December 2010

 15 years ago (December 2010): I only raced twice during this month, I had been aiming toward the USATF XC national championships since CMS was fielding a master’s team and I hoped to score for the team.  We flew down to Charlotte and had a lot of fun catching up with teammates. Since the race wasn’t until the afternoon Eric Morse and I killed a little time in the morning bagging the Mecklenburg county high point (just a stroll in someone’s front yard). The first loop of the course was mostly dirt “trail”, probably more of a dirt road than trail. It was plenty wide and had no sharp turns to worry about. A form of that loop would be done three times and the only hill would be negotiated three times as well. It was a good 50’ climb over a short distance with the downhill in about 100m or less, rumor had it the course was about 6.3 miles.  The day was ideal with temps in the 40s, a little cloud cover, and no wind.  I saw Jason Cak, Francis, Byrne, and a slew of other fast guys that I knew. It was wild seeing so many fast people lining up. Eric took the line and I got behind him, since everyone needed to line up behind the one runner allowed on the start line.

 

I got out well and hit the mile in 5:39 with Dave Quintal a couple of seconds ahead.  I passed about 10 guys on the first time down the hill and kept DQ in sight as my second mile was 5:45. I began to notice a lot of guys in front of me with 50-55 on their back (we had age group numbers on our backs).  I tried to pick off guys as the crowd seemed to thin as I hit 5km in 17:40. Soon after I saw teammate Greg Putnam standing on the side of the trail.  Greg jumped back in and followed me through a 5:44 mile that included the hill.  No one passed me in the next mile but the gap to DQ was now 15 seconds. I latched onto GLRR’s Mark Reeder and a guy in the 60-64 age group!  Greg went by and I couldn’t go with him.  I crossed the line in of 35:44 which is pretty close to my best 10km time as a master, so I was pleased.

 

The team did well, finishing 13th of 26 teams. I was the fifth man or the final scoring member of the team, but Scott Clark (35:53) and Rod Viens (36:01) were close behind.  We didn’t really stay much longer, just cleaned up a bit and headed for the airport. It was a quick trip but a lot of fun.

                                                           

USATF XC National Championships - Charlotte, NC December 11, 2010 - Individual results (389 finishers)

Pl       Time   Name            Age Team               Category Cat Place

1        32:36.0         Peter Magill   49 Compex Racing   M45-49                   1

2        32:47.8         Chris Cushing          43 Compex Racing   M40-44                   1

3        32:52.2         Mike Livingston       45 Asics Aggie RC    M45-49                   2

7        33:16.5         Francis Burdett        45 GSH *                M45-49                   3 *Sometimes runs for CMS

37      34:26.8         Eric Morse     45 CMS                             M45-49                   12

67      35:09.3         George Adams         40 CMS                             M40-44                     39

82      35:38.7         David Quintal          47 CMS                             M45-49                     25

85      35:42.0         Greg Putnam           41 CMS                             M40-44                     46

86      35:44.5         Dave Dunham         46 CMS                             M45-49                     26

93      35:53.9         Scott Clark    44 CMS                             M40-44                   49

100     36:01.8         Rod Viens     43 CMS                             M40-44                   54

 

Teams:

1 Compex Racing 50

2 Atlanta TC  57

3 Dirigo                  147

13 CMS                   281

   

Back row (l to r): George Adams, Scott Clark, Rod Viens, Gregory Putnam. Front row (l to r): Eric Morse, David Quintal, Dave Dunham

 

The final full week of December had me traveling out to Woodford Vermont for the “I Love Woodford” 3.5 mile snowshoe race.  This was the 7th time I’d made the trek to Woodford.  I drove the three hours to the race site a bit early so that I’d have plenty of time to mark the course prior to the race.  Double-J (Jim Johnson) joined me and we were surprised to find the snow well packed and the course super-fast.  The only problem we had was the icy layer under the snow which made for fast running but made it really difficult to put out flags.  After marking the course I changed into my race gear and headed out to try and loosen up.  I gave it my best and ended up running my fastest time at Woodford by over two minutes!  JJ won in a new course record, just crushing the course in a truly amazing 20:28.  Teammate Tim Van Orden (TiVO) took second running in 21:01 and I rolled in at 22:14 for third place.