Merrimack River Trail Run

Where do I begin? Dave Dunham and Steve Peterson put on a solid event at the Merrimack River Trail Race. The post race raffle is kept light with "Petey's" enthusiasm and sense of humor. I think half the race went home with a raffle. There were cameras every where during the race. All races should have this type of coverage. I think I saw some highlights on ESPN and NESN later that day. They showed yours truly, clearly out of breath on the first power line climb, cursing Mike Quintal's choice of a Montreal Canadians shirt. Rumor has it that his cousin is Stephane Quintal, a Boston Bruins 1st round draft pick from 1987. Don't watch his movie clip with little kids around.

I traded in the CMS Polar Bear singlet in favor of the Polish Eagle Singlet. Poland was mourning the loss of the Polish President - Lech Kaczynski, and other significant military leaders and politicians who died earlier in the day in a horrific plane crash in Russia. After a three mile warm up with Tom Brown and Dan Scotina, the race of 200 were off for race. I got out quickly, pounced through some mud and settled into third behind Ben and Kevin Tilton about 600 meters into the race. I encouraged Tom Brown to go get after them reminding him that the tough part of the race is the middle four miles. Now in fourth place and hitting some hills, I could not keep Geoff Cunningham off my shoulder. He was relentless on the hills and I tried to offset it with surges on the flats. I stayed in 5th place for the remainder of the race after he passed me sometime before the power lines on the way out. On my way back to the finish beyond the power lines, I peeked back and saw Dave Quintal closing in and Scott Clark not too far back. So much for backing off and trotting back to the finish. I hustled on the flats and stayed honest on the ups and downs. A quick look at the watch with about 200m to go forced me to hustle to the finish line through the mud to secure a sub 1:03 for my second fastest (I need to confirm this) time on the course. I got a 1:02:57 for 5th place.

I did not take any splits other than seeing a 5:00 first mile split. I regret not seeing my turn around time for the day. I was exhausted by four miles in the race but had no choice to hang in there with DQ and SC chasing me in the second half of the course. As I write this on Monday night, I can confirm my legs are more sore today than yesterday. My IT bands and lower hamstrings are screaming. And to think I was going to go race a 5K in Salem on Sunday morning. It is a good thing that Dennis Floyd called me an hour before the race yesterday and talked me into a training run at Lynn Woods instead. I limped through a 6.9 mile run with him and Brett Rickenbach.

Rest and recovery is in order for a few days. I will lick my wounds and seek a race before now and the next New England Grand Prix Road Race Championship, Bedford Rotary 12K in May. The above photo credits go to KrissyK and Scott Mason who caught me hurting even holding back descending the power line hill.

Results CMS runners packed in 8 out of the top 10 spots
KrissyK photos
Scott Mason Photos
More photos, race footage from Mike Quintal, stats, and details. Merrimack River Trail Race Blog

New Bedford Half Marathon

New Bedford was the site of the New England Half Marathon Championships. CMS was sending a solid team and this was on my calendar since last November. The course is fast and the only question is what direction the wind is blowing. It was straight in our faces from 3.5 miles all the way to the ocean which is where I like to roll. Despite the head wind, I experienced my fastest mile splits at mile 5 and 6 with a 5:28 and 5:29 respectively. I had a tough mile heading into mile 9 with a 5:54 which was the slowest. Yet, I went through 10 miles 30 seconds quicker than the Amherst 10 miler three weeks ago with a 56:44 split. I focused on CMS mates Jeff Goupil and Kevin Gorman who I barely caught at mile 13. I finished 63rd overall out of 2308 runners with a net time of 1:14:15.9 or 1:14:19 gun time as I started about six rows back from the starting line.

Results

In summary, the plan was to run a pace quicker than the Amherst 10 miler and get under a time of 1:14 overall. I just missed the second objective but the 5:41 mile pace is respectable for the training that I have under my belt. CMS finished 3rd overall with Jim Johnson, Bob Wiles, and Greg Hammett running PR's. Justin Fyffe hung tough despite being under the weather and Al Bernier closed out the scoring for CMS. Kevin Tilton was right behind Al. Minutes ticked before I rolled in with Kevin Gorman in tow. I plan on some easy training over the next few days and making sure the Achilles stays happy.

The first photo above was taken by Scott Mason. Please see his awesome photos. Kristen got some footage of the race on video which can be seen on the CMS racing blog or Jim Johnson's blog. Otherwise, she got a few photos at the finish line from a distance beyond the finish line chute.

Training continues at Gunstock

Sorry, not running related. 0 miles running traded in on Sunday in favor of Volkswagen appreciation day at Gunstock Mountain. The first 250 VW's to show up got two free lift passes for the day. I headed up with Krissy in the Gti as we followed friends, Patrick and Roberta in his Jetta TDI to Gilford, NH. It was my first time on the snowboard and it showed with a few face plants here and there.

Ironically, Gunstock was the first time that I got onto a pair of snowshoes. Ben Nephew took me up there to hit the trails (we paid for a pass) in December of 2003, the same month that I joined CMS to get right after some snowshoe racing. Months later, I found myself out at Snowshoe Nationals in Lake Tahoe, CA. I do not foresee any attempts to make a career out of snowboarding but glad that I tried it. I will give it another shot but may have to wait another year as I need to focus on some running over the next few weeks. By then, snow related activities will be over up in the mountains.

USATF-NE 10 mile championship Amherst MA

Like last year, the USATF-New England Road Race Grand Prix series kicked off in Amherst, MA today. Kristen and I picked up Joe Shairs at 7:45 on the way for the two hour drive to Amherst. A warm up with the team followed at 10:15 and I brought some of the CMS crew through the finish line area so everyone knows what it is all about just in case. Not before long, I was on the starting line in the midst of a sea of navy blue CMS runners about three rows back from the starting line. I eased into the race with no panic. The goal for the day was 5:45 pace. The course always provides a challenge so splits were going to be all over in terms of pace according to a grade up or down. Mile one passed in 5:46. Mile two passed in 5:18 for the quickest of the day and the most generous dropping nearly 200 feet in that mile. The sun poked out temporarily for a bit at this point.

The next two miles drag with some climbing and I spotted a 5:51 and 6:12 here getting into the dirt road and dodging puddles of water and mud. At least it was not icy like last year. Another 5:51 mile passed as we approached pavement and I started to reel in Joe Shairs and then Matt Clark. Rich Smith was wheeling and dealing along side and looked good on the down hills which I appreciate. I eased up a bit to get an inventory from Joe who was not feeling too good. Keiron Tumbleton wheeled passed and I tagged onto him for the next few miles giving him about four strides into the lowest part of the course for the second time of the day. I was not looking forward to the climb back to the finish which starts shortly after eight miles. Then again, I know that not too many around me were relishing it either. I just tried to maintain up the hills. I heard Dave Dunham yelling for me with about 1200m to go. It sounded like Dan Verrington was closing in on me. I got to the base of the parking parking lot and set my sights on Keiron Tumbleton and another runner with whom I battled with during the race. I just got past them before the finish line passing the clock at 57:16 good for 48th overall. I was pretty happy with the effort as it is barely under 5:45 pace and was quicker than last year. Overall, it is my second quickest effort going back 11 years to 1999.

Results

Photos by Kristen

My Amherst 10 mile history

Year Time Pace Note

2009 57:37 5:46 USATF-NE Grand Prix Championship

2005 57:27 5:45 tune up for New Bedford Half Marathon

1999 56:24 5:39 USATF-NE Grand Prix Championship

The CMS teams did very well. The open team scored a second place showing with Justin Fyffe finishing second overall. The masters team took the team win behind a solid effort from guys who were not 100% on their game today. Kristen and I hung out with the team for some laughs over the pizza and soup offered by the volunteers. Kristen, Joe, and I hit the road back home to watch Team USA lose to Team Canada, 3-2 in overtime, in the men's Olympic gold medal game. Next up for me will be the New Bedford Half Marathon in March.

CMS men's open and masters team photo taken shortly after everyone finished today.

Top row: Kevin Gorman, Dan Verrington, Jim Pawlicki, Joe Shairs, Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, Christian Muentener, Mike Quintal, Dave Harper, John Pajer Botton Row: Jeff Goupil, Justin Fyffe, Dave Quintal, Scott Clark, Ernie Brake, Greg Hammett Missing: Matt Clark

The Great Stew Chase 15K

A chase it was. CMS mates Mike Quintal, Joe Shairs, Dan Verrington and I battled over the 15K (9.3 miles) course this morning. Looking at our finishing paces for the day, some would argue that we were just out for another Sunday, long run. The weather gods brought plenty of sun today, but also brought some wind that did not help us on our way out to Dearborn Road where the turn around at 4.9 miles awaited. The four of us were never separated more than five seconds on the way out. Each took turns fighting the wind and or tucking in for wind protection. Meanwhile, Eric Narcisi and Marc Leblanc were about 10 seconds ahead leading the race. Tomoaki Uchiki from GBTC trailed them by a few yards.

Dan took charge on the way back. Joe pulled away from Mike and I once we had the wind at our backs heading into mile 8. I kept talking to Mike over the last mile encouraging him to place any surges that he was dropping earlier in the race. A few last hills remained to get to mile nine. I dropped Mike a bit and was trying to reel in Joe. The best I could do was get within three seconds as we approached the finish line. Mike was right behind me. My Garmin advised that I ran 5:42 pace so I was pumped because that is close to what I ran last year. Technology does not always work right but the pace was according to covering a distance of 9.5 miles, not 9.3 miles. Chalk it up to GPS tracking error. I wound up in 6th place with a time of 54:12. CMS had four runners in a row as Tomoaki passed Dan right at the line. Kristen took a ton of photos. Results.

My dad Leo and I after the race.

Sidehiller snowshoe race

It was so cold four hours before the race that my two co-pilots for the 2.25 hour trip north to Center Sandwich, NH had other thoughts. I talked my friend Brett Rickenbach into the race a few days before. It would have been his first snowshoe race. Kristen on the other hand, had to be talked out of it, after learning that I would be driving alone. Standing in bitter cold temps taking photos would be torture. Alas, I rolled out of the driveway in the VW GTI with the ambient temperature guage reading 5 degrees solo with two stations on Sirius Satellite Radio, Metal station 27, and Faction station 28 keeping me company. I arrived at 10am to register with Paul Kirsch and do a warmup with CMS and TNT folks. I had too many layers on and was pretty hot upon return to the car to get my gear for the 11am race. I went with three light layers up top, two pairs of running pants, and two pairs of gloves. I'd say the temperature was close to ten degrees but thankfully not as windy as the previous two days.

This race was a regional qualifier for snowshoe Nationals in New York State in March. The level of competition was stacked. A few new faces were upon us from CMS like Peter Mallett and Eric Morse. The usual suspects who have been in the top five all winter were there. The course was going to be a quick one with three loops around the fairgrounds which Paul felt was about 1.7 miles for each loop. There were a few hills to remind you that they exist but overall a fair course with some single track in the woods to get your attention. The race went out like a bullet which was no surprise. Some of the course was on ice and the Dion's held up fine if perhaps loosening the rivets on the front of the cleats.

I got through the first loop under 11 minutes feeling tired and dreaded two more loops. Dave Dunham was just ahead mixing it up with a small pack. Steve Wolfe went by me minutes later and I had no response. My second loop was more than a minute slower. I seem to recall close to 23 minutes on the clock. I focused on Eric Morse on the last lap and wanted to get this race over with. He hung in there to finish seven seconds in front of me. I was wiped out. I finished in 13th place with a time of 34:51. Kevin Tilton took the win with Josh Ferenc taking the silver and Jim Johnson settling for bronze. My Garmin calculated that I covered 4.86 miles and averaged 7:11 pace along the way.

I changed into some dry clothes and was the first to redeem my bib number ticket for Tomato Basil soup and a slice of bread at Mocha Rizing. I went back to the finish line to chat with the competitors on their races and the rest of the season. Reeder Fahnestock talked about shoveling snow to get a rail in order to get Exeter ready for next Saturday. We need some snow. Dave Dunham mentioned that Northfield is all ice at the moment. He'll get an update on Wednesday. Dave gave me his bib as he was leaving for home. Thus I caught up with Robert Jackman, Dave Quintal, and Ben Nephew for another cup of soup and bread.

Results
Jamie Gemmiti Photos

Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble

I was looking forward to this race for a few reasons: to race on some groomed terrain and to check out an Acidotic, Chris Dunn, event that I have been hearing about. All one had to do was hang out for the awards and you'll know what I am talking about. There were plenty of prizes and raffles. Scott Mason scored a new pair of snowshoes. Kristen scored a bottle of Hammer Gel, squeeze bottle before the race and then won a Kona Brewing Company hat after the race. I saw some Red Hook six packs handed out (must be over 21 of course). Kristen was concerned about being out on the course too long during the race so she turned around after twenty minutes in the race and came back to grab the camera to get a ton of photos. I finished up in fifth right behind Kevin Tilton. I held that spot from about 50 yards into the race and trailed Kevin 10-20 seconds the whole race. He'd be the last to make an excuse but his Dion's have seen better days. He should be in a fresh pair this Saturday at Sidehiller. Results. My Garmin GPS advised that I covered 4.69 miles in 36:59 which converts to a 7:53/mile clip. The high point on the course was 558ft at 2.5 miles and the lowest part was 440ft at 1 mile. The race started at 488ft and finished at 466ft.

I was chatting with some of the Acidotic crew after the race. We noted how each of us show our strengths and weaknesses depending on the type of course. This modified Pooh Hill course (Pooh Hill was excluded this year) was my style of course where there was no long grind up an ascent, just rolling hills and some groomed track. I was a bit sloppy even on the groomed stuff in areas for this 155 lb slug. At any rate, the folks in front of me made short order with DoubleJ remaining unbeaten this winter with another win. Ben Nephew hung tough for second and Robert Jackman came up from Rhode Island to finish 3rd.