Race 1: Je glousse! (11/27/14)
Scot, me, Rory, Chris and Pickle
Race: Somerville
Road Runners’ Gobble Gobble Gobble
Location:
Somerville, MA
Goal Time:
25:00
Actual Time:
25:04 (PR!!)
Holiday
Season kicked off with the Somerville Road Runners’ Gobble Gobble Gobble 4
miler. A pre-turkey run & beer
tradition, it starts in Davis Square and makes a loop of the Tufts/Ball Square
area before heading back into Davis.
The trick of
the race is to survive mile 3. After two
reasonably fast miles, mile three has three noticeable hills. The last two are right after each other; the
last one has a dreaded turn in the middle so after you’re half way up, you turn
and see nothing but another quarter mile of hill. But, after that, it’s a straight shot downhill
into Davis. In 2010 and in 2013, my Gobbles were killed by underestimating the
effect of these two hills.
In 2014, as
Bev passed me, she asked me for reconnaissance.
I told her about the two hills and the turn. This also prepared me. I knew that I could take the hills and that
even if I put in a ton of effort, it wouldn’t be the end of the road.
I found a
gear that wasn’t too hard but that I could keep up some speed. I passed one or two up the hill. When I got
to the top, I was winded. However,
unlike the past where I might believe my race was now over, I knew I could
recover for a bit and then throw on the juice for the last ¾ of a mile.
I did just
that and finished with a 4 mile PR and just off my goal of 25 minutes.
Shoutouts:
Klucznik
took 2nd in his age group
Joe O’Leary
won his
Race 2: To
Morrow Never Dies (12/7/14)
To Morrow Never Dies: me, Jim Rhoades, Joe, Jim Pawlicki
Race: Mill
Cities Relay
Location:
Nashua, NH -> Lawrence, MA
Distance: my
leg – 2.5 miles; relay – 27 miles
Goal Time:
15:00
Actual Time:
my leg - 15:13; relay – 2:33:02 (1st Masters Men)
The week
after Thanksgiving is the clubs tradition Mill Cities Alliance showdown – Mill
Cities Relay. This was the first year, I
would run it as a master. I was put on
the SRR A-Team for Masters – named “To Morrow Never Dies.” I was also put on the 2.5 mile leg so I could
do the least possible harm to the team.
I did a
little warm up circling Greater Lowell High a couple of times. Then I ran into
Jim Pawlicki, who ran Leg 1
for the team. He was all business,
making sure I knew who the runner handing off to me was and what colors he was
wearing etc.
I replied:
“yeah; does he know who I am?”
“I told him
you were the tall, huge guy.”
Jim Rhoades
came bombing around the back of the school into the exchange area. I took the slap bracelet / baton and started
sprinting out of the school. When I got
to the first turn toward the main road I realized I was running a 5:14 mile
pace… oops.
The 3 leg
may be the easiest piece of racing one ever does. It’s only 2.5 miles. It’s completely flat. I found a groove at 6:00/miles and just kept
running. I was a bit worried when I ran
under the bridge that I might hit my head.
I came sprinting into the finish; handed to Picklesheimer; and then made
my way 1.5 miles to the volunteer point that was only 0.5 mile away.
When I got
to the pub, found out we had won the masters!
Hand off between me and Pickle
SRR Shoutouts:
Male
Sub-Masters – 2nd
Female Open
– 1st
Professor
Emeritus (Female Senior) – 2nd
Coed Open –
2nd
Coed Masters
– 2nd
Mark Duggan
found the short cut to the 3M Parking Lot.
Race 3: Oh
little town of Bethlehem (12/13/14)
Masters' National Team - Rory, Pickle, Robert, me & Joe
Race:
National Club Cross Country Championships
Location:
Lehigh College, Bethlehem, PA
Distance: 10km
Goal Time:
41:15
Actual Time:
41:09 (XC PR!)
Team: 17th
out of 40 teams
What would
be a good place to have a XC race during the Xmas season?
Bethlehem of
course!*
We drove out
Friday Night; and much to Alex’s chagrin Bradley and I got a good night’s
sleep. This would be my third National Championship of the year after the
Pentathlon in March and
Road 10K in April.
After
freaking Joe out a bit and then pulling a Shark Tank by being uncomfortably on
time (I would blame Alex, but I was a willing participant in in search for
beer.), we headed out for a warm up run on the winding undulating course around
Lehigh’s athletic campus.
At 11:30 –
sharp. The mass start of 600 runners
went off on the two lap course. I felt
pretty good, despite running the first mile too fast. The 4/8km mark is about half way up the only
really challenging hill of the course.
(The course is challenging over all but other than that one hill – not
in one specific spot.) After the first
trip, I determined my next time up I would make my move there.
So the
second trip by the cornfields, I started to kick it right at the 8km mark and
after the last bit of really steep. Slowly but surely I picked people off
one by one. I reached the top where it levels off a bit before the roller
coaster downhill back toward the stadium. I took a big breath here.
Found my beat and tore down the hill. As we passed the 9 km point, I
prepared for the last sprint it to win it bit.
Later I was
talking to
Jim Pawlicki about it. We had the same experience. As I
started my last pick up with about 600 meters left. Both of us figured
we’d catch the two or three people in front. Neither of us did. In
both cases the guys in front were as prepared as us. The only challenge I
had was a guy from Greater Philly tried to pass me with about 60 meters
left. The two of us got into a flat out
sprint…
Finished with a XC PR for the 10K.
Kate and the Pharaoh Hounds
Alex
Bradley
_____
* - For the
sake of this story I’m going to ignore that John actually says Jesus was NOT
born in Bethlehem; and, I will ignore the utter foolishness of the idea that
the emperor required everyone to go back to their birth town for a census.
Race 4: On
Dasher! (12/14/14)
SRR Team, Yulefest Champs!
Race:
Yulefest (Race One of the SRR Grand Prix)
Location:
Cambridge, MA
Distance: 5K
Goal Time:
19:00
Actual Time:
20:04
For a brief
shining moment I sprinted up to the lead.
Holding my fist high, I started yelling: “I’m in the lead! I’m in the
lead!”
This was
only because the 50 people in front of me in the race all zigged when they
should have zagged. About ½ mile in the
police directed the car and the biker to go left. Everyone followed. After about 3 steps I was among the first people
to actually turn around and go the right way.
After my
brief foray at the front, it only went downhill for me from there.
Tommy (festively dressed) & Anthony
Shoutouts:
SRR won the
team competition
We had:
5 men in the
top 10 – Klucznik, Jake, Chris Antunes, John Longo and Andrew Clifford
4 women in
the top 10 – Bev, Nichole, Jen Rappaport, Deb Downs
5 men in the
top Masters – Joe and Rory went 1-2 the day after Nationals, Tom Bok, John
Wichers and Nat were 4,5 & 9
4 Masters
Women iincluding a Gold-Silver-Bronze sweep by Jen Rappaport, Florentien and
Teresa with Justine Cohen in 8th.
