Vermont City Marathon



Pulling out, removing gloves, seeking new shoes at 3 miles.
Photo by Krissy



The Vermont City Marathon has been on my list of races to run and had an open window this year. In addition, I knew several people from the North Shore (Wicked Running Club) that were running it. I made the decision about a week after the Boston Marathon to sign up. This was good timing as I really did not want to vest a quarter of the year into the rigid marathon training. I put in a six week dose of weekly long runs and a half marathon to prep for this marathon. Brett Rickenbach (2:48 personal best), Mike Paulin (2:54 personal best), and Brad Gates are regulars at the Danvers 5K races and we talked about running a sub three hour race in Burlington, VT. So we had a plan as well as getting Brad through his first marathon.

The forecast was mid 50's and rain all weekend in Burlington. When we got into Burlington on Saturday, it was in the low 40's. There was a fair amount of wind. I went to the marathon expo to not only get my number but to purchase some gloves for the race. I had a nice dinner with Krissy and the Wicked Running Club members later in the evening. I got plenty of sleep and woke up ten minutes before the 5:30 alarm for a quick shower. I looked out the hotel window hoping to see clear skies but it was not meant to be. Rain. I had some oat meal, 4oz of Cranberry juice, 20oz of water, a coffee, and a banana before taking a 20 minute shuttle from the hotel to the start. I borrowed a trash bag from the hotel kitchen (wink, wink) to stay dry before the race. I found the gang and we dropped off our bags at the bag drop and walked over and into the start coral about ten rows from the front line. We stood for 15 minutes with zero warm up in the cold windy rain. I removed the bag about a minute before our start. We were off. There were several turns and we were navigating around puddles. Brett would let us know if we were too fast or too slow.

Shoe changeout in pit row. Krissy at the ready.
Photo by Scott Mason

Around 2.5 miles, I felt a sharp pain in my calf. I freaked out. I was ready to blame the thin Inov8 flats I had on. I looked for Krissy around 3 miles for which I knew she would be at taking photos. I also packed my Nike Lunaracer 2 flats in her bag along with GU and Sport Beans just in case I needed them at mile 3, 9, and 15. I only had the shoes in there with anticipation of getting a blister in the Inov8 flats in the wet weather. I found her on the left hand side of the road in her yellow Boston Marathon Volunteer jacket. She was easy to find in the surprisingly large crowd of spectators. I yelled over to her and pointed down at the ground - my sign langauge for "I need to change out these f@!?$& shoes" while removing my gloves. She let her camera go and took the Nike flats out of her bag. My hands were cold and I could barely untie my shoes. I got one off and fumbled to get one Nike on and get it tied. I took my time to get it right and not have to deal with having them come untied later in the race. I recall whining about my calf to her and Scott Mason who

was on camera too. I had a Vermont Sta

Smiling up the hill at 15 miles.
Photo by Krissy

te Police Officer holding me up to get the other shoe on. It must have been comical to all spectators. Check out the photos that Scott got on page three. Before I left the scene in my new footwear, I gave Scott that worried look and said "I won't be finishing this race today." I was certain that calf was going to cramp up later or cause other issues. I took off and got back into the race losing at least 90 seconds. The calf felt the same but did not get worse. My mind was heavy on defeat already. However, I imediately felt more cushion from the Lunaracer and was able to run on my heels more than I could in the Inov8. The race had an out and back so I could see the front of the race come at me and allowed me to judge how far behind I was from the gang. They were not too far but it took me to about mile 9 to catch them without any surging as I was not sure how the calf was going to react. It was stable and so was I when I got back to them. Finally. I kept the drama to myself as they were happy to see me back in the fold.

The miles went by as we got into a nasty head wind at the 1/2 way mark of the marathon. The split was around 1:29:17 so we were on pace for a 2:58 marathon. Good so far but we had many miles to go. Our group started to dodge puddles and the Lake Champlain waves on the bike path. Soon we charged up the big hill at mile 15. Krissy was there smiling. It was nice to see her and nice to still be running this race. I was right next to Mike. Brett looked like he was pulling away by a few seconds and Brad was behind us. We all got together a few miles later when Brett brought up that he got some pain in behind his knee. He fell back a bit and Mike pulled ahead. I stayed in between them while still taking inventory of how I was feeling. At this point, I did not want to do anything to distrupt a good swing and introduce any muscle cramps. I was starting to pass people while keeping my sub 6:50 pace through 20 miles. By 22 miles I reeled in Mike who got at least 10 seconds ahead at one point. We shared the bike path for the last four miles of the race with the wind now at our backs. We pulled into Waterfront park which had healthy crowd all the way into the finish line. Our last 100 yards were on the muddy grass. A look at the clock on approach showed we were well under 2:58, pretty much our goal. We crossed the line side by side with a 2:57:26 (net time), 2:57:33 (gun time). I earned my 2014 Boston Qualifying time (needed a sub 3:10). I am pretty sure I will register this September for Boston. Brett pulled in just over 3 hours and Brad toughed out a 3:04 for a solid marathon debut. I shuffled through after getting the heaviest finishers medal ever (I need to hit the weights), got some warm clothes on, food in the belly, got into a few photos, found Krissy and took the first shuttle back for a hot shower at the hotel. Despite the drama early in the race, I am happy with how the execution went. Although I was super cautious, it was really spot on through out the race.

Mike Paulin and I approaching the finish line.
Photo by Krissy

2013

KeyBank Vermont City Marathon text updates:

10 miles course time 1:08:12, pace 6:50 min/mi

Half marathon course time 1:29:17, pace 6:49 min/mi
20 miles course time 2:16:01, pace 6:49 min/mi
Finish 2:57:26, pace 6:47 min/mi
72nd second place out of 2608 runners
Full Results

Quincy Half Marathon

With the upcoming Vermont City Marathon, I felt getting a ½ marathon under the belt would be a good idea. I like the idea of a sustained effort for a good duration leading up to a marathon. I searched around the running calendar and found the Quincy Half Marathon of which I always wanted to run but had conflicts in the past. It sort of fell into my favor this year as the race was to be held on March 10 but was postponed due to weather and safety concerns from the town of Quincy. I reached out to Brett Rickenbach (WCRC) last week and he was game for the effort as he too is running VCM. Thus, we headed down to Quincy early Sunday morning. My mind was heavy as I was sore from some piriformis issues and some previous day yard work.

I changed my racing plan from requesting for 6:00 pace per mile to whatever the legs would provide without embarrassment. After a 1.6 mile warm up and stretching I was on the starting line, front row, with Brett. I followed Brett for 200m and settled next to him by our first of many turns together on the course. My legs felt OK, not great. The temperature warranted a singlet up top, Native glasses to ease the potential poke of sun which was never seen. My red and white Invo8 233’s felt smooth. Thin ragged, throw away gloves were worn for just three miles before coming off in time for a drink of water from the friendly water stop on Wollaston Beach. I found it comforting to run next to Brett. He was keeping track of Garmin mile splits vs actual course mile markers. We were averaging a low six minute pace early on while there were about 12 runners ahead of us. The miles went by fast mentally as I think we took the pressure off and just did our thing letting those in front pull away as they please. We dropped those on our heels just by our consistent pacing as we toured through downtown Quincy thanking each police officer we ran by. They were in full force to hold up several intersections of traffic to make way for the runners.  We rolled through 5 miles around 30:38. We took turns on Newport Ave leading into the wind, allowing the other to tuck in. Newport Ave turned out to be longer than it seemed on paper.

Next to Brett (1034) after the start at 8:00
Photo credit Gregg Derr, The Patriot Ledger

I recall taking my only Gatorade Gel around mile six before a water stop. I took water at each stop along the way. The Dixie cups had the perfect water to cup ratio. Brett and I would have a few words here and there.  Brett was holding a strong pace, quicker than what I thought he wanted. He told me that he was good with the pace, meaning, not looking to dip but hold it – encouraged me to drop pace when I wanted to. I was content though wanted to get some wind at my back later in the race and tee up a few targets ahead. I had two runners in my target when I pulled away just before 10 miles. My 10 mile split was 1:01:33 (about a minute slower for the 2^nd 5 miles). It was just after that point where I had a two stage hill that took some time to climb. I caught the two guys over the next mile and set sight on the last guy visible to my eye. I worked hard to catch up over the next mile and finally pulled beside at 12.5 miles. We were running side by side along the road that took us to the new Quincy High School outdoor track for which the finish line awaited after a full lap. The best trash talk line I ever heard was dropped on me while I pointed over to the track and said that we still have to run a lap around that track. He said “I am a 400 meter All American.”  That got my attention but was not sure if he was serious. I felt good but was in no mood for a battle on the track at the end of a half marathon. I passed him two turns away and stepped onto the track not knowing how close he was. I went around that track as hard as I could, coming into the finish line, 6^th overall with a time of 1:19:29 (6:04 mile pace). He came through a few seconds behind me. Brett followed with a solid 1:20:33 (6:09 mile pace). The guy who finished in between us is currently not in the results so I don’t know what happened there. However, I had to ask him if he was an “All American 400m runner?” He confirmed that he was at Wheaton, a relay (49.X) and is now training for an Ironman. Cool. I barely made it through a cool down with Brett and Kieran Condon (SRR) who ran a solid 1:17:59 just three weeks after running the Boston Marathon. It was nice to chill out inside to plenty of soup and sandwich wraps. I was tired but glad I got to the race and put down a solid effort. 

Quincy Half Marathon results May 5, 2013
Patriot Ledger race article

Pipestave Hill Trail Race

L-R, Pawlicki, Dunham, Jones, Scott
Photo taken by Mike Fitzgerald

I jumped into the first of the 2013 North Shore Trail series of races with the Pipestave Hill Trail Race in West Newbury Thursday night.This race was a first for me so I was foreign to the area and course. Thus, I made a plan to scout the course with Dave Dunham. It was a mix of grass fields, single track trail, and fire roads. Throw in some roots, rocks, mud, one bridge and a few hills – like Pipestave Hill – and you’ve got a nice 5K trail race. The course was a large loop followed by a small loop within the first.  It was a chilly night with some wind. I could not warm up enough jogging slowly before having a moment of silence for the recent Boston Marathon bombings and walking the 150+ runners over to the start below a soccer field. Getting off the starting line was tough as my legs lost any warm blood flow. Andy Scott jumped right out with Dave Dunham and I in tow. Justin Jones (D5K) had to bail 800m in as his shoe came untied. Andy led Dave and I through the single track. I did all I could to stay close to Dave who is better at the technical stuff than he says he is. I passed Dave before we approached the end of the 1^st loop as I felt Andy was gapping us too much. We had a good climb over the field again and found that I was not gaining on Andy who had at least a 10 second lead. He doubled that as we exited out of the woods and back to the field for which we were running against the race (they were heading into their 2^nd loop). Andy finished 1^st in 17:59, I in 18:22, and Dave hung onto 3^rd with a 18:41. Full results. Dave had some calf issues that cropped up causing him to run slower than last year while he is more fit this year. I closed out the night with a cool down over the course, got in a D5K group picture, and caught up with a few folks on racing plans.

Merrimack River 10 mile trail race

I raced at the Merrimack River 10 mile trail race this past Saturday, placing 3rd overall out of almost 200 runners. Below is some of my history there on the out and back course. The middle miles of the course are tough as nails.

James Pawlicki 33 2008 CMS Beverly MA 1:01:48

James Pawlicki 38 2013 CMS     Lynn MA  1:02:03

James Pawlicki 31 2006 CMS Beverly MA 1:02:55

Jim Pawlicki 35 2010 CMS Beverly MA      1:02:57

James Pawlicki 30 2005 CMS Beverly MA 1:03:14



Busting up the power lines
Photo taken by Mike Quintal



I got behind Kevin Tilton right away and recall going through mile 1 just under 5:20. Jim Johnson was just ahead. I passed Kevin after 3 miles and eventual 2nd place finisher, Steven Granger-Bevan, passed me before we hit the power lines. I would find out that Kevin was battling a cold. I stumbled at the top of the lines and worried I would be prone to a few more trip ups over the next 5.5 miles. CMS master, Tim Van Orden was on my heels just before the turn around water stop. I was around 30:30. Jim had his lead and Stephen (CSU) was less than a minute back. I soon started to run into the runners that were behind me, however, now I am running at them (out and back course). I would be sure to yell ahead to them on approach to cheer them on. It also helped me cope with tired legs and wake up some heads that were looking down. I was not in the mood for a collision with anyone. I was particularly cautious going through water, mud, and tricky footing on the way back. I got back to the power lines and Tim was still shadowing me. I was hooting and hollaring for those climbing up the hills. A few minutes later, I could no longer hear Tim. The course flattened out for the last three miles and I kept the pressure on myself. I was around 56:4X at 9 miles and thought I might have a shot at sub 1:02. I trounced through the last of the mud before the finish and just missed breaking 1:02 for third place. Jim won with a low 59 and Stephen had a solid race and time of just beyond one hour. Race director, Stephen Peterson, put on a great raffle event where I picked up a New England Runner subcription, bottle of bleach to clean the muddy clothes, and a bag of Bugles to snack on. Dave Dunham and the DRC did a bang up job on the timing and results.

Full Results
Top 100 men's times as of 2012

Hibernian 5K St. Patrick's Day Recovery Run

In the lead with Mark Mayall at 400m. Chris Mahoney close in 3rd.
Photo by Joe Armstrong 





Krissy and I signed up for the hometown 5K road race a few weeks back. I finished 3rd last year with a 17:14. I put out an email to the CMS team, invited them down earlier this week for a chance at some prize money. Chris Mahoney took advantage and did not disapoint by winning and setting a course record in 16:12. I lost ground to him and Mark Mayall after mile 1 which felt like they were holding back. I was 5:28 at the mile, two seconds behind them. Chris took off on Mark with a legit surge after 1.3 miles. I had to watch them pull away. I ran 5:29 for the second mile, not only losing ground, but was passed by Erik Hutlquist. He put 11 seconds on me in the last 1.1 miles. I finished 4th overall, 17:02, quicker than last year. I ran back out to the course to find Krissy and pace her into the finish. She ran 36:19 and said that I helped her push her pace over the last 600m of the race. To prove it, she dry-heaved after she finished. Perfect! Dennis Floyd ran his first race in two years for an 11th place finish. It was good to see him in action again. With almost 750 finishers, this is by far the largest race in Lynn. It is good to see it grow over the past four years. Full results.



At the finish line.
Photo by Sandy Armstrong



New Bedford Half Marathon

Looking forward after 12 miles
Photo credit to Scott Mason

It was time to line up for the second USATF New England Grand Prix race of 2013: New Bedford Half Marathon on Sunday. I car pooled down with Dave Dunham and Joe Shairs from Wilmington. The ride to New Bedford went by pretty fast with all the talk in the car about the CMS team, competition, et cetera. I was not nervous at the starting line, settling in about five rows back next to Scott Leslie (he ran a 50K a few weeks back) and behind Sean McDonough (SRR) who was looking for a 1:16:00 as was I. However, my legs and head were doubtful for that. I got out with a 5:51 mile into a head wind. By three miles, the lead truck for the women was at least 300m ahead and I was not in the mood to chase until we got some downhill. My pace was now averaging at 6:00 per mile. The lead truck scenario really defeated me as one goal was to stay in front of the lead women for the day. From 4-7 miles, I rolled through, felt decent, and had teammate Kevin Gorman around for company. My goal in that stretch was to catch Norm Larson (50+, GMM) which I did. Then I got on the heels of Ryan Miller (SISU) around 7 miles. My pace in the downhill stretch was likely in the mid 5:40’s and by 10 miles I recall I was around 59:2X. The head wind came after mile 9 or so. The group I was with included Kevin and was working hard albeit, single file. I had some lapses but battled. I was cooked at 11 miles and lost the single file group I was with. I caught Dave Principie before the hill at 12 (40+, TNT) and encouraged him to finish strong. Meanwhile, he was helping be get away from two Whirlaway guys including Mike Cooney. The last downhill was tough on my burned out legs. I was hobbling but sucked it up and stayed behind Dave who finished very strong. My time was 1:17:41 (1:17:38 bib time), 111^th place overall. I cooled down as far as it took me to get back to Dave’s car and got some warm clothes on as the days temp could not have gotten past 38 degrees or so. The highlight of the day was the post-race fish sandwich and chowdah at the CMS table. I did not hear too many complaints from the guys who had solid times for the 13.1 miles. As I write days after, I was pleased how I recovered from this race compared to the Amherst 10 miles several weeks back.

Complete Results

Scott Mason Photography

Granite State Snowshoe Championship



The train 300 meters after the start.
JJ followed by Mark, Greg, Kevin, Dave, and I
Photo by Gianina Lindsey

 Jay Curry and I packed his car up and arrived at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, NH 1.25 hours later where his team, Acidotic, was hosting the Granite State Snowshoe Championship. After signing up, I got a course briefing from Acidotic’s Chris Dunn. This helped me get a mental picture of the figure eight course which I saw on a map the night before. It would be a rolling course with plenty of rail (75%) which Chris had to educate me on as I never heard that term used (rail) to describe single track. I did an easy 1.8 mile warm up 30 minutes before the 10:00 race start out on the pavement that left the park. The direct sun was warm but I figured we would not see much in the race.

I changed my shirt, secured the Native eyewear, and headed down to the lower parking lot to step into my Dion 121 Snowshoes. I did an easy 400m on the trail before bumping into CMS teammates, Greg Hammett, Kevin Tilton, BAA’s Mark Miller, and Jim Johnson. It was going to be a fast race. Then I found Dave Dunham who saw the course the day before and was finishing his warm up. I conferred with him on the layout and what type of pace he felt was sustainable. I got behind Kevin Tilton at the start line. The race of less than 100 competitors set off from a narrow (5 athlete wide) start before quickly rising into rail (single track). I got behind Dave Dunham. Jim had the lead followed by Mark, Greg and Kevin. The race climbed along gentle rolling hills on single track. There were some tight turns but certainly negotiable as I followed behind Dave. Kevin was pulling away from Dave about a mile into the race and I could not longer see the top three. Once I got out to a wide fire road, I felt good enough to pass Dave and check inventory, asking him how he felt. We came out to a field where I could see the top four guys in the same order as we started in but with some distance on Dave and I. Jim had 250 yards on me while Kevin had 150. I pulled away from Dave and closed in on Kevin a bit before losing sight of him while course went back into single track off the ski mobile trail.



Minutes later, to my surprise, I was gaining on Greg and Mark while Kevin found second place. I was really motivated and engaged in closing the gap. I saw progress as the real estate shortened between Greg and I. Mark was a stride ahead of him. We came upon another fire road and we started a good climb and I gained. I could hear Dave not too far behind. I eventually caught Mark on a single track and gave him a tap of encouragement. Then I slowly went after Greg who was not ready to quit but seemed to be laboring. Our strides and effort seemed to match while we got back out onto the fire road. I felt I had another gear but was really cautious as I did not want to disturb a sleeping giant in Greg. It was here that the snow underneath was soft from direct sun light. There were snow mobile tracks but footing was fine as we gained shade. I glanced at my Garmin (4.22 miles) knowing the course was just over 6 miles. I almost mentioned what we had left to Greg but didn’t (he mentioned after the race that he wished he knew how much left remained). I soon got around. Kevin was not too far ahead, maybe 300m. I got a few steps into what turned out to be the last of the single track. Still, I had no idea where, what, and how much we had to cover for terrain. I had no time to glance at the Garmin and had to focus on staying on track, literally. I focused on trying to drop Greg and go after Kevin who was no more than 150 meters ahead. There was certainly purpose to my stride. We had some switch backs that I started to recognize - we headed out on this part of the course in the opening mile.

I figured I was running out of room to catch Kevin because I heard voices in the distance, perhaps a sign of the finish line? Greg was back on my heels, showing he was hungry to end this race in a hurry. I dropped out from the single track and Greg got loud with effort. He pulled onto my left shoulder 40 yards from the finish line. We sprinted for third place but it felt like slow motion. I heard the folks at the line with anticipation. I almost dove at the line but just leaned over as we passed. It was a mad rush of a finish for us. I still had the adrenaline rushing through me minutes later. I was so excited about the full effort from start to finish. Dave kept pace under control early on and did not quit as he was on my heels for 2/3rds of the race. Greg pushed me and kept me honest for the last two miles. That is classic racing. It was awesome. On my snowshoe race scale, this effort and course are tops in my book. This was the first snowshoe race where I felt I got stronger as the race progressed. As I closed in on those ahead of me early on, it gave me confidence. I never felt that in a snowshoe race before.




Greg (120) and I sprinting for the finish
Photo by Gianina Lindsey

 

I swallowed a few chocolate chip cookies and ran a road cool down with Dave, Kevin, and Jim (giving him crap that the yellow and blue does not look good on him). I picked up Vermont Maple Syrup and a bag of chocolate chip cookies and brownies for third place overall. Later on, I picked up a raffle for Poco’s Bow Street Cantina in Portsmouth, NH. The team took first place as Melissa Donais closed out the scoring while getting the silver medal for the women. Thanks to Jay Curry for driving and keeping my nerves calm on the way up to the race. He would finish in a respectable 33rd place.

Full Results

Photos by Scott Mason, Joe Viger, and SNAPacidotic - Gianina Lindsey

Granite State Snowshoe Championship

Allenstown, New Hampshire
3/9/2013
Place Name             Age S    City State      Club                        Time             Pace
===== =================== == = =============== == ==============================
1 Jim Johnson         35 M Madison NH            BAA                                     43:22 6:59
2 Kevin Tilton         31 M North Conway NH Central Mass Striders/INOV8      46:24 7:28

3 James Pawlicki     38 M Lynn MA                 Central Mass Striders              46:29 7:29

4 Greg Hammett      35 M Chesterfield NH      Central Mass Striders               46:30 7:29
5 Dave Dunham     48 M Bradford MA           Central Mass Striders                  47:27 7:39
6 Mark Miller          32 M Parts Unknown NH BAA                                        48:22 7:47
7 Danny Ferreira    30 M Concord NH             acidotic RACING                      49:35 7:59
8 Anthony Parillo  28 M Sherborn MA                                                            51:11 8:15

9 Phil Erwin             45 M Ridge NY                  acidotic RACING                  51:17 8:16

10 Chris Dunn        44 M Strafford NH             acidotic RACING                    51:25 8:17

23 Melissa Donais 29 F North Andover MA Central Mass Striders                       56:28 9:06