James Earley Invitational 8K XC

Krissy (KrissyK) and I headed out to Westfield State University this morning for the James Early Invitational where I was competing with the Salem State Alumni team. I raced James "Jim" Earley while I was at Salem State. He lost his life in a motorcycle accident heading into his Senior year. This race is the 16th year in a row with funds from the race going toward scholarships in his honor. As usual practice, Westfield State had a competitive Alumni team. Otherwise, there were 30 or so collegiate teams (mostly Division III) along with the Greater Boston Track Club. My goal was to run under 28 minutes. The weather was perfect, maybe the high sixties and sunny. There was a minute scattering of mud in the wilderness loop but it was not going to be a factor so I wore my New Balance 790's. Our Alumni team took a major blow as Dan Smith was not 100% and did not make the trip from Cambridge. He ran 1:07:50 (missed his PR by three seconds) three weeks ago in the Philadelphia Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. Still, we had Mark Dawson, Alex Derosa, John Bowser, and Brian Beaulieau. John, the jester of the group, had us laughing as usual. While we were in our starting box waiting for the official starter to raise his hand and fire the starting gun, he said "we will be waiting for Chistmas!" He was right, the starter took at least a minute to drop the white flag and raise the gun to get the 300 racers going around the soccer fields in this spectator friendly course. I found myself battling for position and trying to stay out of any bottlenecks that occur on the 90 degree turns. At one point, CMS teammate, Tim Mahoney and I had to jump over a bag of soccer balls as the race ran right by a soccer game's sideline. I saw it coming and yelled over to Tim to watch out! The soccer coaches were not too happy with our race on the edge of their game. I put in several surges to move up and get decent position. I got through the mile in 5:22 still surging past college guys. Mile two split with Mark Dawson along side was 5:35, just under 11:00. I got up to Eric Mendoza from GBTC and bolted into the wilderness loop. I held my own through mile three (5:47 split) hanging onto another GBTC runner, Adrian MacDonald, all the way back up to the fields. It was with about 800m remaining that I encouraged him to go after the single file group of 8 runners a few seconds ahead. I was giving him the advice that I wanted to employ, but I was all out already. We kept our positions into the finish line. I got an official time of 27:37.72 with a placing of 33rd. I was the first Alumni from Salem State. Mark Dawson and Alex rolled in behind me. Brian, who is training for the New York City Marathon, and John Bowser wrapped up the scoring for our team. We finished 16th out of 31 teams. Westfield State Alumni crushed us with a 5th place showing. The awesome news for that day was Alex Gomes, a Senior with Salem State, won the meet outright, improving on his 2nd place showing last year. He was seven seconds quicker this year and his nearest competitor was 17 seconds behind him. He is certainly up for some accolades later this fall if he stays healthy.

5:22
5:35 10:58
5:47 16:45
10:49 (missed mile 4 split) 27:37

16th Annual James Earley Invitational Cross Country Results, Westfield MA, October 8, 2011
Photos taken by KrissyK

Topsfield Cross Country Festival

It was time to get racing again. Kevin Tilton and I were the only CMS guys to get to this fun cross country race hosted by the Greater Boston Track Club at Bradley Palmer State Park. Pies and cash are awarded to the top teams and individuals. Greater Boston beat out the men's team from HFC - Hurtin' For Certain. No other team had five guys. Thus, pies were given out to the individuals so Kevin and I picked up a pie each which two days later I am proud to say, the Apple Pie (Krissy picked it out) is half gone. As for the race, I went through the mile in 5:32 right where I wanted to be. Over the next three miles of rolling hills, I battled Junyong Pak (GBTC), Mark McDermott (HFC), and Ben Wheatley (GBTC). By the time we got into the last mile, I got spanked on the downhill back to the field that returns the race to the finish line. Mr. Pak and Mr. Wheatly finished very strong. I meanwhile had the form of twisted pretzel (see the photos) in the closing 1000m. I finished 15th overall with a time of 28:27 for the 8K distance. All I have to say is shame on the teams and folks that did not come to support this race. Money and good times were left on the table. Justin Lutz and Nate Jenkins both nearly raced each other to a course record. Justin got the win and missed the record by a few ticks. The rain held off during the race, leaving just a trace of mud returning from Moon Hill to the fields. Only one runner, Lee Danforth - HFC, went down as far as I could tell. My New Balance 790's held up well but admit I hit grass a few times to get out of the mud which we went over twice during the spectator friendly race.

I am off to Westfield State University this coming weekend for the James Early Cross Country Invitational. I am on a rather competitive Salem State Alumni team with the likes of Alex Derosa (Max Potential), Mark Dawson, John Bowser (Max Potential), and Dan Smith (BAA). It should be fun and I aim to break 28 minutes.

Complete results
Photos by KrissyK

Oxford Dam Trail race

I spent Friday night (8/5) in Auburn with Krissy as she was getting ready for her PMC (Pan Mass Challenge) ride which started at 5am on Saturday. Thus I had a chance sneak over to Oxford for a CMS race, Dam Trail Run. It was only 8 miles away from the hotel and the race was early (9am) so I could still support and cheer Krissy at the end of her Sturbridge to Bourne (110 miles) ride.

A step ahead of Ross Krause in Oxford

The trail race is listed as a 10 miler but is suggested that it is more like 10.5 or 11 miles depending on how the course has been laid out in the past. Most of the race is on single track with about 10% on fire roads. I ran a warm up with CMS folks such as John Pajer, Mary Ellowitz, and Jim Johnson. Ross Krause was also in attendance. All the CMS folks had the new singlet on, despite the heat and humidity, standing on the starting line. Race director, John Grenier took note – impressed with the fresh white singlets. We took off from the start. Jim took the command of the lead as expected and took no prisoners. I hung back in 2nd with Ross and Rob Hult on my heels. They went by after a mile and I stayed real close to Rob, making sure Ross did not get too far. I made a surge past Rob a few minutes later and chased Ross down and kept company through 4 miles as we got out of the single track and onto a fire road. Ross admitted he was worn down a bit so I lead us through the next few miles, focusing on the flags to keep us on course. I had a good thing going and did not mind the company trying to push the pace but keep aware that there was some distance to cover. The legs tired after 55 minutes and Ross pulled ahead.

I was trying to anticipate how much race we had left. It was hard to gauge from my experience at this race a few years ago as the finish line was in a different spot. I was not too familiar how and where the race was finishing. Finally, I saw the parking lot up ahead. I threw everything I had left to close the gap on Ross in the last 200m. I just got past him before the finish line for 2nd place overall, with a time of 1:08:31. Jim finished four minutes ahead of us as it took him 1:04:31 on the strong solo effort. Rob was fourth in 1:12:53 as the first master (40+). I picked up a bottle of wine at the awards table an hour after the race. I had to hustle back and check out of the hotel. My planar fascia was screaming so limped around for the rest of the day. I caught up with Krissy at the last water stop that she had in her ride with the camera ready for her smiling face. She was 90+ miles into the ride with more energy than me. She was really inspiring. All of the riders (5500+), volunteers, and spectators made her ride for cancer research emotional. What a great event to support.

Complete results

Photos taken by a spectator

The 2011 Dam Trail Race, 10-Mile
Hodges Village Dam, Oxford MA
August 6, 2011
PLACE TIME    NAME    CATEGORY   TOWN         CLUB
1 1:04:31 Jim Johnson      M20-39 Salem, NH               CMS
2 1:08:31 James Pawlicki  M20-39 Beverly, MA          CMS
3 1:08:32 Ross Krause     M20-39 Easthampton, MA CMS

4 1:12:53 Rob Hult            M40-49 Harvard, MA          Puma

Beverly Homecoming 5K

L to R: Todd Callaghan, James Pawlicki, Ben Strain, & Jonathan May with 600m to go. Photo by Krissy K

Where: Beverly
What: Beverly Homecoming 5K Road Race
Result: 16:19, 4th overall
Full results
Photos by Krissy K

This is what racing is all about: going into the last mile with Jonathan May (SRR), Ben Strain (CMS), and Todd Callaghan (GCS). I threw everything I could at these guys in the last mile and they wouldn't break. One thing is for sure, if Ben Strain is around toward the end of the race, watch your wallet and your back. Jonathan and Ben got a stride on me with 400m to go and I couldn't get past them. Jonathan ran a PR, Ben ran his quickest 5K this year, and Todd ran his quickest 5K in a while. I too, ran my fastest 5K in a number of years.

Splits: 5:09, 5:25 (10:34), missed mile 3, 5:43 (16:18.94)

44th Annual Beverly Homecoming Road Race
Thursday, August 4, 2011 6:30 PM
Place Name       Time    Pace  City           St 
===== =================== ======= ===== ======== 
1 Andrew Ryan    15:30  5:00  Gloucester      MA 
2 Ben Strain     16:17  5:15  Beverly         MA 
3 Jonathan May   16:18  5:16  Charlestown     MA

4 James Pawlicki 16:19  5:16  Beverly         MA

5 Todd Callaghan 16:26  5:18  Beverly         MA

Carver Cranberry 5 mile road race



Fighting for the finish. Photo by Ted Tyler



This race was race number six of the USATF New England Road Race Grand Prix series. I have never been to Carver before so I was looking forward to it. I picked up Joe Shairs and Pete Mallett on the way to Carver which took almost 90 minutes. The CMS team registration was all over the place. Some guys were signed up while some like Kevin Gorman and Jim Johnson were not. Jim took the lead and got it straightened out with a key member of the registration team. I ran a warm up with the team and got to the starting line about 10 minutes early to stretch out. It was warm, maybe low 80’s with humidity. I settled in about three rows deep and we were off. I went through the first mile in 5:25 and the race soon took our first right hand turn. This was a simple race to navigate, only three right hand turns through the country like neighborhood off Rt. 58. I passed a few runners heading into mile two (10:55) and mile three (16:31) keeping Kevin Gorman just a few steps ahead. This stretch had plenty of shade and a few water showers set up by the residents which was helpful. Mile three to four put me around several master and senior runners who were jockeying for position to lay the gauntlet down. The likes of Doug Martyn (Whirlaway), John Barbour (GLRR), Terry McNatt (CSU), Joe Donnelly (Whirlaway) and Robert Cipriano (SRR) were ready to battle. Meanwhile, Chris Mahoney was ailing a bit from plantar issues, however, did his best to get Kevin Gorman, Matt Clark, and I fired up for the last mile or so as I went through mile four in 22:16 and knew the only hill on the course was just ahead. I faded on the hill and my pack pulled away into the shady darkness ahead. Once on top of the rise, I could see the finish line clock come into focus. I hustled to stay in the 27’s with a 27:53 (5:35 per mile pace), good for 52^nd place overall and 14^th on the CMS roster. CMS won the men’s open team event while the masters team finished 2^nd. I cooled down with Tim Pipp, Patrick Rich, and Greg Hammett. My post race grub included some Freeze Pops, water, and a banana to refuel for the traffic filled ride north of Boston on the Expressway. Going forward, I am looking forward to running the Beverly Homecoming 5K this week and the Oxford Dam Trail race on Saturday.  

Complete results

Photos courtesy of Ted and Mary Tyler

Jim Kane Sugar Bowl 5 miler

I was leaving work and still not sure if I was willing to shell out the cash for a 95 degree 5 miles road race just a few exits north on the expressway. I don't think I have ever let the weather dictate my lack of arrival at a road race. Make adjustments for the mother nature, yes. It was hot, but it's not like it was 95 degrees and humid for just me in the race. WHDH, Channel 7 news was on site at BC High where the race started and finished. I paid no attention to it until Joe Shairs told me about it on Friday. I guess they were there to show how people were dealing with the heat. Here is the segment for what I am assuming was on the 10:00pm news last night. I am the shirtless goof on the far left on the starting line (far right if you are looking at the photo or news clip).



Closing in on the finish line for 11th place



I went out cautiously, putting myself in the top 16 or so with a 5:40 mile. We had the wind at our back which was negligent for any cooling but I'd offer helped push me out toward the turn-around a few blocks away from L-Street. Now the running got tough with the head wind heading back toward the UMass Boston Campus. Louis Raffetto (BAA) was about 15 seconds ahead and adding distance between us as we headed toward the whole race coming at us for their turn-around point. I ran past the three mile clock in 17:51 lining me up for sub 30 minute finish time. My ass was dragging into the wind and the sun bearing down on us as we took a left at Carson Beach onto a bike path toward the JFK Library. I wasn't catching anyone and it did not appear anyone was close to me as I went through the four mile mark just under 24 minutes. This stretch has some shade which was welcomed. The last mile took us passed the UMass Boston Campus and back onto the BC High grounds with the finish in the parking lot behind the school. I finished up with time of 29:54 (5:59 / mile pace) and 11th overall (1st in the 35-39 age group). I reached for a bottle of water, several cups of Gatorade at the finish. No cool down run for me. I proceeded to replenish with a few bananas, half a bagel, and a few samples of coconut water with various fruit flavors. I am sure I got a potassium overdose by the end of the night. I was glad the run was over but no regrets with my participation. I caught up with a clean shaven Tim Pipp who was selling his shirts (Beeze Tees) at the race. I won a shirt with the screen print of "I've got more miles than your car" in the race raffle. I guess that is true.

Photo credit to Ted Tyler

Jim Kane Sugar Bowl results Thursday July 21, 2011

Stowe 8 miler

The legs have been feeling better so I signed up for Stowe a few days before the race. Krissy and I had the room in Stowe booked anyhow and there was no way that I was going to miss the event. Krissy and I brought the road bikes up with us. Thus we enjoyed a nice bike ride following a shake out run on Saturday morning. She is getting ready for her Pan Mass Challenge (192 miles in two days) bike ride from Sturbridge, MA to Provincetown in August to raise money for Cancer research. Sunday morning brought more sun and warm temperatures. CMS brought the facial hair and fast legs as the team finished second overall behind the BAA. I deliberately settled for "just under" six minute miles through six miles where I got a bit wiped out by the heat. Most of the runners that I talked to after the race were feeling the heat in the last few miles. I kept my game face on and battled as much as I could over the last mile but it was not easy. I finished up with a 6:01 per mile pace average and just over 48 minutes. That bottle of water handed to me after the finish line never tasted so good. Overall, I feel good about the race and surviving the event mentally and physically. The hamstring has passed the test. My left quad was sore today but that will pass. I had a great weekend as the whole vibe - surrounded by great scenery, people, and community making the Stowe 8 miler so easy to attend to year after year. 

More photos by KrissyK

Krissy Kozlosky PMC ride and donation info

Stowe 8 miler results