Little Ones Before the Big One: Shifters and Doyles (4/4/15-4/12/15)

Race #1 - Shifters 5k

Eva, Victor (129), Mike and Melissa (288)
photo by Tom Cole

Date: 4/4/15
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

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.

Tuireann and St Patick: Craicfest (3/15/15)

No green beer (thankfully); but green beer socks!

Race: Craicfest 5k
Location: Cambridge, MA
Goal Time: 19:00
Actual Time: 18:58 (Masters' PR and 2nd Place, Masters)

My favorite story about St Patrick has nothing to do with snakes.  On the night of Beltane - the feast of fires - the High King of Ireland lights the first fire atop the hill of Tara; and then, in a Promethean construct, each other fire is lit with fires from the King's.  In rejection of the Irish gods, Patrick lit his own "Easter Fire" before the king had lit the one atop Tara.

The King - who may or may not have been an Ui Neill - was none too pleased with this rival fire coming from a rival religion to the Irish-Celtic religion.  And he sent his charioteers down to extinguish Patrick's Fire.

Even though I am coordinator of the SRR Grand Prix, I chose not to run the New Bedford Half Marathon. I didn't have that fire I needed for a Half - especially 5 weeks before Boston. Instead, I decided to to a shorter St Patrick's Day themed race - closer to my house.  I chose Craicfest from the Cambridge 5k. After a quick jog over to East Cambridge and settling my geara quick chat with Eddy, I made it to the start line.

The First Mile wound through East Cambridge and Kendall Square.  I bounced between running too fast and easing up too much.  The runner who usually wins the Masters at Cambridge 5k races - Thor Kirleis - was right ahead of me and in my sights.  Just at the corner of Binney and Cardinal Medieros was the mile one marker.  At right under 6 minutes, I felt good and I didn't feel spent.  We took the right onto Broadway...

I drink from the Pint Glass of Glory!

The High King's charioteers made it down to Patrick's fire.  And in what can bee seen as a ceremonial attack, circled the fire counter to the sun's path.  And there upon came and attacked Patrick's "Easter Fire" with the goal of putting it out before the High King would light the Tara Fire.

Throughout the Celtic world in the Bronze and Iron Age, the chariot wheel and the sun's travel were connected with the god Taranis.  Caesar even went as far as to liken him to Jupiter.  If not actually as powerful as Caesar claims (Lucan and Strabo both place him of lesser importance), he was also known as the god of thunder.  He enters Irish as Tuireann, the ruler of tórnach (thunder).  These charioteers may have been attacking such a way to invoke Tuireann.  So it was Patrick against the thunder god.

As we made the right onto Broadway, I could still see my own thunder god rival - Thor - right ahead of me.  Unfortunately the entire way up into Inman Square, he not only stayed three or four people ahead of me, but he kept making that gap larger.

I kept up my pace and effort into Inman Square.  I kept trying to run in the bike lane but it kept being all rock salt and dirt.  At Inman we took the sharp right onto Cambridge Street for the run back down to East Cambridge.  In front of S&S I made my move past one guy and hit the two mile mark ... 6:04.

When the charioteers reach Patrick's fire, they are incapable of extinguishing it.  In a moment oddly reminiscent of Elijah in 1st Kings, the pagan fires are not as strong as the Judeo-Christian ones. Despite the obvious superiority of Patrick's fire to the Druidic fire from Tara, Patrick was not able to convert everyone in one fell swoop.

While, I did not give up on catching Thor in the third mile, I definitely decided to go one thing at a time.  Running down Cambridge through East Cambridge to 6th Street, I slowly pulled back the gap with the next person.  There is a hill on Cambridge (the only significant one of the course) that runs from 6th upto the Courthouse on 3rd.  Recently I had watched a video where Ryan Hall explains that he doesn't kill himself on the hill but waits until it near the crest.  I decided to take that advice.  And as we passed the East Cambridge Savings bank, I started my attack over the crest.

I hit 3rd Street within 20 yards of the next person.  I decided to bring him back in all the way down to 1st street.  Then I would gauge the finish as start a sprint.  We made the right on 1st and I was right behind him.  We were right in front of Amie and Ryan's house as a tried to go by him.  Then he threw in a gear I didn't have...  Thor had long since finished and I decided to run hard in but not try to catch this guy.

Patrick would move onto converting Ireland to Christianity.  (Although probably not "Roman Catholicism" as we think of it today.)  And he would express the Trinity with the Shamrock... (but that's another story...)

I finished in 17th overall; 2nd Masters with my second fastest 5k ever.

Second Masters' Man and Dana, Second Masters' Woman

Shoutouts -

- Dana Second Masters woman and PR

- Deb Downs won the Asheville Marathon

- PRs at New Bedford for Allison Lackey, Melissa Glockenspiel, Emma Kosciak and Aharon Wright

- Greg S. won the Spring Thaw 6 Hour

Tino Pai,

Jesse...

CRASH and SMASH: World Indoor Rowing Championships (3/1/15)

Race: CRASH-B Sprints, World Indoor Rowing Championships
Distance: 2K
Location: Agganis Arena, Boston University
Goal Time: 6:45
Actual Time: 6:44.4

I looked up at the computer and it said I had 1124 meters to go.  Oh crap, I might not finish this race.  I don't know if anyone has ever DNFed a rowing machine race before....

Two months ago, I hadn't thought of doing the CRASH-B or any rowing indoor rowing race.  A couple of years ago, Kelsea had tried to convince me to try rowing since I had the size and running back ground.  But it took Barbara registering for CRASH-B. It seemed like something fun and a short training period; so, I registered too.  (Don't get confused about CRASH, it has nothing to do with crashing rowboats.  However it does give me an excuse to post this video:)


They covered the ice of Agganis with boards and placed - in the competition area - 96 ergs (that's rowerspeak for what the rest of us call: "Rowing Machines").

Each age group went in different heats.  40 - 49 year old heavyweight men all went in the same heat. There were 91 registered and 78 raced (or at least 78 finished - maybe somebody did DNF).  I milled around for a while after getting into the Agganis (checking out the BU Hockey History) and eventually made it to the floor for about 5 minutes of warm-ups.

Warm up area

In line for the race

Once I got to my erg, I was "ready."  Ready was a relative term.  I had no idea what to do.  Fortunately my volunteer coxswain was very helpful.  He told me exactly when to grab the handle.  Maybe if I had been more prepared, I would have been nervous.  But my total lack of preparation required me to wing it on the most basic stuff.  The heat was in three sections.  Each section had 32 ergs that were interconnected and the computer screen was set so that you could see how you and the leaders of your section were doing.  

My erg - #49

On start, I started pulling as hard as I could.  I felt really good: (You can watch the computer graphic of the section here).  As we went through the first 200, I was in fourth in my section of the heat.  I hit the 500 meter mark in a blazing fast 1:34.1 (6:16 pace)! But I definitely wasn't excited about how well I was doing. Instead I realized it was like running the mile and I had just gone two fast.

At 800 meters, I had taken over second in my heat; at 875 meters, I considered DNFing.  Needless to say, my second 500 - which had me 2nd in my section - had slowed considerably.  I dropped 5 seconds slower to 1:39.6.  Then I had to dig deep.

With 1000 meters to go, I just told myself to keep going. I told myself the worst that could happen is that this would suck for 3 and a half minutes.  And it did.  At 1400, I dropped back down into third in my section.

With 500 meters to go, I was spent.  The third split had been 1:45.4 (11 seconds slower than the first one).  This is where I was glad I had the information about my placement right in front of me.  I told myslef: Don't quit, don't quit! Stay in third! I hammered everything I had left to keep up some sort of pace.  The last 500 was 1:45.3...

I finished 30th out of 78 in my age group!  Pretty good I think for someone with no crew background.

Scenes from Agganis

3 of the 4 Terriers on the Miracle Team:
"Mike Eruzione, Winthrop, MA"

Jim Craig, the 4th Terrier

Zamboni parking!

One From the Vault
That time I rowed a real boat - Plitvicka Jezera National Park, Croatia, 2009

Took a lotta right turns since I had problems putting both oars in the water at once

Winter of My Discontent: February Racing (2/1-2/22/15)

(With apologies to the Bard of Stratford) 

Barded Steeds: Super 5 (2/1/15)

Oh, Captains, my Captains (wait wrong poet...)

Race One: Super 5

Location: Cambridge, MA

Goal Time:  ??:??

Actual Time: 36:56

Now is the winter of my discontent;

Last year had shone beneath the bright gold sun.

Short pants did I deem dare to wear back then.

This great annum no such cold gold was spent.

Championship Sunday icy frigid

The winds did blow. Aligned as knights to fight

Against the sun, Lancastrian hibern

Girds its shining armor: black steel, rigid.

From past winters I thus did take the leads

Battling miles but five; each l’il faster

At end Catching on Carrie-Anne then Scott

Running as I was mounted barded steeds.

                Ere long, the run n’er fast nor slow was done

                Neither by me the race was lost nor won.

Lour’d Clouds: Martha’s Vineyard 20 Miler (2/14/15)

Martha's Vineyard - 2014
There was apparently more snow and problems this year so they had to cancel.

Race Two: Martha’s Vineyard 20 Miler

Location: Vineyard Haven, MA

Goal Time: 2:30:00

Actual Time: --:--

The White Winter blizzards coldly did blow

Then feet, now meters, are piled mountain-

Like high. Fuji-esque mound do climb about

As white frost falls first once then thrice as snow.

For then the fourth cold storm came forth aloud

Not hiding deep among ocean’s bosom.

Instead the race - twenty long clicks - cancelled.

Again we are lour’d  o’er by winter clouds.

Nat and I ran: Carriage Road and Comm Ave

Meeting the girls at Newton Fire House

Then over Newton hills – marathon pace(?)

Oh times are slipping down what the legs have.

                A long run back along the course to home

                And over the river of frozen foam.

               

Average RunMute (2/18/15)

11 Miles from Cambridge-Seaport-Cambridge

Inman Street, Cambridge

Back Bay from MIT

Esplanade

Boston Common

Snow Farm, Seaport

Skating Rink, Common

Comm Ave

Detour?

No Delight: Five Colleges 10 Miler (2/22/15)

Finishing under my goal time!

Race Three: Five Colleges 10 Miler

Location: Amherst, MA

Goal Time: 1:10:00

Actual Time: 1:09:19

The race in Western Mass of No Delight

Away fast from Amherst High School we dash

Into the rural fields and roads of snow

Third mile climb: fifty three meters in height.

Appearing distrustful of Tom at Mile One
photo by Tom Cole

Then, across miles of snow mush and dirt road,

The sixth – the first to race running hard down

Before it climbs again – seventh and ninth.

But, the eighth I get into sprinter mode.

Finally catching up to Michael Quinn

Passing many who left me back for dead

Slowing with miles of muddy roads ahead

The tenth I dashed with lightning speeds and grins.

            Survived I have the winter months but one;

            Man, soon I hope the sun of York will come.

photo by Tom Cole

One From the Vault:

That time Culla let Harrison drive, Martha's Vineyard February, 2014

"Now I'm driving the bus!"

Winter Wonderland: Indoor track 2015 - (1/3 - 1/25/15)

January - not with a bang...

Event #1 - BU Mini Meet (1/3/15)

Mike and I in the 3000m - photo by Tom Cole

Location: Boston University

Race #1: 3000m

Goal Time: 11:00
Actual Time: 10:53 PR

Mike and I got into the heat with largely high school runners.  So while the high school kids took off (like I would have 25 years ago) we stayed to the game plan.  My goal had been 44 second laps.  The first one was really 41, but I soon hit the grove and started clicking off 43 to 45 second laps.

At 2000m, Mike and I were off the back by about 50 meters.  But I noticed they were slowly coming back toward us.  With three laps to go, Mike made his move past me.  While I couldn't go with him, I was able to follow at a distance.  The last lap I did around 41 seconds, passing people all the way to the end.

200m - photo by Tom Cole

Race #2: 200m
Goal Time: 0:30
Actual Time: 0:32.21



Event #2 - Lazy Dog Classy 3 Miler

Brendan and I in the Lazy Dog - photo by KrissyK

Location: Lynn, MA
Race: 3 Miler
Goal Time: 18:30
Actual Time: 19:31

I have nothing to say...

Event #3 - Greater Boston Track Club Invitational

Finishing the mile - photo by Tom Cole

Location: Harvard University
Race: Mile
Goal Time: 5:30
Actual Time: 5:35.35 PR

The second year of the USATF-NE All-Terrain Series started with the mile at the the GBTC Invitational.  My seed time got me into the first heat of the Masters' mile. (The back of the Masters' Mile).  My goal was 5:30, but I figured I'd start at 5:20 pace and try to hold that.  I didn't.

With 2 1/2 laps left Matt came by me.  Once again, like the 3000, I couldn't stay with him.  The last lap I brought my last lap down to 42 seconds.  It was still my fastest track mile since high school.

...but a whimper

The Lou: Lou Ristaino 4 x 1600 relay

It was a long wait for the relay to start
Photo by Thomas Cole

Race: Lou's 4 x 1600 Relay - BU Mini-Meet #2
Place: BU Indoor Track
Goal Time: me - 5:30; team: 21:15
Actual Time: 5:30.79 (PR!!); 21:27

After the Mass Ave Mile back in 2012, Bradley and I talked about the anomaly of the mile.

There's a big problem with the mile for distance runners.  If your shortest race is 5 kilometers, the mile feels like a sprint.  It's not...

Yet there's a problem for sprinters.  If your longest race is 400 meters, the mile feels like a marathon. It's not...

This year was the 14th annual Lou's 4x1600.  I started to get a team together earlier in the year.  And then they scheduled it for 2 days after Christmas.  With Maple Leaf Joe in Toronto and Brendan in the Bronx watching BC blow a 14 point lead and then miss an extra point in OT, I needed to grab new guys.  Bradley and Joe were only too happy to run it.

After sitting around the whole BU meet (including Joe actually running in the Mile), we were ready around 2:30 to run.  I was running first.

Now as Bradley described, it's not a sprint.  So, I decided that I would drop into last place of the 6 teams at the start and just follow for the first lap.  That way I wouldn't run too fast in the first lap - as one is prone to do in the mile.  BUT, I did...

Despite staying in last and just hanging out in the back of the group, my goal of 41-42 second laps, I ran the first 200 in 34 seconds. blerg.

Klucznik starting the mile
photo by Thomas Cole

Well, I found a groove for a while before the inevitable slowing down around lap 6.  Joe told me as I ran by: "These next two laps are when you have to work."  In retrospect, I understand that better now than I did three and a half minutes into a mile.  I probably could have put myself into another layer of pain, but I didn't...

With one lap to go, I was far off the back and had already been lapped by two different teams.  I managed to run right under 39 seconds for that last lap.  I handed off to Mark for a 5 second PR from this year's Club Cup 26x1 Relay back in June.

Mark ran a 5:44 - 4 seconds faster than the 26x1
Bradley ran a 5:10 - 21 seconds faster than the 26x1
Joe ran a 5:00.7 - while slower than the 26x1, it was his second mile of the day and in the first one he destroyed his 26x1 time with a 4:47!

Liz - en route to her incredible mile time.
Photo by Thomas Cole

Jen Rapaport ran the 3000 and Mile - 11:33 / 5:47
Chriz Klucznik ran the mile - 4:44
Liz Cooney ran the third fastest mile in her age group in the NATION this year! - 6:13

Pumpkin & Cranberry & Gingerbread: Holiday Race Season (11/27 – 12/14/14)

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 2^nd 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 (1^st 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.  

Jim asked: “Do you know who Jim Rhoades is?” 

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 – 2^nd

Female Open – 1^st

Professor Emeritus (Female Senior) – 2^nd

Coed Open – 2^nd

Coed Masters – 2^nd

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: 17^th 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.

 Beast Mode sprint to the finish - (c) Michael Scott

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 8^th.