Notes
First time back at x-country since high school (other than the Andover race). Very fast field, by the 1-mile mark I was already back in 80th place and that was rolling a 5:15 opening mile. Went out much too fast and it came back to get me. I had wanted to stick with Alex and Jake but quicky got dropped by the time the 2-mile mark came around. At that point it was just trying to limit the damage and not toss in the towel. Knew I was going to be finishing towards the back of the pack.
Between miles 2 and 4 I had a Greater Boston and Western Mass guy ahead of me that I was trying to stick with. Out in the woods, I let them gap me by at least 20 seconds and felt miserable. Got a good push up the hill and got them in range for the last loop around the field. Western Mass guy was cooked but the Greater Boston runner stayed even with me to the final straight away. We both kicked and I thought I had him for a second, but he found another gear and pulled ahead with a yard to go. Felt good to have an opportunitity to battle at the end (albeit for 82nd place), good memories of high school although back then my kick usually won out. Getting old sucks.
Was a good time being out there with the team and grabbed a few beers after the race. Wish I had run about a minute faster so a little disappointed in my time. Not sure if it was just not being in good enough shape or if yesterday's race sucked more energy out of me than I thought. Havent raced back to back days in a long time so difficult to say. Interesting to go from winning a race on Saturday to finishing in the back 75% the following day. These guys are fast.