Fall racing 2009

My goal for the 3k this winter was to be 10:15, so in the Brown Running Club outdoor mini-meet, I ran 2k at the same speed. Well, that was my goal; I ended up running a little slower than that. Excuses: it was dark and windy; I was running alone. I went through the mile in 5:34 and then did one more lap. I was supposed to run 6:50, but it was more like 6:56. (results)

Then we ran the Li'l Rhody Runaround (results). I was not running this race hard, on the theory that doing a hard 8-mile trail race would be counterproductive to my larger long-term goals of running fast miles and 3k's. So I let the leaders go and settled into third place. I traded places back and forth with a few men, but I never saw another woman during the race, so I ended up third. Somehow I ended up with a gold medal for this effort, the overall winner being taken out of the age groups and second place being in a different age division. Whatever! I also got a subscription to New England Runner, because they said "does anyone want a subscription to New England Runner?" and I said "Yes!" The winner of this race, Renee Knapp, finished two and a half minutes ahead of me. I would later race her in the 3k in January. Alan got outkicked for third place and ended up fourth.

Then we ran the Andover Country Club race, which was maybe 6k, maybe 3.5 miles, who really knows? (results) When I saw Erin Dromgoole warming up, I knew I could not win. Then I saw Melissa Donais on the starting line, and thought that I might be able to race her (considering that I beat her at Tufts). As it turned out, there was also another woman, Jen Lee, and all three of them managed to get in front of me and stay there during the course of the race.

About halfway through, I was passed by a woman in sneakers and a longsleeve. As with people who make a lot of noise breathing, and people who race in skirts, I refuse to be beaten by people in sneakers and longsleeves. I let her go, but I kept her as my goal. I eventually surged and reeled her in, and just ran on her shoulder. I had no idea how long the race was (it was a bunch of loops on a golf course, and the course had been changed since the previous year) so when we ran up a hill into a bunch of houses, I thought the finish line might be just ahead, so to be safe, I surged to leave the woman behind. It wasn't the finish line. We ran down a hill through some parking lots and then approached the finish line -- but then there was another loop! "How the heck much longer is this race?" I shouted to Alan. He said something. I powered through the loop, which was about a minute long, and finished without being challenged by this sneaker woman. She ended up finishing safely 28 (!) seconds behind me.

I talked to my college teammate Lisetta after the race. There was a long awards ceremony, because they went very deep in each age group (12 deep in the open division) and everyone got Pilsner glasses. Here are Alan and me with our prizes:



Now if that's not the cutest picture... Alan now has four Andover Country Club race Pilsner glasses.

Mayor's Cup, USATF-NE XC

Mayor's Cup (10/25/09) and the USATF-NE cross country championships (11/08/09) were both held at Franklin Park. The first race was a 5k, the second was 6k. Neither was a great race for me. Mayor's Cup was very muddy, which made for slow times all around.

Mayor's Cup (results): I was hoping to run fast, maybe close to the 18:26 I ran in Providence. No such luck. I went out the first mile in under six minutes, but then slowed down. I finished behind some people I would have rather beaten. However, at least there was this nice picture of me finishing:



USATF-NE XC (results): My plan was to go out with Karina (my former coach at Williams) and then see what I could do. Here I am with Karina a little after the mile mark, executing my race plan:



I pulled away from Karina around two miles, or maybe on Bear Cage Hill. I went through the 5k mark faster than I had run the muddy 5k at Mayor's Cup, so that was good. At the end, I got outkicked, which was not good, but so it goes. (Click on the picture to see the Flickr page, and then you can see her passing me.)



Looking at the results again now, I see that I finished ahead of a lot of fast people -- some of whom (Renee Knapp, Anna King) have since beaten me in indoor track.

Tufts 10k for Women

Only eight days after the Ronald McDonald Women's Classic, this was also a breakthrough race for me. My previous 10k PR was 40:36, which I ran by myself at my hometown 5k, the Stonington Six, on July 4. I broke that in this race by over two and a half minutes, running 37:53. This was a vast improvement over my Tufts 10k time of just one year ago; I ran 44 minutes at the 2008 Tufts 10k. (results)

Getting on the starting line was very nerve-racking. They called people to line up by time, slowest first. When they called six-minute pace, I started making my way towards the starting line. But they loaded it from the back, so I had to fight my way through a huge crowd. They were introducing Joan Benoit Samuelson and singing the national anthem, and I wasn't even at the starting line yet! I was with a master's runner who had flown up from Maryland for the race, and she was afraid we wouldn't make it. But we did. I found Betsy -- it was my plan to run with Betsy, unbeknownst to Betsy -- and lined up with about a minute to spare. Melissa Donais happened to be right there on the starting line with me.

At the gun, Betsy went out fast and I went with her. We ran the first mile right behind Joan Benoit Samuelson! I kept hoping there would be a race photographer there; it would have been my new profile picture. I was nearly stepping on her heels. But no such luck. The picture below is in the beginning of the race, but no Joanie visible.



We went through the mile in about 5:45. Joanie kept going, and Betsy slowed down. I stayed with Betsy. We got into a nice pack and I just hung on. At about the mile mark, Alan appeared -- he had parked the car, so he met me on the course. He started running my speed, but on the sidewalk, shouting encouragement and advice.

We went through the next few miles in about six minutes each. The pace was probably one or two seconds per mile faster than what I felt like running, so I would slowly slip off of the pack. "Ten hard strides!" Alan would shout, and I would painfully reel the pack back in. Here we are crossing the bridge back to Boston, about a mile from the finish. Betsy is in blue.



We hit the five-mile mark in 30:16. "Oh, that's a bit of a PR," I thought, having recently run a 5-mile race in 31:20. Then I realized that it was not 31:16; it was 30:16. Ordinarily I would doubt the accuracy of any mile mark that gave me a one-minute PR, but this was a national championship race, so it was probably correct. I'll take it!

In the last mile, the pack broke up and Betsy was well ahead of me. I was just fighting to not slow down too much, to not let people pass me. The woman in pink (not the New Balance Boston woman, the other one) was making a terrible racket, very noisy breathing. I refuse to be beaten by such people, but sometimes I can't help it. I did manage to beat her this time, though.



I turned onto the final straightaway, which was very long. I could see the finish line, and I could hear the announcer saying, "the women finishing now are running under 37 minutes." So I thought I would surely achieve my goal of 38 minutes. I ran hard. Near the finish line, I realized that Betsy was not running as fast as I was, so I could pass her! I kicked as hard as I could and leaned across the finish line. It was a photo finish:



The race results had me beating Betsy (and the woman in yellow). A few months later, I happened to look at the results again, and they had changed the ordering from net time (chip time) to gun time. Now Betsy was listed ahead of me! If you look closely at the above picture, it is clear that her foot crossed the line before mine. However, she apparently crossed the starting line before me, also. National championship races are supposed to be determined by gun time, so the current results are the correct ordering.

I was 55th at the national championships -- and I finished ahead of Melissa Donais! (She won all the races when I was in high school, and she ran for the hated Andover.) I also would have placed fifth on the New Balance Boston team if I had been on it, which is the team that won the race.

Ronald McDonald 5k Women's Classic

It's been nearly three months since I've posted, and Meghan has demanded an update! So here we go.

Ronald McDonald 5k for Women, 10/4/09 (results)

This was a breakthrough race for me. At the Downtown 5k, I had just cracked 19:00, running 18:58 (chip time, 19:01 gun time). I expected it to take a while to take off the next minute, but I ended up running 18:26 at this race, making the top five and beating some really fast people.

I had wanted to get in the top five, because there was money for the top five. However, when the gun went off, I quickly put that goal out of my head. An Olympian (Amy Rudolph), two Kenyans, a local track star who can run 4:50 in the mile (Steph Reilly), and a bunch of other fast people were all around. One minute or so into the race, I actually laughed out loud -- what am I doing up here in the front with all these people?



Rudolph, a Kenyan, and Reilly were in a pack in the front. Then the second Kenyan, then a girl in a white shirt. I got into the pack behind all those people, and just hung with them. We went through the mile in something like 5:45. Here we are at the mile. Trish Hillery is still leading this little pack.



Eventually three of us -- I didn't know who any of these people were at the time, but it turns out they are Kim and Katie -- broke off from the rest of them in our little pack. The girl in white was far ahead of us, and everyone else far ahead of her. But I just hung on to Kim and Katie. Here we are a little before mile 2.



Kim took the lead and I kept hanging on. We were gaining on the girl in white (Nicole Radzik). With about a quarter of a mile to go, Katie and I passed Kim and then passed the girl in white. It was a race for fifth place! We turned the corner and made a sharp turn into the Brown stadium onto the track. I kicked for everything, afraid that Katie would pass me back. But she didn't. Here is a picture of me trying to out-sprint Katie.



And the Kenyan was only two seconds ahead of me! We also won second place in the team competition, and I happened to win the raffle for shoes, so I went home with many presents.