Stone Tower 15k Lynn Woods

I got smoked on a tough trail race in Lynn Woods today. Rolled with John Dudley and a new face, Greg from Arlington for a few miles. Greg pulled away after three miles and John stayed close. Three trips up Stone Tower, one up Steel Tower, and the steps up Dungeon Rock sum this one up. Tricky footing on the Undercliff trail is still my favorite spot in the woods. Rolled my ankle 46 minutes on flat terrain, a sign of tired legs. I was zapped at that point. Hooted and hollered on my last climb over Stone Tower. Parents grabbed the little ones and dogs ducked away at my scowl which told everyone I wanted it over with. Rolled the same ankle on the backside on the descent. Cursing and swearing to the Stone Tower Gods made me feel better. Just a few minutes remained so it was easy to suck it up. Finish time was 58:57 (2nd place), almost three minutes behind the winner - Greg Fullman (56:03). John was about 30 seconds behind me. Collected the gents for a cool down and photo opportunity at the tower where Krissy tooled her trade, bless her. Photos are on SmugMug. I am beat but well worth the effort. Gift certificate to New England Running Company was a bonus. Raffles galore from Northface brought me a pair of SmartWool socks. Proceeds go to the preservation of the Stone Tower. If you have not been to Lynn Woods, please check it out. It is one of the best kept secrets north of Boston because it is not a state owned park. On a side note, Paul Young and the winner, Greg, measured a covered distance of 8.8 miles. Paul is convinced the course was a turn or two different this year. Photos by Krissy at her KrissyK SmugMug page.

Landmark School Homecoming 5K Beverly

Ben closing as we approach the finish line

I woke up early and took a peek at the coolrunning calendar. I found the Landmark 5K in Beverly Farms appealing for cash prizes. I sent a text over to John Ayers (won it last year) and Ben Strain asking them if they wanted to go. Ben got right back to me and said he was in. Kris, my dad, and I drove up Rt. 128 which beamed with the autumn leaves on a cool morning. I handed over a check in exchange for a tech shirt and bib # 127 which equaled Route 127 for which we would be racing on. I was not familiar with the race course despite running these roads for so many years. I did my warm up on the course based on what I read about earlier and the arrowed signs on the telephone poles at each turn. The side roads in Beverly Farms are very quiet. The course had nine turns in total with a few hills. The last 1000m was flat and fast. I lined up one the starting line next to Ben, boasting his CMS singlet and a tall Western Mass Distance Project guy, Kevin Quadrozzi. Ben and I immediately trailed him 400m into the race. We had to yell ahead to alert him of the first turn on the left as he was on the right sight of the road. Ben and I ran together through mile one in 5:21. Again, we yelled ahead as Kevin was about to miss another turn. It was a good thing we were still close enough for him to hear us alerting him. A few twist and turns later I pulled a few strides ahead of Ben. I clocked through mile two in 10:57 (5:36). Based on the spectator acknowledgement, I could tell Ben was very close in the last 800m. I did not hear his foot steps until we turned into the finish line. Krissy's pictures proved he was charging hard. I held him off by one second and we finished in the money, 2nd (17:10) and 3rd (17:11) overall. Kevin took the win in 16:27. We gathered up shortly thereafter and ran a few easy miles out along the course.

Results and Landmark 5K race photos by Krissy

Jack Kerouac 5K - Lowell

Beside Joe O'Leary with 100m to go

This USATF 5K New England Championship in Lowell was a slightly different course than the Brewery Exchange 5K from a decade ago but the same profile. Up and down the Merrimac River, two bridges, and finish in front of the Brewery. I have my 5K PR here in 1999 (15:47). Today, I was about a minute slower and 13 years older. I was behind Todd Callaghan over the 1st bridge. Then I rolled with Ben Strain (good to see you back racing!) through mile 1 in 5:10. Todd and others were pulling away or I was stepping back. My upper arms were feeling the quick pace. By the time I hit the next bridge to find mile two in 10:41, I was dragging a bit. Even with a downhill into downtown Lowell, I was flat, junk. I rolled past Martin Tighe and Kevin Alliette. Then I got past the Tsongas Arena and the familiar yellow singlet of SRR, Joe O'Leary rolled beside me. It was good to see Joe (also getting ready for Chicago) throwing down here in the Grand Prix. We have had battles going back into the late 90's. He tore me apart in the closing 100m. The finish is downhill, yet, I had no drive. I stopped my watch with a 16:51, good for my fastest 5K for the year. Yeah, that Salem Fest 5K I ran three weeks ago is complete bull crap - short. Yankee Timing got me down for a 16:47 net time and a 16:49 gun time. I stood around beyond the finish and caught up with each CMS finisher I could find and get thier story. I cooled down with them and a path along the Riverwalk which meanders along the river. Joe Shairs recalled and compared the ULowell campus and how it changed from his college days. After getting into dry clothing, I crashed at the Brewery for an hour with the Patriots not exactly giving it to the Bills. Krissy and I watched the 2nd half at my aunts in Methuen. Glad they got their crap together. On the high note of the day, the CMS men's open and masters teams finished in second place in both divisions.

Jack Kerouac 5K results
KrissyK photos

GBTC XC Invitational - Wellesley

This race, hosted by GBTC, changed venues from Topsfield's Bradley Palmer State Park to Wellesley's Elm Bank Park. This place was a decent venue and can see it getting bigger in the future. I drove down and signed up before the race. Parking was about a half mile from the start and finish. All races were delayed by 20-25 minutes from clogged registration for the youth race (from what I heard). I was happy to see Adam Malek and Mike Quintal warming up while I was checking it out with some HFC Striders. Too bad CMS could not score a team of five. Anyhow, the course was a mix of grass fields, double path trails, and wide trail along the Charles River with some areas that required careful foot placement around roots. My Inov8 flats handled all terrain nicely within the 3 loop course. I got out of the start without any harm. The race was single file within 400m. I pushed hard to keep Jason Cakouras (HFC) close after the mile. He was really the only guy that was in my radius from then to the finish the I recognized. I had a flat spot after 3 miles but regained some momentum on the last loop cutting through the rooted trail section. A WMDP guy who turned out to be former CMS runner, Jesse Regnier, blew by with 1000m to go. I was keeping Jason close and knew he had a teamate, Lee Danforth, right behind. I never caught Jason but I did get run down in the last 50m by Lee. I finished right in the middle of the race (23rd out of 47) and scored a decent 8K time of 27:26. Any day in the 27's is a good day. I recall just two small hills up to a soccer field during the course. Other than that, this is a fast and flat xc course that I intend to hit up in the future. Adam finished 3rd overall with a blistering 25:17 while Mike had some issues, but still ran 27 flat.

My splits were as follows on my watch.

5:16
5:30    10:46
5:40    16:26
5:27    21:53
5:33    27:27 - 27:26 per AB-MAC timing

Full results

Salem Fest 5K - Salem, NH

I was looking for a competitive and fast 5K to tune up for the Jack Kerouac 5K at the end of the month. Mike Quintal emailed me late on Friday about this Salem Fest 5K road race. I read the email at 6:30am on Saturday. I checked out prior year results and noted the quick times. It was a 9am start on a Saturday which favors my weekend, allowing me to do work around the house, car, and get a long run on Sunday. I ate some yogurt and a granola bar, packed a race bag, and hit the road just after 7. I had a short 40 minute ride in the Nissan pickup which gave me an opportunity to let it breathe on the highway (first since I bought it last month). CMS teamate, Dan Vassallo showed up as I was filling out the race registration form. I wish I knew he was coming as he lives one town away and we could have car-pooled. We grabbed a map to check out the course. There were quite a few turns (counted 24 of the 90 degree variety) on the course. In addition, there were numbered markers everywhere directing us where to go along the course. There were 30 in total as the course meandered around quiet residential neighborhoods.

Dan took off the the start leaving me in a pack of four which included former winner Patrick Ard, Dan LeBeouf, and Sam Fazioli. I brought them through mile 1 in 5:09. Patrick said that was too fast but proceeded to pull away about a half mile later with Dan and Sam following. I missed mile two but was keeping within a few strides of Sam. I passed Sam in the last mile and noticed that marker 26 was coming up - just four more remained so I tried to pick it up. There was a small gradual hill up Briar Ave where I lost a step or two to Dan but there was no way I was catching him with 150 yards to go. I crossed the line in 16:08 for 4th place overall. I was spent but then imediately started to question the quick time and came to the conlusion that the course was short. I cooled down with the guys and we discussed that Jim Johnson went over this course with a car and bike in 2010 after setting a 14:54 5K PR. He measured it out to be 3.16 miles. Patrick said this course was no different that what he has raced in the past. He would know as he has run it every year. Here is the map. The start and finish were about 15 yards from Main Street. I did the google-pedometer measurement and got 3.15 miles. I guess the effort is going in my log as a legit 5K and my quickest in 2012.

Salem Fest 5K 2012 race results

Salem Fest 5K
Salem, NH September 15, 2012
1 205 Dan Vassallo 27 M PEABODY MA 14:56 4:49
2 207 Patrick Ard 28 M RAYMOND NH 15:44 5:04
3 203 Dan LeBoeuf 35 M SALEM NH    15:57 5:08
4 206 James Pawlicki 37 M LYNN MA   16:08 5:12
5 127 Samuel Fazioli 20 M SALEM NH   16:12 5:13

Marcia Lemkin 5K Lowell

Krissy has been training our neighbor and close friend, Sandy Armstrong, to run her first 5K road race. Thus, they targeted this race back in June. As for some background on the race, Marcia Lemkin died of lung cancer and never smoked a day in her life. She was an avid runner and mother of North Shore Strider and friend, Melissa Behl. There is a foundation in Marcia's name - Marcia Lemkin Lung Cancer Foundation. The Greater Lowell Road Runners assist putting the race on and had a new course this year. It started in front of Lowell High School and finished outside the Tsongas Center. I warmed up on the course to see the first and last miles along the Merrimac River. I felt OK considering I spent most of yesterday in the backyard doing yard work (tree and brush removal) and not running one step since the Danvers 5K on Wednesday (17:29, 2nd, behind Junyong Pak who ran 17:09).

Not ten strides into the race did I feel my right shoe (Scott racing flat) loosen up (untied). It was double tied but still came unraveled. I never checked the shoes out before hitting the starting line. Having a shoe come untied was a first. I put my right hand directional on and safely got to the sidewalk. As soon as I finished tying the shoe and double knotting it, I was 24 seconds in to the race. I kept composure and got back up to the front of the race in a few minutes. I moved into second place. Ben Ndaya was in command and not going to be caught. Festus Mbuva kept stride for a few minutes. I went through mile one in 5:34. Ben stretched his lead while I no longer heard any steps behind me. I passed mile mile 2 in 11:14 (5:40). I ran past mile 25 of the Bay State Marathon course (memories of calf and hamstring cramps two years ago). By the time I got to the bridge, Ben had the whole length of it ahead of me. I was trying to just keep within a minute of him. Once on the other side of the bridge, the course meandered back down to the walkway along the river back to the opening 3/4 of a mile. I charged up the last incline past the Tsongas Center to the finish line (2nd overall) in 17:09. I placed second for the Shedd Park Fisfits team which finished first overall in the team competition. Ben ran 16:22 for 1st and Festus ran 17:59 for 4th.

I ran back into the race to cheer on Krissy and Sandy. The were looking good. I let them pass me and I ran back to the finish area, parallel to the course. I caught them and managed to get Sandy's iPhone from her while she was running, ran ahead while she had 100m left, and took a few photos of the girls. They ran 39:34. Sandy is looking forward to another race so now she has a time to beat. I chilled out at the post race festivities back at Lowell High. I caught up with Ben Ndaya and Festus Mbuva. Ben is training for at least two fall marathons. Festus admitted that he needs to get more training to support the shorter races that he prefers. Keep an eye out for race photos on the GLRR facebook page on Tuesday.

10th Annual Marcia Lemkin 5K road race results
Lowell, MA, August 26, 2012

Intervals - looking back on the outdoor oval

Track intervals once a week are usually a staple in my training. Life has been complicated with plenty of excuses, traffic, injuries, and distractions to keep me away from running circles. I have found a steady group and consistency by doing intervals on the track with the Somerville Road Runners under the guidance of Joe O'Leary a few years ago. Tonight, I ran 5 X 1 mile (actually 1600m) with a 60 second rest in between each at Tufts University. I started running the miles at Threshold pace but picked up the pace for the last three intervals. My splits are below.

5:52, 5:42, 5:34, 5:28, 5:27

It got me thinking about the Tuesday night intervals that I have embarked on since the late 1990's. Intervals under Tom Derderian and the Greater Boston Track Club at MIT were routine from tail end of my college years (1996/1997) until the fall of 2003. When I started running with CMS in 2004, regular track intervals became inconsistent during the summer. However, we had a small group (mostly with Joe Shairs) that would do some intervals at Beverly High and then to a larger group (dare I say critical mass) at Gordon College. Our group, mostly CMS folks, were self coached and everyone was of similar fitness. I was curious so I picked up the oldest running log that I could find in my office at home - 2006 (I have some from college in a box somewhere). I opened up to August 8. I ran 4 X 1 mile (1600m) at Gordon College with 800m rest. My splits are below.

5:17, 5:18, 5:20, 5:12

My notes indicated that the group was looking to run 5:20's. Patrick Rich, Ben Strain, Dan Verrington, and Joe Shairs were the band of brothers on the oval that night six years ago. No doubt, our warm up and cool down were to cross the street and loop through the quad and around the pond and back. It is only fitting that Patrick is now the Gordon College head coach for all running programs. Some day, I want to go back to a running log from 1997. I am certain that I had mile repeat workouts with each mile under five minutes. Ah, those were the days......