Hynes Tavern Race Report. (Read 504 times)

Mr. 666, where's the report??

Sorry guys, this slacker pleads guilty on the report. Definitely owe one, it was a blast. After a hard day of running and stealing souls, I earned this cold one.

Better late than never....Running With The Devil - a PR* courtesy of Bealzebub Racing LLC When my RA shirt showed up in the mailbox on Saturday, I took it as a good omen. When the day’s rain stopped late Saturday or early Sunday it was an even better omen. Lowell is a historic mill city, with pretty narrow streets. The race website had recommendations for parking, but I wasn’t smart enough to print them out. I hadn’t allowed a lot of extra time, so when I got to the end of the Lowell Connector and found the street closed off for the race, I was a bit stressed. Dumping 700+ runners into a small neighborhood brings things to a snail’s pace and uses up every spot for parking. I took a couple of lefts, and saw a bunch of people leaving the front door of a church. A quick u-turn, a brief wait and I was thrilled to find a place to park. I ran to the bar, and found the registration tent in back. Jessica from the Good Times series was working the table, and reminded me that she was tired of being called Jessica from the Good Times series in my race reports. I promised once again that I would come up with a nickname for her, but I was still working on it. Without the sun it was really cold in the tent, so I left Jessica from the Good Times series (and her frozen toes) and went outside to catch some rays. I was doing some really easy jogging, and found that something was in my right shoe, making my foot really uncomfortable. I was heading for a granite step to sit and check it out when Doug (lostinthenet3) introduced himself. I was just thinking about my stupid shoe/foot, so it took me a minute to realize this was Doug that I had exchanged posts with. We chatted as I found and removed the rock that was making my foot miserable. After a couple more minutes I went back to some easy jogging, and found Rich (rike101) and Kathy. They made an announcement about the start, which was about a quarter mile away, and the crowd started heading out. I bumped into Mike from Good Times and we had a quick chat on the way. Before the race, a young lass lined up just to my left wearing a pair of green devil's horns. I said would you like to switch numbers, I think this is yours. She laughed and politely declined my most generous offer. The announcements included water stops after miles one and three, and a warning to avoid the timing chip finish mats on the first leg past the bar. The gun went off, and I found myself boxed in pretty well. Just as it started to free up a little, the pack moved from the car-free start area to a section with cars on each side of the street and everybody had to slow down and allow traffic to merge. This wasn’t a big deal for me, because my legs initially felt like crap. At about the half mile point I checked my Garmin, and it was showing an 8:30 pace. I had run a 30K a week earlier and seemed to be still feeling it, so I decided to try for a target pace of 7:30. The course had the “New England rollers” that are so typical for the area. I recall a couple of more steep inclines, but they were short climbs. The biggest drawback was the wind. The course crossed Route 495 twice, and the highway leaves the overpass we were running on completely exposed. I think 495 is three lanes at that point, so we just had to get over six lanes and the median. The worst stretch for me was the backside of a cemetery at about mile three. The wind was pretty rough, and I was planning to walk for 20 seconds or so at the mile 3 water stop. I got pretty close to the turn into the cemetery before I took the walk break, I’m glad I did because the water station was actually just before the mile 4 marker. I checked my Garmin, and found that my pace had dropped to 6:45 with a mile to go. I was passing a runner occasionally, and saw a couple more that I thought I could reel in. I guess their pace was slipping faster than mine, I did catch my targets even though my overall pace had gone up a bit to 6:47 when I crossed the line at 33:47. With 745 finishers things at the finish get hectic in a hurry. I grabbed some soup and my two free beers and hopped up on a wall for a bird’s eye view. It wasn’t long before Jessica from the Good Times series showed up, and I dubbed her the Black Widow based on her penchant for black winter gear. She said “I like that, have my way with them, then kill them.” It was nice to have this seal of approval before she headed off to find her prey, she is Jessica from the Good Times series no more. Ken from Good Times showed up shortly after, he had finished just after me. From the pictures, it appears I passed him before the mile 3 water stop at mile 4 but I don’t remember it. Doug may be able to pick an old guy with long hair and a satanic bib out of a crowd, but apparently he’s not great with introductions. I scored some points by introducing myself to his lovely wife Mellissa, then lost those points (and then some...) by messing her name up less than ten minutes later. Doug then shared an amazing weight loss story, I’ll have to let him share it. I can tell you I wouldn’t believe it if he hadn’t produced pictures to back it up. Before leaving, the lass from the start came over, said “I think you should have these” and bestowed her horns upon me. I try to remember my camera for these things, but I’m about as good at that as I am with names. No worries, Doug produced an iPhone from his pocket and Melissa did the honors. I was pretty comfy on my lofty perch, but I hopped down to present a birthday beer to Rich. All I could say is medical technology is amazing, they can keep people alive so long now. Rich took the opportunity to point out that although he is older, I have 1000 times more gray hair. I shoulda taken the beer back. At 72, George won his age group as always with a time of 41:49. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, the sun disappeared and the temperature plummeted faster than the price of Countrywide Mortgage stock. Doug reached into his bag of tricks for a jacket, and I said farewell and headed for the warmth of the bar. I hadn’t seen her before or during the race, but got a nice hug from Sue in the Hynes. I hung out with Rich and Kathy until I had to bail at about 4:15. Seeing as it was his birthday, he probably closed the joint. The only thing better than familiar faces is adding to your list of familiar faces. Gotta love RA meetups, it was great to meet Doug and his wife. I saw pictures of MissPratt at http://www.jimrhoades.com/08/hynes/ but didn’t see her before, during or after. Maybe that will be in my next enthralling race report. Selected celebrity FTGTS** runner photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/badbadbadbaddawg/HynesTavern5Miler with my usual peanut gallery commentary. Good Times kicks off on April Fool's Day, I'll have to trade in my horns for a jester's hat for that one. * RunningAHEAD shirts apparently make you faster, they're very aerodynamic **I'll go with FTGTS from now on, it's easier than typing From The Good Times Series.

Baddog It was nice to meet you and the other's you introduced me to. Doug.