Race Results 1999 Results Race of the Month Eastern States 20m National Masters Indoor Meet Cohasset By the Sea New Bedford 1/2 Stu's 30k Fresh Pond Other Months		March 1999 Race of the Month March Race of the Month March 14th, at 10:30am, Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation Half-Marathon/5k, Melrose Middle School. There was a good turn out for two at this ROM,(where was everyone I didn't see you?) with Marcello Scippa leading the way by besting his last years effort by 2 minutes. El Presidente Bob Gillon put in a strong showing in the Masters group, while Sanjay ("lets run two races!") Ram followed Saturdays Fresh Pond 5 with a PR in the 1/2 despite fighting off a virus. Dave Quilty finished off a week of 64 miles with a time only slightly slower then last years race, yeh! Bob Boudrto thought Melrose was a good fit for his Boston training. Molly Turner continued her improvement in races of all distances with a top 20% finish in her age group and Shelly McDonough earned a PR: I ran the Law Enforcement Half Marathon in Melrose this morning. I definitely have a selective memory, because although I ran this course last year, I had no recollection of any hills. Clearly that was wrong!! Despite the rude awakening, however, I felt surprisingly good ... the best I think I have ever felt in a half marathon, in fact. No strange aches and pains to contend with, which is always a plus. I ended up finishing in 1:43 (7:53/mile), which was 5 minutes better than my last year's time on this course, and a new PR (by more than 2 minutes) to boot. Guess those track workouts are doing something after all. Congratulations to all the other CRCers who raced as well. Rounding out Sundays half effort were Steve Stemler tuning up for Boston and Frank Gribos. Kim Blair and Janice Smaga will be forced to make for more room in the trophy case as both earned second plase finishes in thier age brackets. Shelly's brother Darren had a good day and then cheered on his sister. NAME TIME PACE PLACE DIV PLACE Marcello Scippa 01:21:59 6:13 113 40/145 Bob Gillon 01:24:27 6:27 150 43/289 Sanjay Ram 01:34:18 7:12 366 117/405 Dave Quilty 01:38:58 7:33 514 139/289 Bob Boudrot 01:40:59 7:43 571 152/289 Molly Turner 1:41:24 7:49 580 45/215 Shelly McDonough 1:43:16 7:53 633 35/205 Steve Stemler 1:44:35 7:59 674 108/182 Frank Gribos 1:55:15 8:48 1013 227/289 5k Kim Blair 20:04 6:28 15 2/45 Darren McDonough 22:50 7:21 42 11/51 Janice Smaga 25:03 8:04 78 2/8 Other Races: March 6th Fresh Pond 5 Miler, Cambridge After running a December marathon, Dana Laird took some much deserved time off to refuel. Having done so she is ready to get back in the saddle: She explains: I'm picking up with training for the Vermont City Marathon and so went over for Saturday's Fresh Pond 5-miler to get a sense of my current fitness level. It was an overcast but bright mid-30's morning that drew a crowd of about 50 for the race -- but not too many women, which explains why I was able to come in first with my 38:09. I've finished as high as third before at Fresh Pond, but not first, so this was a fun bonus, even though it's not the fastest I've done there nor is it quite where I'd like to be with speed by May (a reason to get myself back over to track workouts). My splits for the two laps of the pond were pretty close to even, which is a good sign that my pacing sense is still on target. This race can be a good test of pacing, since the small field, disparities in runners' speeds, and curved course mean that you often run without seeing others in front of or behind you and thus you have to develop a good rhythm of your own (no mile markers, either). The small hill climbs toward the end of each lap also showed me that I need to work a bit more on my hill attacks and maintaining pace through them. All in all, a nice way to spend Saturday morning. With all the work she's doing she'll be a great asset for the Woman's Open Relay Team! March 7th Stu's 30K Clinton, MA, March 7, 1999 The PRC contigent of the CRC braved the foul weather and headed over to Clinton for the 20th Annual Stu's 30K. This race is famous for its hilly course and unpredictable weather. Despite the winter storm that hit NE Saturday night and Sunday morning the roads were very clear and ready to go. The sun even made an appearance, as if to reward those who came out to play instead of opting to remain snuggled in bed. Mark Woods, Ray Gonzalez, and Diane Sagnella ran the race while Feliciano Protasi, equipped with bicycle, rode alongside them. Mark and Ray were like mutt and Jeff. Mark, being the voice of reason, kept Ray on a leash. Ray's bursting enthusiasm was apparently hard to contain even for Mark. (He was heard counting fellow runners as he passed them) Diane comments: "I was a bit apprhensive about running this race. I had heard so many bad things about it. Furthermore, I was already battling a cold and losing. I made it quite clear that this was to be a training run. My first few miles were run at a conservative 8:00 minute pace. I picked it up a bit after that and ran pretty steady. In fact the first and second halves were run at the same pace. This is amazing considering the strong head winds we had coming back! All in all the course is not that bad really, there being only around 2 serious hills. Of course If I had been running faster perhaps I would have had a different opinion!" NAME TIME PACE Mark Woods 2:16:09 7:18 Ray Gonzalez 2:16:15 7:19 Diane Sagnella 2:21:09 7:34 March 21st The New Bedford 1/2 Marathon March 21, 1999 Over 1600 people signed up for the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon this past Sunday. Moderate Temperatures and windy conditions had some of us confused as to what to wear. Mark Woods was smokin' turning in a fine performance of 1:22:46! Other notables were Ray Gonzalez and Feliciano Protasi. On the womens side Louise Brooks took a 2nd and Diane Sagnella took home a 5th (lets hope she wasn't driving!) Diane Reports: I went back to New Bedford to carry out a vendetta for last years humiliating defeat. The race began and we were off. My first mile was 6:40. I slowed immediately after that running up the first two hills from mile 2 to 4. I kept telling myself, "get to the top then you can cruise for 3 miles". That was not to be. An unrelenting wind kept my pace down. I was trying so hard to be fast but my splits were telling me otherwise! A woman passed me and yelled 'take of your jacket! It's slowing you down'. So I zipped up but it did not help. Having such a long stride meant I was air borne too often, and not spending enough time on the ground propelling myself forward! I was more of a kite than a runner! Before me was a pack of people. I thought about forcing myself to catch up with them so that I could draft but I didn't want to expend the energy. Fortunately someone tried to pass me so I ducked in behind them put my head down, shortened my stride and ran. After a mile I was rested and I took off leaving my savior behind. My focus had returned. I began to catch all those that had passed me earlier. I even passed the woman that earlier had given me advice. But I had bad memories about the final hill looming in my psyche. At mile 12 I slowed wanting to save something for the hill. But the hill I remembered never came. The next thing I knew I was at the top and putting on the gas for a strong finish. Yahoo, I crossed the line in 1:32:42 (7:04)! NAME TIME PACE Mark Woods 1:22:46 6:19 Ray Gonzalez 1:26:38 6:37 Feliciano Protasi 1:31:11 6:57 Dean McNabb 1:32:29 7:03 Diane Sagnella 1:32:42 7:03 Louise Brooks 1:35:59 7:19 David Baum 1:42:12 7:48 Caryn Gordon 2:18:21 10:34 March 28th This past week-end CRCers were all over the place running distances from 800m to 20 miles! CRC women Shelley McDonough, Dana Laird Siana LaForest and Felicia Mebane made a strong appearance at the Cohasset 10K. At least two PR's were set by the bevvy of beauties indicating that all that torturous indoor track work is worth something afterall! Bruce Davie and Peter Gallimore stayed inside at the National Masters Indoor Track event and discovered that being in the older age bracket is not necessarily a good thing. Adam Penn and George Nicholson, on the other hand, went through 3 states during the Border to Border 20 Miler! Cohasset by the Sea 10K March 28, 1999 NAME TIME PACE Shelley McDonough 44:15 7:09 Felician Mebane 46:08 7:27 Dana Laird 47:56 7:44 Siana LaForest 48:53 7:53 Shelley does negative splits! A small contingent of "C" group women -- Felicia, Dana, Siana, and me (Shelley) trekked down to the Cohasset 10k today, crossing our fingers that the rain would hold off and we would find our way to the race without getting too lost -- happily, both wishes came true! And as an extra bonus, we all ended up running good races! I was thrilled to finally break the 45-minute barrier, knocking about a minute off my last time and getting a new PR (44:15) in the process. I ran sans a functioning watch, so I didn't have a good sense of what my splits were, but I know I picked up the pace in the last few miles, so I felt good. I missed placing 4th female runner, as a woman with a far better kick blew past me at the finish line, but I was happy with 5th nonetheless. Congrats to Felicia, Dana, Siana, and Jim as well! And from Siana we have this report: Felicia, Shelley, Dana and I drove down to Cohassett together on a rainy and dismal Sunday to run in the Cohasset 10K. All of us had a great time and were quite pleased with our results. I was aiming to finish in 50 minutes or less, and actually finished in 48:53. This was a PR for me and faster than my last 10K by about 6 minutes! If my next 10K isn't as hilly and windy as this one maybe I can shave off even more..... UST&F National Masters Indoor Meet Roxbury, Ma. March 28, 1999 Bruce Davie reports: This weekend I returned to the NMIC at the Reggie Lewis track for the second year to compete in the mile and 800m events, 35-39 year old agegroup. I'm definitely in the "young whippersnapper" category at this event, which is populated with runners well into their 80's. The mile was held on Saturday, with the women and older men going first, so I got to watch a lot of heats of very fast (and some not so fast) senior citizens. There were some exciting races and the performances of many of the older runners were inspirational. When it came to my heat, I was hoping to run under 4:40, something I had only done once before, at last year's championships. I found my pace right from the gun and went through the half in 2:19, right on target. I started to move up through the pack. With 3 laps to go I heard Fred yelling at me to move up again, so I passed another guy. With 400 to go I started to smile as I realized I still had plenty of strength left for the finish and then suddenly I was into the final sprint. I was just beaten out of 4th place by a guy with a faster sprint than me, but was elated as I crossed the line and saw 4:36 on the clock. The offical time was 4:36.85, a PR by 1.4 seconds. I spent Saturday afternoon trying to rest up for the evening's qualifying heats of the 800, and was fairly relieved when I found that, with only 10 entrants in my agegroup, there would be no heats required. Instead, it would be a final on Sunday. At checkin for the 800 I learned that I had one of the slowest qualifying times, so I had 2 goals for the race: avoid last place, and try for a PR. I wasn't too optimistic about the latter given the effort I had put into the mile. From the gun, I settled into second last place, and even with a 31s first 200 - the fastest I could safely manage - I wasn't part of the main pack. Through 400 in 63s, still out of touch with the pack, which suddenly exploded in a mess of tangled limbs leaving one runner on the ground and others hopping over him. I gained some ground on the pack and was glad I hadn't been closer to it. The fallen runner bounced up and rejoined the pack. When I saw the clock at 600m I knew I was in PR territory and began my final sprint, which finally got me to the back of the pack where I passed one runner to get into 8th position - 3rd last - and a finishing time of 2:06.91. Another PR, by 3 tenths, and not last either. Incredibly, the winner of the race was the one who fell. I wish I had the race on videotape - it must have been the most exciting of the meet. Peter Gallimore ran the same events as me in the "even younger whippersnapper" agegroup of 30-34. This agegroup is a bit thinly populated - I guess those younger guys don't think of themselves as masters - and Peter didn't have a lot of folks to run with in the mile. Going out with the leaders, he was drawn into a very fast first half and paid for it in the second, running 4:36.01 - not a great time for him, but good enough for 4th place. It's a rare day when I get within a second of Peter at any distance over 60m. The 800 went better for him. With a slightly more conservative start to the race, Peter moved up strongly in the second half to capture 3rd place - the bronze medal - and run 2:01.49 looking very comfortable in the finish. Thanks to all the CRC people who turned up as either volunteers or spectators. Bob Gillon gives a spectators view: To Zdenek Radouch, Felicia Mebane, Ben Ames and Jim Thompson(Bob don't forget to mentionJeff Phillips): Thank you for your help this weekend at the National Masters Indoor Meet. You had the rare opportunity of witnessing some truly outstanding feats by some of the nations best athletes. While the weekend did go without some hitches, most of the problems were minor and were immediately rectified by the volunteer staff. You did get to watch our club members Peter Gallimore and Bruce Davie participate in the mile and the 800M Saturday & Sunday. Both ran 4:36.xx for the mile, with Bruce nearly placing in the medal category by a mear half second. Both Peter and Bruce ran an exceptional 800M on Sunday. In Bruce's race, he nearly ran into a train wreck. Running about 20yards behind the lead pack, the leader of that pack was pushed from behind and fell to the track. He was able to get back up just before Bruce would have had to leap over him in order to continue. Bruce did go on to finish in 2:06.91 a PR at that distance. Still running with a sore ankle that he twisted at the workout last Wednesday, Peter ran what looked like his best race of the year. He finished with a time of 2:01.49 good enough for a 3rd place bronze medal. The Eastern States 20 Miler March 28, 1999 Salisbury MA While Adam and George didn't file a report we can assume they got wet and that they may be leaning to the left for a few days (you know from the East wind...). NAME TIME PACE Adam Penn 2:26:02 7:18 George Nicholson 2:27:00 7:21