Notes
First race back since being injured (although did run two pub series race in between off 0 mileage weeks). Didn't know what to expect and wasn't really targeting this as anything but a fun Thanksgiving morning run. Wasn't going to jog through it, intended to put in a solid effort, but knew this wouldn't be at my target pace when I am in shape. I think going in relaxed helped and didn't have any extra pressure on myself.
Went through a few wardrobe changes before I left the house, ultimately deciding on compression long sleeve shirt and tights. Definitely dressed pretty warmly, but given my current fitness I figured the extra weight wouldnt hurt, might as well be comfortable. That wind was pretty rough making it feel extra cold and although I started off with shorts, one quick open of the front door had me rummaging for more clothing. Temps were right below 30, but wind chill made it feel like 22. Found some of the usual crew at the starting line and sure enough I was probably the most over-dressed in the first couple of rows.
Gun went off for an on-time start and quickly a pack of 3 BAA guys bolted to the front, never looking back the entire race. I settled into a chase pack at a pace that felt somewhat comfortable, although I could hear myself breathing hard within the first 400 meters. First mile marker was off, so paces above are a hybrid between the garmin reading and adding back in the "overage".
Chase pack stayed pretty close together until Powderhouse rotary when the first runners began to make their move. I let the first couple pull away before I dug in a little and tried not to lose more ground. First two miles are slight net uphills although nothing too bad, for the most part just gradual inclines with the steepest perhaps being going over the railroad tracks just beyond Ball Square. At the two mile mark, was definitely feeling fatigue and couldn't quite close the gap on the runners who had pulled away. I made an effort to maintain position.
The third mile has the most hills, with two pretty good ones - the first on Central approaching Highland and then the second starting on Central on the other side of Highland and then continuing up after the right onto Summer through St. Catherine's. I began to pull away slightly from the chase pack, which at this point turned into a single file line once again. I had one challenge from a guy in a Minuteman singlet (umass?) going up that first hill. I put in a little surge, held him off, and just waited for him to strike again. Surprisingly never saw him again after that. At this point I began closing the gap on Ian Nurse in front of me who had broken contact from me much earlier.
The last mile is a pretty nice net downhill which on a normal day would be an easy cruise into the finish. Today this was countered by a pretty significant headwind which just sapped the rest of the energy out of me. I pulled closer to Ian but just didn't have it in me to close it out today. At this point I knew we were already out of the top 5, so there was little incentive to battle it out hard. If I wasn't coming back from injury, I probably would have made the hard push at the finish as I usually try to finish my races strong. I'm not implying that I don't try when I'm not fighting for a top spot, just given my current circumstances and being pretty shot at this point in the race, just didn't have that usual killer instinct to finish it off.
Pulled into the finish at 21:39 for 7th place. To my surprise when I got home, I found out I actually beat last year's time by 17 seconds. Never would have expected a PR today, but at the same time thinking about last year, I had tried to race 3 times (Milton Gobbler, NE XC Champs, Gobblex3) and do a track workout over the course of 6 days which probably accounted for my fatigue.
Needless to say, I was actually pretty happy with my performance given that I only started running again a few weeks ago and still running less than 30 miles a week. Not a PR pace if I were in normal racing shape, but not terribly far off either.
Robert won the senior division, Larissa won for the women. Solid representation by the healthy SRR crew who were in town. Then stepped inside the Burren for a few well-earned post-race guiness before 10 in the morning.
Place No. Name Guntime Nettime Pace Town St Ag Sex/Tot S Div/Tot Div
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1 2471 Colman Hatton 19:35 19:35 4:54 BOSTON MA 26 1/1097 M 1/179 M2029
2 109 David Bedoya 20:32 20:32 5:08 SOMERVILLE MA 36 2/1097 M 1/406 M3039
3 2224 Jonathan Baker 20:42 20:41 5:11 CAMBRIDGE MA 30 3/1097 M 2/406 M3039
4 273 Chad Carr 21:13 21:13 5:19 CAMBRIDGE MA 37 4/1097 M 3/406 M3039
5 2638 Eric Mendoza 21:16 21:16 5:19 DORCHESTER MA 29 5/1097 M 2/179 M2029
6 2681 Ian Nurse 21:37 21:37 5:25 BOSTON MA 35 6/1097 M 4/406 M3039
7 1016 Christopher Klucznik 21:39 21:39 5:25 SOMERVILLE MA 31 7/1097 M 5/406 M3039
8 2900 Aaron Ladd 21:48 21:48 5:27 LEXINGTON MA 30 8/1097 M 6/406 M3039
9 2720 Cj Pierce 21:49 21:49 5:28 WESTON MA 21 9/1097 M 3/179 M2029
10 2911 William Crabtree 22:01 22:01 5:31 ? 28 10/1097 M 4/179 M2029