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| Eva, Victor (129), Mike and Melissa (288) photo by Tom Cole |
Location: Waltham, MA
Goal Time: 22:30
Actual Time: 19:09
My goal had been to run to Waltham and then do MP during the race...
I couldn't get myself going early enough this morning, so I had to ride my bike instead. Then that took so long riding directly into 25mph winds all the way, that I didn't warm up.
So I decided to not worry about anything for the race. The start lead to a XC narrowing about 100 yds ahead. So, I took the start easy and hung with Toledo Steve for the first 1/2 mile.
Once the crowd dispersed, I started to run. At the one mile mark, I looked at my watch: 6:45. Pretty good considering the first 400 was probably on 8 min pace.
So, right in front of me was Deb Downs. I figured, I'd catch up with her and then run with her for a while. The first part happened, but the second part didn't. I felt good so I just blew by her.
As I approached the second mile, I was catching up with Jim Normile. I caught up with him and tried to catch my breath. Instead he put in a bit of an attack on me. I figured I didn't have that energy and would lose him.
But as I crossed the mile 2 mark, I just felt okay. So I put in some effort to catch him and instead of staying with him when I caught him, I just blew by him. So, I figured I only had a mile left, I would see what I could do.
At about 2.5 you take the left back onto Wavery Oaks. And this is the signature hill of the course, back to the parking lot. I figured I wasn't going to let Jim back into our little race. I took the first part of the hill at a good clip. Then for the top third, I dropped whatever hammer Seth could pick up later.
I made the right turn before the quarter mile snake through the parking lot. I looked over my shoulder and Jim was a good distance behind but once I caught my breath from the hill I took the downhill and then the last left into the finishing straight.
I hadn't looked at my watch since the mile one mark, so when I got in sight of the finishing clock, I wasn't surprised to see I would barely miss breaking 20 minutes. But then I realized it was 19 minutes that I would barely miss. Wow.
Really good surprise race.
shoutouts -
Aharon & Andy were 2nd & 3rd overall
Deb was 2nd woman
Bradley, Joe, Barbara and Melissa Glockenspiel all won their age group
Carrie-Anne and Todd were second in their age group
John Wichers took third in his
Race #2 - Doyle's 5 Miler
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| Finishing Doyle's! |
Date: 4/12/15
Location: Jamaica Plain, MA
Goal Time: 31:30
Actual Time: 31:26
At 9:45, I went downstairs to grab my bike to get out to JP.
And it was not there. This is weird to me since I had put it in the bike room. Crap stolen! After about 10 minutes of searchng the basement for...(Maybe somebody moved it?) And then 10 minutes of not having a clue what to do...I pulled out Ajax Telemon - which I haven't ridden since the 300K Brevet last year - reattached the wheels, pumped up the tires, greased the chain and hopped out onto the road. I got into JP with very little time to spare.
At the gun, Mariah and I decided to stay back. Once the crowd disbursed, I started moving my way up. I had two targets in front. First I wanted to catch Mike Quinn. And then when I got to him, I moved on to catch Matt Ridout. So by the end of the first mile I was up with Matt. In front of me was Nichole. I decided to leapfrog to catch up with her.
I never did.
From the turnaround at mile 2 until the end of the race, I kept closing on Nichole. But I never got within 20 yards of her.
But I managed to run at the limits of my ability. I never looked at my watch except for the mile 3 time, because when the volunteer said it, I thought it was fast.
It was fast and also short... It was more like mile 2.9. I did apparently run a 6 minute mile, but they had be a bit under.
That's when I started to pick up the women's race. I was sitting behind woman in purple and looking ahead where Nichole and Amanda Watters were. I didn't actually know the placements of the three woman and I didn't know how much energy I really had. So I didn't want to run hard to catch up with Nichole with the purple woman in tow and then get tired and drop off where the only thing I'd done is make Nichole's race harder.
But in about 1/4 mile we passed a volunteer who was calling out the woman's places - Nichole and Amanda were 3&4 and purple was 5th. "Ok," I thought, "Nichole isn't the leader and she'll have to fight Amanda for 3rd anyways." So now I charged ahead a bit right as we got to a little bump. Purple woman didn't come with me so I charged the little hill hoping to open up a lead.
On the downhill, Nichole had gone ahead of Amanda. So I decided to leapfrog to Amanda and then catch my breath and then leapfrog finally to Nichole. I passed Amanda and went toward catching Nichole.
Right before we turned off the road on to the trails by the golf course, I heard my watch beep for mile 4. And then passed the volutneers who were stationed where the course said it was mile four - probably 4.1 or so. They called the times - 25:25. I was thinking, great, 6 flat could give me a PR.
Nichole looked back - probably to see where Amanda was. I looked back and saw purple woman reasonably close behind me. I yelled: "you gotta run! She's closing!"
That was the closest I got to catching Nichole. She started running harder.
I finished with a 31:26 and a Masters PR!!!
Shoutouts -
Picklesheimer - 4th Overall, 1st AG
Jake - 6th Overall, 2nd AG
Nichole 3rd Overall, 2nd AG
Gordon MacFarland defeated Matt again.
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