New England XC championships - my history

 

Although I've done over 200 cross country races (202) I've only run the USATF NE championships 11 times.  My best finish was 1987 when I placed 3rd.  This weekend will be my second foray as a 60+ runner.  That field is MUCH deeper than it was last year...and I'm a lot slower.  Still, looking forward to racing!

Date	Location	St	Dist.	Time	PL	Fin	Info	Type	40+	50+	60+
11/15/87	Marlborough	MA	6.21	29:57	3	300	NEAC Championships	XC
11/13/88	Smithfield	RI	6.21	32:19	12	200	NEAC Championships	XC
11/12/89	Smithfield	RI	6.21	32:15	17	154	NEAC Championships	XC
11/15/92	Smithfield	RI	6.21	30:55	4	95	NEAC Championships	XC
11/12/95	Boston	MA	6.21	32:08	36	159	USATF NE  XC	XC
11/18/12	Westfield	MA	4.96	27:54	13	84	USATF NE  XC	XC	13
11/09/14	Boston	MA	4.96	29:06	30	119	USATF NE  XC	XC		6
11/05/17	Boston	MA	4.96	29:47	45	106	USATF NE  XC	XC		15
11/06/22	Boston	MA	4.96	31:29	33	93	USATF NE  XC	XC		13
11/05/23	Boston	MA	4.96	32:31	65	108	USATF NE  XC	XC		24
11/17/24	Attleboro	MA	5.02	33:48	50	88	USATF NE  XC	XC			2

Looks like I'm leading but there are at least 10 in front of me.  1988 New England XC champs

Looking back - November 1980

45 years ago: November 1980 – I wrapped up my first full season of cross-country at Billerica memorial high with the final three races of my junior campaign.  During this month I ran a scant 133 mile with 9 days off.  On 11/01/80 I took 4^th place at the Coaches meet at Franklin park running 16:04 over the 3+ miles. Future U-Lowell teammates Joe Regan (Central) and Tom Chamberas (Chelmsford) took 6^th and 7^th place respectively.

1.      Tom Hinds Haverhill 15:45

2.      Brian Smith Plymouth 15:53

3.      Bob Sheehan Cambridge 16:01

4.      Dave Dunham Billerica 16:04

5.      Chris Gorman Weymouth 16:11

6.      Joe Regan Central 16:13

7.      Tom Chamberas Chelmsford 16:15

The following weekend (11/08) on a rainy and cold day I finished in 5^th place at the State Class meet at Franklin park running a 16:11. I qualified for the state championships (Chambo who beat me by one second, was the only runner that I lost to in dual meets over my two varsity seasons).

1.     Mike Flynn Woburn 15:46

2.     Shawn Coghlan Brockton 15:55

3.     Brian Smith Plymouth 16:06

4.     Tom Chamberas Chelmsford 16:09

5.     Dave Dunham Billerica 16:10

 

The final XC race of the year was the State meet which was also held at Franklin park (11/15).  I improved my time bringing it down to 15:48 to finish in 11^th place. 

1.     Mike Flynn Woburn 15:18

2.     Jim MacPhee Arlington 15:30

3.     Shawn Coghlan Brockton 15:34

11. Dave Dunham Billerica 15:48

 

The next weekend I headed to Lowell for what was at the time the longest race I’d ever done (9.3 miles).  I went out like an idiot running a 5k and paid for it by 6 miles when I really cramped up.  I held on for a 10^th place finish (50:53) in a field of 600 finishers.  The race was put on by the recently formed Greater Lowell Road Runners.  I was the top junior (under 18) finisher but was missed in the initial awards.  The RD gave me a GLRR singlet (white with green letters) and a 1 year membership.  That was the start of my off/on relationship with GLRR that lasted until 1992 and resumed in 2005 when I was inducted into the GLRR Hall-of-Fame.

Town high points

 I had done a few town high point visits during my days of running in every town in MA, NH, VT, RI, and CT.  It wasn't top of my list of things to do but a fun addition if it worked out as I was always looking for something interesting in each town.

Recently I'd done a few town HPs while visiting fire towers in RI and teammate and hiker extraordinaire Al Bernier has been working on some of the high points in New England.  With the lingering furlough (Government shutdown) we met up this week to put a dent in the RI list.

RI has 38 cities and towns so the list is reasonably short.  On Monday we checked off 17 RI town HPs and one MA along with a couple of 5 mile runs in places I had not run previously.  It was a long day with 13 hours in the car covering almost exactly 300 miles.  I've got 8 left to go in RI and Al has 6.  Great fun!

 

XC workout

 

Little XC workout - USATF New England XC is this Sunday!

39 degrees, cloudy, and windy. 

3 warm up (25:07), quick shoe change, 

then 1 mile with strides (7:39) into 

4 times 440 with 440 rest 95.4    /    2:01    /    97.1    /    2:00    /    93.0    /    1:59    /    93.7    /    2:01

quick shoe change again, then 2 miles warm down (16:07).

Week Ending 11-9-25

 Another 90 mile week (five in a row) in addition to biking and some hiking. I'm trying to make the best of the furlough (government shutdown) but would rather be working.  During this week I visited the last fire tower I hadn't been to in Massachusetts and I visited a bunch of town high points.  I even got in my first workout in 6 months!  Onward...

Week - 90

Month - 112

Year - 3,582

Life - 166,358

Mt Wilcox - Beartown State Forest

Workout

 I haven't done a "quick" run since getting hurt in mid-August.  I've been able to train (and now have 5 weeks of 90+) but just can't get the pace back to anywhere near what it was before I got hurt.  With the USATF NE XC championships looming large (next weekend), I thought the time was right to attempt some sort of a workout.

I headed up to Windham for the great stretch of rail trail that has 3.2 miles of running without a road crossing.  Just ideal for a workout.  Temps were about 50 and there was a little breeze but it was mostly a west (cross) wind.  My goal for the workout was 3 miles under 7 minute pace.  I did 3 miles warm-up and went right into another mile with four 100 meter strides to get my legs moving.  I felt pretty good as I turned (no break) and headed back for the workout portion.

My watch was set to beep every 1/4 mile so I'd get a lot of feedback.  I felt quite good as I started what I thought was conservatively and was surprised to hit the first split in 1:40 (6:40 mile pace).  I relaxed a bit (maybe too much) and my next split was 1:43.  I'd never got slower than 1:44 and never faster than 1:38.  I definitely felt like I was working after 1.5 miles but was happy to finish strong.  I ended up running 20:21 with miles of 648, 652, and 640.  I finished with a 3 mile warm-down and called the day a success.  I'm not really ready to race but I'll give it a go.

All towers

 I've visited more than 200 different fire towers in 31 states.  This week I visited the final tower in MA.  I still need one more to close out RI (but access is restricted).  MA now has 53 as one got removed recently.

Mt Wilcox - 54th MA tower