Jones 10 Miler

Well, the moral of the story is: there is more than one way to a 55:05 10 mile, and I chose the hard way. Up by 6am and out the door by 6:45 to meet up with new CMS teammate Tim Mallard and headed on our way to Amherst. Had some good tunes flowing on the ride over and Tim and I were both excited for the prospect of racing. It had been a while since Boston Prep and I was really curious to see if my fitness had changed much over the last couple weeks. My training had been so-so with recent cold symptoms and sore arches. Coming off the cold that got to my lungs, I was worried my ability to hold a tough pace might be hindered. Regardless of the conditions I was determined to bring a hard effort. I had goals of scoring for CMS (top 5) and breaking my PR of 56:18 (Jones 10, 2010). 

It was a beautiful blue-bird Februrary morning from inside the car, but upon arrival I realized the winds from Saturday hadn't exactly died down. Making our way to number pick-up, you could just feel the energy in cafeteria. It was great to see that so many good runners from the NE area had come out to race. I noticed a number of really solid BAA guys right away and knew CMS would need to seriously rise to the challenge if we wanted to compete.

I was so excited and chatting it up with people that I had forgotten to change into my running shoes and almost missed the group as they headed out for warm-up. Tim, Alan B, and Kevin G and I jogged easy for 15-20 minutes and then it was sort of hectic getting to the starting line. Jogging over I did a couple quick pick-ups and stretched a few tight muscle groups. Before I knew it we were on the line and the starting gun sounded.

The first mile went by effortlessly as it nearly always does. I was in a huge pack composed of a majority of the big guns. I could see Nate Jenkins out front and Greg Hammett and Brandon Newbould, plus a dozen or two others, just ahead of me. I hit the mile in about 5:14, 16 seconds faster than I had intended. The second mile was downhill and probably even faster. I didn't wear a watch so I have pretty limited data for the race overall. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but I think it was a mistake to go out as hard as I did. By the time I got to the 3 mile mark I was feeling some serious acid pouring into the bloodstream and my hip flexors were tight. Overall my quads felt flat. On the brighter side, my breathing felt as good as could be hoped for.


Just beginning the hill, teammate Kevin Tilton came by me at a cadence I couldn't match. He offered some words of encouragement and then disappeared up the hill in front of me. I let a lot of people get away on the hill and mile 4 must have been slow. I was a little freaked out that I was hurting so bad so early on, so I tried my best to recover and resume a good cadence atop the hill. I knew I had a decent buffer with the 2 fast miles to start. Sometime around the top of the major hill, new CMSer Dan Vassallo came alongside me. He and I chatted briefly and began working on chasing down a few guys just ahead. 

Miles 5 and 6 rolled by pretty uneventfully.  Dan gapped me slightly, but I chased down and passed a GBTC guy and otherwise maintained position. I enjoyed the small rollers and the dirt road was really nicely packed compared to the ice and mud from 2010. Around 6 1/2 I developed a pretty mean side stitch and had to back off a bit to recover. I'm pretty sure I was running mid-high 5:20s through 7 miles but then I had a serious lapse in focus. Dan was gaining ground on me and I was running in no-man's-land. Rather than focus on maintaining form, I started tuning out the race and my pace started slipping. 


I tried to take a cup of water from an aid station but instead I choked, taking no water down, and staggered to keep running. Right around this point a pack finally caught me and I did my best to tuck in with them to protect myself from the wind in mile 8. I hung onto the pack as we approached the brutal last 1.3 miles of the course. There is roughly a 3/4 mile long hill and it turned directly into the oncoming wind gusts. I took shelter behind a tall BAA runner and moved past him as we crested the hill. 

UNH alumni Hoogie had passed me on the hill going for broke. Seeing him pulled me out of my complacency and I started kicking with him. Cresting the hill, I passed a couple more guys and I could see the finish. Rounding into the parking lot, the clock read 54:20 and I knew that 55:00 would be a challenge. I worked the oval parking lot like an indoor track, pushing the straight, relaxing into the final turn and drove the final straight hard, finishing in 55:05 for 29th place. I was pretty sure I had been the fifth CMS man behind Jenkins, Hammett, Tilton and Vassallo. 


Overall I'm pretty well satisfied with my effort, but I also have areas for improvement. I probably should have run more even splits because it felt like I was running backwards a lot of the race. Compared with Boston Prep where I finished faster than I started, this race was a whole other animal. I went out probably under 10:20 for 2 miles and faded to 5:30/mile. Tim had the opposite experience where he was dropping 5:20s late in the race after a more moderate start. A friend asked me how I thought my time at Amherst compared to Boston Prep and I'm pretty sure Boston Prep was a superior effort. ~54:30 at Amherst might have been roughly equivalent. I was also bummed that I lost focus and let go several guys who beat me by only a few seconds. My competitive spirit is slowly waking. Moving forward with more racing I hope to stay competitive all the way through the finish line. 


Ultimately though, I achieved both of my goals. #1 Score for CMS - I scored, snagging the 5th spot but well back from Dan and Kevin who ended up finishing together. Still, this is my first time scoring and I won't take it for granted! CMS has a really solid group from from 6-10 or 11 and any one of those guys can fit into the scoring in the next GP event. #2 Run under PR of 56:18 - I ran 73 seconds faster than 2010. That's a pretty nice stat and anytime I run a PR I have to be excited. Running in the mid-50s is promising for the shorter road stuff and I'm really interested in seeing what I can put together for a 5 Mile. Maybe St. Paddy's in Portsmouth? 


Post race it was a blast talking with so many friends and acquaintances in the running scene. It felt like almost everyone I know was there. The Open team finished 3rd behind the BAA and closely trailing GBTC. I'm confident the team will rise to the challenge for the upcoming GP races. You can sure as hell bet I'll have an eye out for that pack of 3 GBTC guys that went 54:30 three weeks from now at New Bedford! Tim and I cruised home recounting our races, I think each of us are feeling both satisfied and hungry for the next challenge ahead!


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As a note to my teammates who had a tough race or are feeling banged up* The most important thing is to train and race healthy. If you have an injury that is manageable, then manage it. Get A.R.T., Chiropractic, Massage... whatever is necessary to manage it and continue running without too much pain. But if the injury is unmanageable and your gut tells you that the solution is rest, or PT, or surgery, then take care of it. This team is strong enough to await your healthy return to racing. Looking forward to the coming GP races with everybody.

Happy and healthy running,

Scott