Notes
19.5%
Place Bib# Name G Age City St Div/Tot Div Gen/Tot G Time Pace
189 584 Joseph Selvaggi M 44 BOSTON MA 55/139 M40-49 165/426 M 02:06:17 7:54
234 256 Anthony Schreiner M 53 BOSTON MA 30/88 M50-59 193/426 M 02:09:34 8:06
254 220 Pauline Donnelly F 38 BOSTON MA 21/94 F30-39 51/279 F 02:11:17 8:13
457 127 Virginia Dodge F 39 BOSTON MA 52/94 F30-39 144/279 F 02:26:21 9:09
589 664 Alice Taggart F 31 NEEDHAM MA 83/94 F30-39 220/279 F 02:40:43 10:03
605 33 Michael Tsung M 33 BOSTON MA 111/124 M30-39 378/426 M 02:42:38 10:10
614 479 Julie House F 28 BROOKLINE MA 44/51 F20-29 231/279 F 02:44:28 10:17
Mile 1: 11:03 (gun time, no chip time)
Mile 2: 8:17
Mile 3: 8:16
Mile 4: 8:36
Mile 5: 9:16
Mile 6: 8:36
Mile 7: 8:48
Mile 8: 8:30
Mile 9: 9:11
Mile 10: 10:03
Mile 11: 9:53
Mile 12 & 13: 20:17 (10:09)
Mile 14: 8:11
Mile 15: 8:53
Mile 16: 7:58
Had a great race today and a fun time. :)
I met Joe and Pauline at their condo on Beacon Street at 7:45 a.m., where we were joined by Tony, who is literally my across-the-street neighbor. He and his wife Geesa (spelling?) are runners, and Tony is in fact a triathlete. Geesa is out of town, so it was just Tony today. So the four of us drove up and met Chad, another Beacon Hillion. I also found Julie, the head Yellow Coach from BostonFit. I bumped into Michael, the nice guy who gave me a ride to the same race last year, and Alice, one of the GoGo Girls.
The weather was good. It was still only in the upper 20s at race start, but sunny and clear. And the road surface was clean and dry. I remembered to wear sunglasses and apply sunscreen to my face. I was slightly overdressed, but once the race started, it was easier to remove one of my underlayers than tie my coat around my waist. I had a water bottle in one pocket and a Gatorade bottle in the other, plus Gu and beans and gloves. So all that stuff would bang around my legs if I took the jacket off. I tied it there temporarily, peeled off my topmost shirt, tied that around my shoulders and replaced the coat.
Unfortunately during the process, I dropped my fave winter running cap. It was a nice shade of blue, Nike hat with small reflective tabs spaced all around the circumference. I got it for like 5 bucks one time when I was buying hats for a winter hat/glove drive for the homeless. The hat was so nice, I decided to keep that one for myself and get a different one to donate. It has served me well for two winters, and now it is gone. Alas. Someone told me I dropped it. I looked back, but I was already too far past and didn't want to retrace my steps. I asked at the school whether there was a lost and found. I thought they might have a sweep vehicle that collected stuff because you always see gloves, scarves, shirts, etc. on the road, whether left intentionally or inadvertently. But it's gone.
I had a good race and met my goal of NO walking. The first two years I ran this race, I had to walk some of the hills. This year, I managed to keep going. I wasn't always very fast, but I held a running stride rather than a walk. I was surprised at how many people I passed on one of the final long uphills and figured most of them would probably pass me later because they were conserving their strength, but surprisingly it didn't feel like that many did pass me. Yay me! Also the final 3 miles are mostly downhill, and *I* was still passing people at that point. The final mile was my fastest of the entire race (which I also achieved last year) and another major ego boost.
I started the race with Julie because she is closer to my pace. Joe, Pauline and Tony are all speedy. But Julie was running cautiously on achy calf muscles, so I went ahead pretty early. I saw Alice near the race start, running with a friend. She must have been pacing her because Alice is way faster than me, but today she was much slower. I passed Michael on one of the hills. Then I didn't see anyone else until I rounded the final corner of the course, where Tony was waiting on the sidelines and cheered me in.
One of the volunteers along the way was playing music, so I heard the theme song to Austin Powers, which stayed with me for a few miles. Later "Song Sung Blue" popped into my head for absolutely no reason I can fathom.
Pauline last ran this race 10 years ago, so she wasn't sure she could beat the time she set back then, but she did, by 5 minutes or so. Tony was satisfied with his time. Joe . . . had a poor race. He said he felt crowded at the beginning, so then he made an effort to make up some time and believes he went out too fast and crashed. The middle hilliest section was tough, and he had to walk. Meanwhile, I'm just in awe of his finishing time, 20 minutes faster than mine (over a mile a minute!), but I guess it's all relative.
Back at the school, I changed out of my wet clothes and grabbed a quarter piece of raisin bagel, a slice of cheese pizza, a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of hot chocolate. There was coffee and chili and chicken noodle soup as well.
The last two years, we got really nice, quarter-zip, long-sleeve technical shirts. In 2009, they even had ladies' sizes. This year, the race director emailed in advance and apologized that he was switching vendors, so we would get cotton unisex shirts instead. He wrote, "I believe that you will appreciate the shirts because of their distinctive coloring." So I was disappointed, but tried to keep an open mind. Well, the shirt is huge on me, but I don't care because the unique color is burnt sienna and I won't be wearing it. :P The race organizer already announced they're going back to tech shirts next year. :D
We also received a basic gray knit cap stitched with "Boston Prep 16." Pauline was wearing hers home in the car and commented how comfortable it was. Now, Pauline is similar in size to me. Well, I guess you saw her photo in the Beacon Hill Times article, but it doesn't do her justice. She's a little taller than me, but very slender build, delicate features, porcelain skin and strawberry blonde hair. Joe glanced over at her wearing the knit cap and said, "You look like someone who repairs furnaces for a living." ROFL Maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, had a good time, rolled my legs out as soon as I got home, and now I get to take tomorrow off, which is good timing since we are expecting torrential rains. :)