Jones Realtor Group 10 Miler

On Sunday February 27th I headed out to Amherst, MA for the Jones Realtor Group 10 Miler. This trip served two purposes, race a longer hard course, and eat some good college food! I wasn't sure I was going to head out to Amherst when I got up in the morning. With the snow overnight I was afraid the 2 hour drive would turn into a nightmare. After checking the weather and traffic reports I decided to go for it. At this point I was thinking that the snow would make a very tough course in Amherst even tougher. I have not raced since December and had a rough January training due to sickness so I wasn't sure how this was going to go. But with the last few weeks of training going well, I really wanted to find out what kind of shape I was in and get in a hard long effort no matter the conditions. After getting signed up I headed out for a warm up with some CMS teammates and others over the first mile and a half of the course. We also took a look at the finish area for those who had not seen it before. Soon we were back at the school getting on our racing flats on and getting ready to race!

After a few strides we were called to the starting line and very quickly we were off and running. Right away Justin Fyffe and Jesse Regnier shot to the front followed by Andy McCarron (CMS), Greg Hammett (CMS), myself and a slew of other runners. The first mile was snow and slush covered making it pretty slick and I felt like I was putting in a bit more effort than I wanted to run the pace I was going. I hit the first mile in 5:21 with Andy and Greg and at this point thought that maybe I should back off a bit. Over the next downhill mile I let Greg and Andy pull away a bit as I tried to settle into a more comfortable pace. The second mile went by in 5:10 (10:31) and I was all alone, but I could hear someone close behind and catching up to me. Not long after that Kibrom Temelso went by me. I tucked in behind him and hung on for a while as the course started to slowly head up hill. Soon we made a right hand turn and the real climbing started. We went by the three mile mark together in 5:50 (16:21) but soon Kibrom pulled away and I was back to running alone and not feeling all that good. My legs were feeling very heavy and slow as I paid for the quick downhill start. Not long after that Drew Best went by me looking strong and quickly making his way up to Kibrom. This all took place while going up a monster hill. Soon we hit the dirt road which was very snowy, icy, muddy and very slippery. Everyone I could see was swerving back and forth across the road trying to find traction. The conditions made this part of the race pretty difficult and slow. I hit the four mile mark with a 6:16 (22:37), yes, it was that slow. At this point I noticed that Drew had pulled away from Kibrom and he was coming back to me. I was starting to feeling a little bit better and really started trying to put in some effort to catch Kibrom. About half way through the 5th mile I went past Kibrom and tried to put some distance on him. He tried to hang on, but finally I got away from him and felt some space open up. I hit the 5th mile, still on the dirt road, in 5:43 (28:20). Just after this I finally got back on some pavement and was pumped to be running with out slipping and sliding all over the place. At this point I really tried to put the hammer down and put Kibrom away, I also had my eyes set on Drew in the distance. The sixth mile went by in 5:32 (33:53) and I felt like I was making up ground on Drew. So I pressed pretty hard to see if I could actually get up to him. I think it was during this mile that I first noticed him looking back 2 or 3 different times. I hit the seventh mile in 5:20 ( 39:13) and still had my eye on Drew, but I felt like I wasn't making up any ground. I also could no longer hear Kibrom behind me which had me confident that I had put a good distance on him.....but I wasn't turning around to find out! The eighth mile was reached in 5:35 (44:48) and I was starting to develop a pretty bad side stitch! Not sure the last time I had one of those and it had me worried for the final 2 miles which has some wicked uphill. At this point I decided just to make sure I held my position and finished up strong on the hills. The finish has a set of three hills, I hit the first one and just tried to stay relaxed and hit the ninth mile in 5:30 (50:18) At this point I did take a peak back and saw that Kibrom was a ways back, but I still felt he was in striking distance with the hills ahead. I really just tried to work the last two hills the best I could with out blowing up. Once I made it to the top of the hills I felt like I had my position secured. I made my way down to the school and around the parking lot to the finish with last mile in 5:54 (56:12) good for 6th place overall.

Race winner Justin Fyffe

After the race I went out for a cool down with my CMS teammates and some others. The consensus among everyone was that the course was at least a minute if not a minute and a half slower due to the conditions today. Looking over results from last year to this year it looks like that was the case. Some even ran more than two minutes slower. So overall I am pretty happy with the result as I was 31 seconds slower than last year. I felt like I put in a solid effort and got pretty good results for this time of year and considering my health issues in January.

Results

Splits

5:21

5:10 (10:31)

5:50 (16:21)

6:16 (22:37)

5:43 (28:20)

5:32 (33:53)

5:20 (39:13)

5:35 (44:48)

5:30 (50:18)

5:54 (56:12) (27:52 second half)