Notes
This was a tough course, and weather conditions didnt help. Felt warm at the starting line, but throughout the race hit periods of rain and snow. The rain made the dirt road section of the course pretty sloppy, but manageable, although it definitely got my feet nice and wet.
The hills on this course were just brutal and I think my splits will back this up. Heard in advance that the hills wouldnt be friendly, so I went with a conservative start in mile 1. Ran the first mile or so with Sean McDonough taking it easy over the first rollers.
During mile 3, we hit the first section of the hills and it clearly took something out of me. Was still passing people going up the hills, but wasnt sure if that was a bad sign that I was setting myself up to fall apart later. Sometimes I try to attack the hills too much giving up energy that is much needed later in the race. Feels good passing people, but nothing is worse than getting passed at the end of the race when you're out of juice. Was hoping I wouldnt find myself in the latter position today. During this first major hill, I quickly realized what everyone was talking about and came to the realization this wasnt going to be a PR course.
Surprisingly, making the climb up mile 3 and 4, caught Alex at the crest of the hill. I think the conditions as well as a hangover may have taken away a little of his performance. Usually my head-to-head "victories" over Alex are the results of him not being at the starting line on-time. Otherwise he usually smokes me out there.
Dissappointed a little in mile 5 as I didnt recover from the uphill as quickly as I would have liked. I was just wiped out and coasted a little too long on the dirt road rather than getting back on-pace.
After mile 5, I worked with Jose Ortiz (it was probably more one sided with me just hanging in there and using him as motivation to keep going). Wasnt drafting or running off his back, was usually off his side or a few paces back. It definitely helped to keep me focussed and we spent the next 5 miles picking people off. Only got passed by one person over the last 6 or so miles, and no idea what his deal was, but he basically sprinted by us around mile 8 wearing a yellow t-shirt and must have been holding back or using the Alex approach of starting from last place.
Shoe came untied just before the 7 miler marker and debated whether to stop to re-tie or just keep going. Given how fatigued I was and that I had no feeling in my hands, I decided to stick it out as long as my shoe wasnt completely coming off or throwing off my stride. Luckily stayed put for the remainder of the race.
Right around 8.5 miles I saw what I thought was the last hill and gutted through it, although was starting to lose my form and wasnt feeling too great. Was even more disappointed when I saw there must have been 2 more hills to conquer over that last mile. That course didnt forgive much. Dont get me wrong, there were plenty of downhill sections, but I just dont feel like I quite make up for the uphills on the downs.
Finished "strong" picking off a few more runners going uphill over the last mile, but definitely didnt have much in the tank. Not sure what to make out of today's race. Goal was to hit 5:35 pace, but ended up instead around 5:44. Tough course and the race capped off an 80 mile week. Hope to rebound at New Bedford in a few weeks.
Havent seen the team results yet. We were definitely depleted between vacations and injuries.
Team Update: SRR 10th out of 17 teams. We should be able to pick off some of these teams over the upcoming races.
10. SOMERVILLE ROAD
57:16 57:53 58:43 1:03:11 1:08:56 (1:09:37) (1:11:00) = 5:05:59
Christopher Klucznik 30, Alex White 28, Sean McDonough 30, Christopher
Smith 47, Kevin Richard 52, Jesse Morrow 36, Sean McDonough 51