Pack Monadnock

This was a tough race today. I ran this 10 mile in 2007 clocking in at 1:06:25 where the first half was cautious with a 30:48 five mile split. Today, I went through 5 miles about a minute quicker (29:51). Peter Asaro from Gloucester and of William & Mary had just caught up to me before 5 miles after I passed Ben Nephew before the 4 mile mark.

I was spent after a climb in the 5th mile. I was crawling up each of the hills that followed. Peter must have had 30 seconds on me when I got out to Rt. 101 (7.5 miles). I could see Andy McCarron ahead of him by another 40 seconds and barely see Jim Johnson ahead of Andy. As spent as I was, I managed to catch Peter about 100 yards from the finish in Miller State Park (not an easy task in the last mile here unless someone is walking). However, I was drained and couldn't find any energy to pass him. I settled for 7th place in a very competitive field in the trek from Wilton, NH to Pack Monadnock in Temple, NH. My unofficial 1:06:44 is about :20 behind my previous effort in 2007. The delta today was going out harder and crashing harder in the 2nd half. I will chalk this up to a learning experience and solid effort on a day that I knew four miles from the finish line that it was going to get ugly.

The CMS held serious court in the race today. Without seeing the results yet, it looked like Justin Fyffe (3rd), Jim Johnson (4th), Andy McCarron (5th), myself (7th), Ben Nephew (8th), Dave Dunham (9th), Dave Quintal (12th), Tim Mahoney (13th), and Tim Van Orden (14th) all had solid races.

Bottom row (3): Andy McCarron, Todd Callaghan, Tim Mahoney

Top row: Dave Dunham, Justin Fyffe, Jim Johnson, Dave Quintal, Jim Pawlicki, & Ben Nephew

Photos by Kristen

Wachusett Mountain road race report

The 2009 USATF New England Mountain series kicked off with the Wachusett Mountain Road Race. Due to construction of the access road up the mountain, the race course had to be changed and diverted into the beautiful trails. Runners were warned or at least advised with plenty of signage in and around the registration area. I even recall a refund was offered in advance if the course change was beyond expectations. Mountain runners are hardy souls and did not seem to mind. I welcomed the change of scenery and like the idea of having some generous downhill in the 2nd half of the race.

I went out pretty hard for the 1st mile, settling in behind Andy McCarron and Craig Fram. I did not get a mile split but the effort was quicker than I usually put forth. Kevin Tilton and Ryan Carrera took command after the mile and took off as we approached the entrance to the park. I opened the stride as we then got off the road and into single track trail. It was in this part of the race (1.5) miles that Craig Fram stepped aside to let me by as he was very cautious with the tricky footing, descending beside the 1st mile along Mountain Road. I ran past Kristen who was taking photos shortly before mile 2. I could see Andy way ahead. Meanwhile, I think Tim Van Orden was a few seconds behind me.

Then the grind began up Old Indian Head Trail. This was a steep half mile section that was pretty tough. Tim passed me about half way up. He looked pretty strong and I felt that I could hang on with him through the top . Seconds later, Middlesex Fells training partner, Todd Callaghan, passed by chasing Tim before we got to the top of the trail. I was suffering a bit but was counting on the down hill that awaited a bit after 3 miles.

I looked at my watch at the top of Indian Head and saw 21 minutes or so and wondered how long it would take to see the finish line. Tim and Todd had a 8-10 second lead at the water stop somewhere beyond 3 miles. I opened my stride and tried to reel them in. I made slow progress of that as we were all flying at the same pace. This was a controlled down hill section and thought that it was far from the reckless free-fall that I encounter at Northfield Mountain. I was closing the gap a bit as we ran past the Indian Head Trail that we ran up earlier. I caught Tim on the last uphill climb for the day and a few seconds later got around Todd.

Meanwhile, I looked left and down toward the ski lodge where the finish line awaited. I was not too sure how much longer it would take before we would arrive and what the course was like approaching the finish line area. I did not research the last mile so it was a big unknown. Todd checked out the course on Thursday so he had an advantage. My college coach at Salem State, Tom Derderian, always reinforced to me that you must know the course before the finish line. At any rate, I was in the midst of a battle.

We turned left off the fire road and down toward the duck pond beside the ski lodge. I took the inside turn and surged down the hill. I still had no idea how much race was left and how to get there besides the course flagging. I was trying the shake Tim and Todd. I remember taking the inside lane around the duck pond, even dropping my left arm, pointing to claim the lane as we approached a boulder about 20 yards from an upcoming narrow footbridge. Tim and Todd were hot on my tail as I navigated, carefully around a tree and onto the asphalt, taking a sharp left turn toward the finish chute 10 feet away. It was like the last 100m of a mile race on the track with three hungry wolves fighting for the kill. I crossed the line just ahead of Tim and Todd. I turned to see Tim in the chute right behind me and then Todd followed. I was exhausted.

Todd quickly pointed to his leg and mentioned a wipe out. I did not recall seeing him go down in the last two miles of the course and asked him where he dumped. He took a fall in the heat of the battle with Tim and I on the tough corner just before the parking lot. Kristen happened to get it on video and did not even know he went down because she lost us behind the tree and she stopped recording as we bolted into the finish line. You'll notice how Todd was making ground before we approached the bridge and then the three of us approach the tree and two make it out.

We ran a nice relaxing cool down over the last few miles of the course and certainly shared some good laughs over the battle for the finish. I hope to have many more with these guys in the future.

Wachusett Mountain (5.2? miles) road race

May 23, 2009

1. Ryan Carrera 30:44

2. Kevin Tilton 30:48

3. Andy McCarron 31:46

4. Jim Pawlicki 32:44

5. Tim Van Orden 32:45

6. Todd Callaghan 32:48

7. Tim Mahoney 33:26

8. Allen Spencer(?) 33:31

9. Dave Dunham 33:35

Course profile

Cooling down while Todd points to the scene on the corner before the finish line straight. Dave Dunham, myself, Todd Callaghan, Francis Burdett, and Tim Mahoney. Photos by Kristen Kozlosky.

Bedford Memorial 12K

It has been a few days since the race. I was not too sure what to expect as I have had very few races and no speed work other than a hard effort at the Danvers 5K races here and there. I rolled through the 1st mile around 5:14 and two miles in 10:37. From there I had some consistent, albeit slower, mile splits averaging 5:33 until 6-7 where I ran the slowest (5:41) for the day. I had a nice battle with former teammate at GBTC several years ago, Ethan Crain (former All American at MIT). However, I was wiped out by the time I reached the last uphill leading to the track and he rolled on. I told him to use his mile speed from his MIT days. He did. But so did Scott Anderson and Ted Breen. You can see their arms in the photo (taken by Kristen Wainwright) above, bookending me. It was on this track where the race finished, that I got called out and the weakness was apparent that I lacked speed sessions. I wound up in 36th place with a 40:13 (5:32 pace/mile).

On that note, I was thankful for the downhills where I could stretch my stride and recover from the hills. Overall, this is a fair course and look forward to getting back here next year if it is in for the Grand Prix. Next up for me is the Mt. Wachusett race and then the Rhody 5K which is race number four in the USATF-NE Grand Prix Road Race series.

Wellness Fair 5K at Salem State College

I got a chance to lace up the racing flats in a rare 5K road race yesterday at Salem State College. I was looking for a race before the upcoming Bedford Memorial 12K road race and this was also an an opportunity to do a Salem State College Alumni event. Several former SSC alumni have won this race which was being held for the 13th year. Dan Smith who ran sub 15's in college and Fabian Meija, sub 4:15 miler come to mind. The new course for at least the last five years is a certified 5K. It was previously 3 miles long. I checked out the winners plaque before the race that has the male and female winner of each year before the race. I know most of the previous men's winners and noted that none were there to race this one. Fabian was in attendance, however, recovering from surgery a few months ago.

I got a short warm up through Forrest River Park with Scott Carrier from Beverly and Dennis Floyd. Dennis who is the Salem State College Track & Field coach was running his 2nd race in consecutive weeks, looking to run 6 minute pace. He and I have been teammates in college and two running clubs. His last competitive race was a 16:22 for CMS in the USATF-NE Indoor Championships in 2008. It is awesome to see him healthy as he has been battling Achilles issues over the past few years.

I jumped out into 2nd place about 200m into the race. David Long, Beverly resident, was in front and I caught him before 800m on Canal Street. I went through a 5:00 1st mile which was way off and inched away from David. I'd say it was a 5:25 mile. I just kept rolling along and having fun with the Salem Police Car holding up traffic as I cruised by Kristen and Jeff Rockwood, assistant Salem State Track Coach after mile 2. A few more turns and I bolted in for the finish, staring the clock down from when I began to make out the time around 16:20. It was a long straight away to the finish line and just got under 17 minutes with a 16:55. David Long finished in 2nd at 17:50 and Dennis ran 18:06 for 3rd far exceeding what he wanted to run for the day.

13th Annual North Shore Wellness 5K
Salem, MA, May 3, 2009
1 James Pawlicki 16:55 5:27 SSC Alumni
2 David Long 17:50 5:45
3 Dennis Floyd 18:06 5:50 SSC Alumni

All in all, it was a good day. We got a nice photo of some alumni athletes from the old days after the race. Note the hardware that Marissa and I got.

From left to right: Marissa Petrillo, Jim Pawlicki, Dennis Floyd, Shawn McCannon, Jeff Rockwood, Fabian Meija, Brian Beaulieu, Deb Bealieu. Gunnar and Annie Bealieau seated in the stroller will be running in no time. Photo credit to Kristen Kozlosky.

From lyme to the finish line

Kristen and I caught four dear in this photo taken at Bradley Palmer State Park one week ago.

What a week. I found a tick entrenched in my leg on Tuesday evening. I pulled it out and imediately researched these freak'n things. There was so much information on ticks and Lyme disease. My head filled with the worst case scenarios. I was very concerned as I think that I picked up the little bugger on a nature walk with Kristen on Sunday evening at Bradley Palmer State Park along the Ipswich River. That would equate to 48 hours with the nasty critter in my blood stream.



Ice covered trails at Bradley Palmer State Park. Photo taken along the Ipswich River with the foot bridge to the far left beyond the trees.

The following morning, I shared my story with co-workers who thought it would be in my best interest to see the doctor. My anxiety grew throughout the day as I waited for my afternoon apointment with the nurse practioner. I was prescribed 2 IC Doxycycline pills (anti-biotic) and a blood test to search for any sign of Lyme. I was also advised to report any flu like symptoms over the next few weeks symptoms usually being to present themselves 5-7 days following the bite.

I received the anxiously awaited call from the nurse practitioner on Friday night that the blood test for Lyme was negative. I was relieved. I have another blood test in six months. The tick incident was a learning experience. Now you and I know that they can latch on to you at any time of the year and that they will find you even if your skin is protected with clothing from head to toe.



Look at this creep. Is he tick hunting?

As a result, I did not drive down to the New Bedford Half Marathon, USATF New England Championship, with a lot of confidence or any grand expectations this morning. I missed a few days of running and my legs were sore from yesterday. Kristen and I led the Bevery boy caravan, Ben Strain and Junyong Pak, down to New Bedford in good time. I had decided to take my own car as I had a VW Scirocco fender that I needed to drop off at Greyhound Express Shipping in Boston on my return trip from New Bedford. Ben kept pace with the Gti.

I toed the starting line four rows deep, right next to Mark Reeder and Joe O'Leary. I leaned over to Ben Strain and asked him what he was thinking - in terms of his approach for his race. He wanted to hit 5:40 pace for the day. My frame of mind was to race slower since I ran 5:46 pace at the Amherst 10 miler three weeks ago. In addition, the McMillan running calculator told me that I would be lucky to run 5:50's for the half marathon. At any rate, I was going to committ to no worse than 5:40 pace for the first three miles and see where that took me.

I rolled out to a 5:29 first mile with no anticipation of holding the pace for a 1:12 half marathon. I just kept moving along and the miles rolled and splits of low 5:30's followed until a 5:48 (turned out to be the slowest of the day) for the fourth mile which has a decent hill. The next three miles feel like they are down hill. I ran four consecutive sub 5:30's while at the end, middle, and sometimes in front of a pack that included Mark Reeder, Rich Smith, Mike Cooney, Jason Cakorous, and a few others. I used self control and patience to hang with the group.



Bombing down around mile 5 looking for a pack to run with.

When racing within a pack, it feels like a race within the race and that our pack really IS the lead pack of the entire race. I had to keep my emtions in check and remember that this was a half marathon or 13.1 miles for which I was slated to race no better than 5:50 pace according to my recent 10 mile result and the running calculator. I feared that my honest and quicker than expected race pace was going to haunt me as it has over the past few years after eight miles on this course. Regardless, I ran through 10 miles in 55:32, nearly 2 minutes quicker than my 10 mile time at Amherst (57:37). Still, my pack pulled ahead and lost me in this stretch along the water.

Over the next few miles and in reality, since mile seven, I fully expected a muscle to cramp up. I woke up on Saturday morning with a calf cramp in the right leg and I woke up Sunday morning to a cramp in the other calf. That coupled with not racing or training at 5:30 pace put me in a running scared mentality - something was going to go wrong and I would pull up lame in the heat of the battle. Thankfully, it never came to that.

I found myself in a unique three way battle with the other Beverly gents mentioned above as Junyong Pak and Ben Strain caught up to me in the last mile of the race. We had at least a half mile left and the last hill of mile 12 behind us when Junyong started wheeling for the downhill and toward the finish line. Ben was behind me and I was just trying not cramp up, fall down, and save some dignity into the home stretch. I was pleased to see 1:12:XX as I approached the finish line, guarenteeing a 1:13:XX which I was pumped for and exceeded my expectations by almost three minutes. Ben nipped me at the line. He ran a gutsy race by coming back after some tough middle miles and PR'd by 90 seconds.



Closing on the finish line. Those legs are going to feel it tomorrow.

To close, I am more than pumped with the 1:13:11 (5:35 per mile pace) today. The effort was my quickest half marathon in years since my 1:13:01 behind Joe Shairs and Sergio Ribeiro in 2005 at New Bedford. The weather for the day was perfect and the usual wind was not an issue today. I am not looking forward to the next few days. The muscle soreness is already settling in. I will benefit from a deep tissue massage set up with John Gillis next Saturday though.

Rolling in Amherst

Finishing up 10 miles in Amherst, MA. Photo by Kristin Wainright.

Ben Strain arrived 7:40am to car pool a crew from the North Shore. Junyong Pak (Beverly) and Brett Rickenbach (Danvers) arrived about five minutes later and we zipped down Rt. 2 to Rt. 202 into Amherst following a caravan of would be racers. Our objective was to survive a rolling course that was designed by my college coach (Salem State College) and current Greater Boston Track Club coach, Tom Derderian way back in the early 1970's.

I ran on the course for the 1st time back in 1999 when it was the USATF-New England 10 mile championship. I managed to run 56:24 that year. My second run on the course was in 2005 when Joe Shairs and I went out there for a tune up to get ready for the New Bedford Half Marathon. I ran a bit slower in 57:27 and seemed to be running alone for much of the race. I recall the hills seemed very long and tough.

As for this past Sunday, Amherst again was the host of the USATF-New England 10 mile championship. I really did not set a goal for the race. I ran 5:43 pace in the Great Stew Chase 15K several weeks ago in Lynn, MA on a fair course so figured no worse than that in Amherst, even with a tough hill in the closing miles.

I went out for a 5:38 mile and noted how strung out the race was before mile 2 where there was a healthy down hill. I just did my thing as I caught up to Ben Strain. Dave Quintal, one of our top masters, hung tight before I ran a few six minute miles on some hilly sections. Then I ran over a stretch of ice that seemed to last 1.5 miles along the reservoir. The footing was not too bad but I did some slipping where the trees have not allowed much sun over the previous week. The next few miles had plenty of downhill as I ran with Mike Cooney for 2 miles into mile 8 where I began to fade a bit dreading the last few climbs into the finish. I was spent so I just tried to keep pace with a few dudes who passed me with one mile to go. I finished with a 57:37 chip time.

Splits per my watch:
5:38
5:23
6:00
6:05
5:44 (28:53)
5:43
5:32
5:45
5:46
5:58 (57:39) 57:37 chip time

I'll take it. It was a good effort. The one takeaway from today's race was that the hills did not seem as long or as tough as they did in 2005. I imagine that being a Grand Prix race with plenty of competition and runners around at all times helped out.

The CMS men's open team ran a great race for 2nd place overall behind BAA and a few seconds in front of GBTC. Justin Fyffe came in 5th overall, Kevin Tilton ran solid, Matt Clark & Andy McCarron tore up their old training grounds, and Jim Johnson closed out the scoring for the top five. Meanwhile, the CMS masters team took charge with 3rd place behind Whirlaway and Greater Springfield. Joe Shairs and Dan Verrington placed 2nd and 3rd overall in the masters category, only seconds from the 1st master. Dave Quintal was 7th master and Dave Dunham cleared his goal to break 60 minutes. These guys are going to have a solid year ahead of them.

Next up for me is the New Bedford Half Marathon. I am going to bust my tail and see how long I can run 5:40-5:45 pace. It might get ugly out there.

Sidehiller 4.3 mile snowshoe report

I met up with Dave Dunham at 6:30am at his house before arriving at Jim Johnson's castle where he and Kristen awaited in a warm, bright yellow Nissan Exterra. We sprinted up to Center Sandwich, NH in about 90 minutes but not before passing an Ice Fishing tournament at Lake Winnipesaukee. There were a ton of shacks, canopies, trucks, spectators, and anglers - er fisherman out there in a carnival-like atmosphere on the ice. It was pretty cool as Jim and I caught up on fresh water fishing experiences about 30 minutes before we saw this.

As I sign up for the race and hand over my check and race application, I am debating on signing up for USSSA - United States Snowshoe Association - so that I can qualify for the Championship race near Mt. Hood Oregon next month. The cost was $30 and I already looked into booking a direct flight which could be had under three hundred dollars. I took the membership application back with my checkbook and mulled it over. After speaking with a few teammates and their intentions, I decided not to sign up for the membership and qualifying here which was the purpose of the trip to Sidehiller. I was content with this decision as I lined up at the start. The weather was perfect, maybe mid 30's, no wind, and cloudy.

I settled in with a controlled start and put myself in about 9th or 10th about 400m into the race which was on a groomed section for at least 1000m. I could not seem to get into a groove with regard to stride. The cleat never seemed to get a good grip so each step was pissing me off and I altered stride to get comfortable which never happens on snowshoes unless I am climbing or descending. I strain my quads on the flat sections fighting to get traction and find a good stride. My quads are usually trashed and feel them the next day.

I passed a few folks including Al Bernier on the 1st single track climb while I took small steps. The climb was not steep nor too long. Tim Van Orden was in sight. I tried to go after him on the 1st open field. Over the next 15 minutes I kept pace with Tim's stride but never closed the gap. I hated each step even though the conditions were good. It reminded me of the lack of rhythm on tough conditions on snowshoes. This is when the snow is deep and you have to work your ass off to get anywhere. But today, the snow depth and conditions were favorable for a fast jaunt. I never got into this race mentally or physically. My effort basically reinforced my decision to not sign up for the USSSA membership in order to be considered for the qualification to the Championship race in Oregon.

Meanwhile, I thought about the guys battling at the front and wondered how things shook out for them. That is not a good sign when I am racing and my thoughts are about my teammates ahead of me. As it turned out Kevin took the win, passing Jim in the last mile. Dave Dunham finished about two minutes back from Jim and Al Bernier was about a half minute behind me.

Sidehiller 4 Mile Snowshoe Race - USSSA Qualifier
Center Sandwich, NH, February 7, 2009
PLACE First Last Age M/F City ST Team USSSA MIN SEC
1 Kevin Tilton 27 M Conway NH CMS 31 40
2 Jim Johnson 31 M Salem NH CMS 31 54
3 Dave Dunham 44 M Ward Hill MA WMAC/CMS Y 33 53
4 Robert Jackman 26 M Warwick RI TNT 36 07
5 Tim VanOrden 40 M Barrington VT CMS 37 08
6 James Pawlicki 34 M Beverly MA CMS 37 35
7 Al Bernier 34 M Newton NH CMS 38 09

The post race grub was at the local sandwich shop about a 100 yards away from the start and finish. I got some hot and sour soup with a piece of bread. The soup was awesome. The CMS folk exchanged some stories and we headed for home where I had to rush and meet up with Kristen at home for a shower and quick snack. We were meeting up with Joe Shairs and his son to attend the Boston Indoor Games at 5pm.