. Peter’s Fiesta 5K on a cooler than usual Thursday, last of June. The previous three days were hot and humid. This was also part of the Notch race series for the year. Krissy and I parked near the draw bridge on the boulevard so within a quarter mile of the bib pickup and start line at the end of Stage Fort Park. The 5K course would finish 3/4 of a mile away in front of the meat of the Fiesta Festival and Carnival.

I filtered into the start, 20 rows already deep of kids and baby joggers. Despite the traffic of 1500 runners, I got over the start line mat and down the Boulevard without running over any wheel or two legged barrier. Huge crowd of locals, Gloucestonians(?) awaited at Festival Central. John Gillis, Nick Taormina yelled for me among the crowd. My heart warmed with pride to be healthy and able to run low 7:30 for the opening mile. 

The hills over Gorton’s and the mini industrial park grounded me into a low 8 min second mile. However, the legs rallied back to the finish line, seeing the previous crowds 3 deep was fascinating, felt different from my race here 20 years ago. 24:11 at the finish (chip time). Job done! 261st out of 1506 - healthy crowd for a road race on the North Shore. 11th old man in my age group. Not dead yet….

2025 St. Peter’s Fiesta 5K race results