Mixed Mile GBTC Invite

I signed up for the 3000 meter race at the Greater Boston Invitational hosted at Harvard University. I car pooled in with Regina Loiacano, Jennifer Brooks, Nick Taormina, and Katie Misuraca. It was nice to catch up and talk about training, racing, et cetera. We got to the meet early, settled in, and I checked in for the 3K which was going to start two hours later. I watched the gals run the 3000m Invitational race. Katie went on to win and Jennifer and Regina had solid races. I ended up missing the start of my heat as I mis-judged how much time I had to warm up and get down to the track. My heat was #3 (heats ran fast to slowest) so it was totally my fault. By the time I got to my bag to grab my singlet and racing flats, my heat was lining up. I ran down to cheer on Dan Verrington and Nick Taormina who both ran 9:51 and 10:10 respectively.

I found the race director, Dave Callum, who allowed me to enter into the masters mile which was fine with me. I had a banana and Powerade that Regina was nice enough to give me as I had another two hours until my event. I carefully timed my warm up and got down to the check in area while all of the heats of the mile were going on. I waited through 3 heats before my mixed masters mile went off. I jumped into the middle of the pack at the gun and saw the first two laps go by in 37, 75 and then a 2:31 800m split. I was behind Chris Lawrence only for those laps and he began to move up a place. I caught up to 52 year old Adam Harder from GBTC and I ran in his pocket for the last 400m to finish 6^th out of the 11 in the heat with a time of 5:04.86. I was wiped out in those last three laps but glad Adam was there to help me out and he agreed. This event was totally out of my comfort zone but glad I got a race in for the day after missing my heat. Krissy picked me up and we headed out for pizza and unfortunately watched the Patriots run into a solid Broncos defense and lose.

6th overall in the mixed 40+ mile event

Next up....Great Stew Chase 15K

With anticipation of racing the DH Jones 10 miler in Amherst, MA next month and the New Bedford Half Marathon in March, I signed up for the 35th Annual Great Stew Chase 15K in Lynn, MA on Sunday. It is also Super Bowl Sunday. I have to go back and see what I have run at the Stew Chase in the past. The current course is not all that old, maybe in existence since 2002? The old course was more scenic as it ventured into Swampscott and maybe as far as Marblehead. Rumor had it that those towns had enough of road races, traffic control, and mile markers spray painted on the side of the street.

Above is a picture from a decade ago. The ageless John Barbour battling it out with a recent MIT grad and GBTC teamate, Jesse Darley. They tied that day with a 5:25 per mile clip. You don't see ties too often. I was way back, likely enjoying the scenery of the Swampscott harbour on the no doubt, cold February day. Another teammate of mine, Jim Reardon was right behind me. I recall that Jim PR'd in some indoor meets that winter. Jim and Jesse left New England for Wisconsin within a few years for career opportunities. I would be remiss to not mention current CMS teammate, Joe Shairs was third that day. He won this race in 2005, maybe his first race in a CMS uniform.

So if your looking for an honest 15K, good competition, beef or vegetarian stew, roll, and a chocolate chip cookie, do it.

Here is a run down of my history from what I could find on coolrunning.com.

1996 - Pawlicki, James 55:33 15th

1999 - 5th JAMES PAWLICKI 5:40 52:43

2001 - 8th JAMES PAWLICKI 52:08 5:36 (Personal Record and one second in front of t'mate Ben Nephew)

2003 (new and current course) - 20th JIM PAWLICKI 57:49 6:13

2007 - 10th JAMES PAWLICKI 54:59 5:54

2008 - 11th James Pawlicki 54:33 5:52