The 2017 USATF-NE Grand Prix is now over. It didn’t play out anything like I had hoped,
but I finished it. Starting in February
in Amherst for the 10 miler, I thought I was getting myself into shape, but the
rest of the year just never came together!
The Baystate Marathon was the last stop for the series. The last and only time I ran at Baystate,
things went incredible well.
Fast forward to this year, I was ramping up for the race
pretty well, after a year of aches and pains and super low motivation, I had a
solid 5 week block from 8/14to 9/17 and then started developing a cough that just
would not go away. Come to find out, I
had walking pneumonia. So, 4.5 weeks
before Baystate I was barely running, just trying to get my respiratory system
back in check so I could at least compete at Baystate and finish off the
series. About 3 weeks before the race I did a
3 mile run at 8:12 pace, which I believe was the low point on the sickness
level. But, I rested and got
better…better enough and went into Baystate with realistic goals and a body
capable of executing a pretty solid game plan.
Race day started out cool enough, maybe 50 degrees. Not perfect, but good considering the way the
weather has been lately. We really never
had a great weather day at a single USATF GP raced this year, it was very odd.
After parking and hanging around a bit, it was port-pottie
time and wait around until the start. My
plan was to start much further back than if I were racing it. I was thinking somewhere around 7 minute pace
seemed reasonable. I ended up starting
right near the 3:05 Pacer and some familiar faces.
Gun goes off and here we go.
Man there were a lot of people around, I am not used to being in such
large packs. I felt like I was bouncing
off everybody! I fell into stride with
Leslie O’Dell and some other master females which were near or around us. For most of the first 13 miles I ran with
Leslie, Ginger Reiner whom caught up to us around 6? And a couple other random
dudes, other then the few seconds that Leslie was laid out on the ground after
a cone jumped out in front of her, making her do a triple somersault and skid
across the pavement before rejoining the group.
I did not know she was an aspiring gymnast; she should stick to running…
 |
| If you want to see more pics, check out Leslie's Facebook page, there are 100s |
Pretty early, my legs felt…rough, but, my energy was good
and I kept pushing along. After 13, our
little group broke up and I was somewhat alone, but chasing people down. I started clicking away some 645s and passed
a bunch of people. I got through 30k
still feeling somewhat OK. Tired, sore,
but OK. The next few miles I stayed in
that same range of 645ish. I slowed a
bit on 22 and 23 to 650s and then 24 was finally over 7. I was pretty done. I ran just over 7 again and then the last mile I was just under 8. I had no more umph!
I crossed the line in 91st place. I was in 138th at the half way
point, so I would say I was pretty successful considering. I did not negative split the course, which
pissed me off a bit, but hey….I haven’t run over 10 miles in a month and a
half!
Afterwards…we headed to Beerworks for beer and food. Barely anyone in the joint….that makes post
marathon food and beer much more enjoyable than being cramped with hundreds of
others!! My only complaint with Beerworks
is that the bathroom is soooofaraway from the bar. But, maybe that is a good thing?
Next…RI 6 Hour is tomorrow…I play Race Director for a day
and watch others suffer! After that, get
in shape…again and run some decent races.
I am looking forward to next years GP Series, maybe I can get my rear in
gear and score for the team once next year!
