Race Results 2000 Results Race of the Month Yankee Homecoming Manhattan Half Marathon Fresh Pond DAM Oxford trail run Chilmark 5k Bristol 10k Falmouth 7.1 Results Archieve		August 2000 Race of the Month August 34th Salem Heritage Days 10K Road Race Submitted by: Shelley A McDonough 34th Salem Heritage Days 10K Road Race, Salem, Ma., 10K Cert., Sunday August 13th 9 a.m., Salem Common, Flat and fast loop course around Historic Salem. c/o Salem Common Neighborhood Assoc., Gary Freedman, PO Box 8608, Beverly, MA, 01971, (781) 631-5442, Fax:(978)744-6203 Other Races: Tuesday August 1st, 2000 Yankee Homecoming 10 Mile Newburyport, MA. While a report wasn't turned in, good performances were: Thomas O'Brien 1:03:23 6:21 105 56/440 Feliciano Protasi 1:04:14 6:26 124 63/440 James Kane 1:25:56 8:36 1023 345/440 Saturday August 5th, 2000 Manhattan Half Marathon, New York City While New Yorkers go to 'The Cape' in July, Shelley McDonough goes to Manhattan: I returned to the NY racing circuit this past weekend to run the Manhattan Half Marathon -- 2 loops around the rolling hills of Central Park. Given that I hadn't run more than 10 miles since.... well.... the marathon last fall (!), I went into this with very moderate expectations. I placed myself towards the middle of the pack (too far back, it turned out, because I spent the first 3 miles shuffling in a sea of people) and planned on just taking it easy. I didn't keep track of my pace (well, maybe I peeked once or twice), and had a wonderful, relaxing run. Probably the most pleasant racing experience I've ever had. When I crossed the line, I was thrilled to discover that what had felt like a pretty easy run had earned me a PR -- 1:42:30 (7:50 pace). Of course, that made me wonder what I could have done had I started further up in the pack and actually pushed myself ....but why ruin a good thing, right? It was a beautiful day and a fun run with 5,000 other lunatics who dragged themselves out of bed on a Sat. morning for the 7:30am starting gun. What more can one ask for? Fresh Pond, Cambridge Bruce Davie sets his sites on Falmouth and takes home second at Fresh Pond On Saturday I took advantage of the relatively low humidity to go out and race the 4.5 mile course at Fresh Pond. The plan was to treat this as a warm-up for the Falmouth road race in 2 weeks. My goal was to run 5:40 pace for 3.5 miles and then pick it up in the last mile. I picked 5:40 because it is roughly the pace I'd like to run at Falmouth for 7.1 miles if the weather is good. I had splits of 5:38 and 5:42 for the first 2 miles and an overall time of 25:11 which suggests that I was pretty much on target (5:36 average). The second half was faster than the first by 5 seconds, and I felt good. Although my closing mile still wasn't good enough for the win, I was happy with 2nd place, and am now just hoping for similar conditions in 2 weeks, instead of the traditional heat wave that normally afflicts Falmouth. Sunday August 13th, 2000 DAM Trail Race in Oxford, MA Beth Bolyn trails and travails: I went on a trail running expedition with Karen Claire this past Sunday for the "DAM Trail Race" in Oxford, MA (Sunday, August 13). It was billed as a 9 mile trail race, but the race director informed us at the start that it would actually be 10 miles or so (it seems that trail racing is not nearly as precise as road racing - a bit of a challenge for a neurotic beginning road racer like me!). This was my first trail race and Karen briefed me well on the ride out (particularly about the pace and that things are a bit slower than on the road and not burning yourself out, etc.). The area is beautiful and so was the trail -- all the sights and dodging tree trunks, rocks, roots, and puddles definitely keeps your mind occupied. Lots of hills up and down (some so steep it was more efficient to walk than to run), however, as far as trail races go, this one you could run most of the way. My understanding is that many are way too hilly to run the whole time. I finished in about 1:32 and came in third woman overall (and I think 38 out of 90 or so people). I was very psyched to place (for once in my life)! I actually passed two women along the course and my strategy was to stay behind them until they asked me to pass them, since I figured it could wear them down a bit. I hope that is not too mean, but I was not sure what they had in them (for later in the race) and I did not want to find myself in the position of trying to sustain my lead for miles on end at a clip that was too much for me. I ended up finishing ahead of both of them by a fair margin. The most exciting part of the race was a stream we had to run through -- OK I am a geek, I admit it. I think I will do more trail races -- just another sport for me to get addicted to! I would give you Karen's time, but it is not yet posted on New England trail runner web-site. I think she finished around 2 hours. Chilmark Road Race Chilmark, MA. It could only happen in New England: By coming in second Ilaria missed the first place award of Lobster down in Marthas Vineyard. While in downeast Maine, Dana took home two lobsters for her first place finish. Dana eschewed the benevolent tradition of granting clemency to her prize opting for a feast instead of returning the crustaceans back to the sea. ILARIA REBAY 19:36 6:19 2 and 48 ROBERT HAGGERTY 27:22 8:49 86 and 538 Alvin Sproul Samoset 10K Bristol, ME. Dana Laird 50:19 6:19 1 and 58 Sunday August 20th, 2000 Falmouth Raod Race 7.1 miles Falmouth, MA. For once, for once I repeat, it was perfect racing weather for the Falmouth Road Race. No-one had anything to complain about, no foul ocean winds, no scorching sun-baked macadam blacktop to sap your strength, no torrential rains. It was letter perfect! Bruce Davie and Melissa Mendel turned in fine preformances, indeed. Bruce finally managed to beat his rival, Ms. Samuelson. (Don't let her petit size, greying hair and gentle demeanor fool you, the woman is a force to be reckoned with!) Missy ran her heart out, barely missing her PR set during the pre injury days of 1998 by 13 seconds! Below are their stories! Bruce Davie wrote: The Falmouth Road Race is renowned for attracting hot, humid weather, but the temperature was in the 50's as I drove to the Cape on Sunday morning. By race time there was a clear blue sky, low humidity and a temperature near 70 - as close to ideal as you can get in summer, and a big contrast to last year's torrential rain. With my bib number of 101, I was allowed to line up in sight of the elite runners, and spotted a few famous faces before the gun went off. After a hilly first 3 miles the course flattens out and follows the shoreline, and at this point I started to make my way slowly up through the pack. I could see a woman 20 yards in front of me and eventually figured out from the cheering that it was Joan Benoit Samuelson. This was my second time running in the same event as her, and the last time she outkicked me at the end of a half marathon, so I decided to see if I could stay in contact with her and bring the score back to 1-and-1. This proved to be a great way to run an even pace through the second half of the race, and kept my second 3 miles at almost the same pace as the first 3. At the six mile mark I was still behind her and was trying to follow Missy's advice by starting my kick on the last big uphill in the race, although there was not much in the tank at this point. I was a little upset when I found that there were actually 2 hills in the last mile, not one, but I managed to start picking up the pace from the top of the second (bigger) one, passing Samuelson and several other runners, finally getting to the line in 40:11. This was a 15 second improvement on last year, inside my target pace of 5:40/mile, and good for 106th place overall, a significant improvement on last year. The race according to Missy: I ran my ninth consecutive Falmouth Road Race on Sunday, and the weather was the best it has ever been for this race. The skies were clear, the air was dry, and the temperature at the start was in the 60's or low 70's. I was pleased that Bruce would be able to experience Falmouth at its finest, since his first experience was Falmouth at its worst in 1999. So, I had nothing to complain about (can you believe it?) My goal was to run between 6:10 and 6:15 pace. I was fortunate enough to have Peter running with me. Peter is recovering from an injury and did not feel in shape to race, so he ran with me at my pedestrian pace--he didn't even break a sweat. From mile 4 on he kept telling me, "This is it, Miss. This is it, now you've got to make your move!" I did manage to pick up my pace a bit in the last 2 miles and was doing battle with a woman who had been pacing off me the whole race. She passed me twice and I passed her twice in the last mile. Peter kept yelling, "Pick it up!" but as my legs would not go any faster, I had to yell back at him. She outkicked me just at the line, crossing less than 1 second ahead of me (Peter threw a fit!). But I was so pleased with my race I didn't mind. I ran 43:56, which is a 6:11 pace, just 13 seconds off my PR. I placed 32nd woman, my highest finishing place ever, and 238th overall. Thanks for the company, Peter!