USATF New England Masters Cross Country Championships - Franklin Park

October 5th - Joe Shairs, Todd Callaghan, Dennis Floyd, and I arrived at Franklin Park for the USATF New England Open and Masters Cross Country Championships. They set up the CMS tent while I went to pick up the team bib numbers. It was cool and sunny. The Friday and Saturday rains soaked the course to the point where the race had a detour for the start of the Wilderness loop. I never saw the standing water but it was best to avoid it from what I heard. The start of the Wilderness loop was basically the exit. I measured the course as 5.0 miles after my race was done.

With Brian heading around the backstop
Photo by Kim Gordon

I warmed up 30 minutes before the 10AM start time (mastersr ace was the first of the day) with some of the CMS guys to see how the course looked. We ran the Wilderness loop, the back side of White Stadium, and Bear Cage Hill. The upper half of the Wilderness loop was soggy and the area behind White Stadium was a little muddy but one could dance past most of it. The messy part of the course would be in front of White Stadium on the field. This I did not see before the race so it was a surprise. Good old cross country mud! I picked the New Balance Trail shoes over the Inov8 flats.  We had 12 CMS masters and seniors at the starting line.

The opening mile of the race was the usual crazy chaos of 120 men sprinting out across the field which I found a few slippery spots. I got behind Chris Smith and Mark Reeder early and through mile 1 which looked like 5:35 per Garmin after the race. Teamate, Nick Taormina was just in front of us. He has been racing so well this fall. Brian Rhum from Gate City Striders and I kept company back and forth. 

He pushed us through Wilderness, loop one. I pushed us through Wilnderness the second time, passing Nick and Michael McGrane (BAA) in the process. I was trying to get close to two guys ahead at mile 4, one turned out to be John Sullivan from HFC. Brian went by me before the entry to Bear Cage Hill. We clawed to the top. Once I got myself together, I pushed down the backside of the hill. This is how it would set me up to the final straight away. I held my place, 39^th overall with a finish time of 29:37. Nick was right behind me. The masters team would finish 3^rdoverall and the Senior team would do the same.

Trailing Brian again at Franklin Park
Photo by Kim Gordon

I ran another 1.5 miles with the team and camped out atthe CMS tent to watch the women’s race and then the men’s open race. The CMS open team would finish 10^th in a competitive race. The guys picked the tent up and met me at the finish line where I was fixing some errors in theteam results. We went to Backlash Beer Company for some Pizza.

The 8K turned into a 5 mile. Blue spot is where the water flooded the start of the wilderness loop.

2018 USATF New England Masters Cross Country Championship race results
Pictures from Kim Gordon

USATF New England Open Championship Meet

I ran a 1500M track race at Holy Cross in Worcester within the USATF New England Open Track and Field Championship meet on Saturday. Track racing is my least participated running discipline. However, the All Terrain Runner Series including a 1500M race. It could only be contested at the New England Masters or New England Open Meet. I was out of town for the masters meet so this was my only opportunity.

I entered this race with a 4:47 seed time, the mile equivalent conversion to 5:10. I have not run a 1500 since the early 2000’s (4:19 or so at New Englands in Dedham). My last mile race was indoors in 2017 running a 5:11 or so for then, again, an ATR series event. A recent 400m interval workout on Tuesday told me exactly where I was. I thought I would be able to hit 78’s at the end of the workout. Nope. Never broke 80. I ran eight 400’s with a lap of easy running for rest in between them. Most of them were around 82 seconds. The clock does not lie.

 

I got my bib # at the meet from pal Jeff Rockwood. I checked in for the event, ran a little over a mile for a warm up and put a pair of Inov-8 flats on. I jogged around and watched the women’s 1500M finding comfort cheering for Leslie O’Dell, Barbara McManus, Kim Gordon and Emer O'Donoghue.

 

The men’s race was called to the line. I had hip #5. I studied the pre-entry list a few days earlier and knew my place and the competition. I got out into the middle of the race after it started, staying in control and making sure I did not go out too fast. Four guys got away from us and they had their own race. I was behind Timothy Hoff (MVTC) and Mark Capparella (Tri-Valley). I got around them before one lap. They went by me before 700M. Into the final lap, I thought I may be able to push by with a calculated effort but we all seemed to “go” at the same time rounding the last turn. Timothy finished in 5^th with a 4:53.37, Mark 6^th – 4:55.31, and I 7^thwith a time of 4:55.76. It was a pretty good race and felt fortunate to run with them and have the company and competition. Meet results.

Photos above from Stephen Laska. Photos below from Mark.