Wachusett Mountain Race Report

May 25th (Saturday): 5am wakeup. For some reason I was wide awake and couldn't fall back asleep. Surfed the web for a while and updated the blog because I was behind a week. Sarah made some Belgium waffles for breakfast. Changed up and headed over to Wachusett by 8am.

Arrived at about 8:30am. Inside to register and back to the car to get ready for a warmup. Jogged it out with Brandon Newbould. 2+ miles (15:49). Decided on my racing attire back at the car. I was prepared for anything. Went with sleeveless shirt, half tights, hat and gloves. I found out it was mostly pavement Friday night so I only had my trail trainers (Saucony Kinvara Trails) and Inov8 Talons. Kinvaras was the obvious choice.

Up and Down.

Down to the starting line for a couple strides and just stay moving. Some rain coming down made for wet roads and wet conditions overall. Checked out some of the competition and noticed a couple guys from the winning Reach the Beach team, Hello Kitty AC. Those guys are Syracuse alumni so I knew I was possibly up against some strong runners. A couple other obvious guys, Brandon Newbould and Kevin Tilton. The goal/plan was to wait until 4 miles to make any moves (Goup's orders). We climbed the first 2 miles in a tight group (so close we fit under a lamp shade) with everyone switching positions. I made it a point to stay back and sit behind the lead guys. Mile splits were roughly around 6:30, 6:30, 7:00. I made my move just after 2 miles to see if anyone would react to a surge. Not much response so I continued to push and opened up a decent gap. Once we hit the summit, we had to run around the summit building. I didn't know this and the cones ended at the edge of the building. I had to turn around and throw my hands up with a polite remark of "Where do I go?!" I received a response with "Around the tower! Around the tower!" So around the building. Okay. Gap diminished to nothing. Yelled a couple "Around the building" as I was descending for the next few runners. Decided to not mess around and throw in a wicked hard surge to open the gap back up. Redlined for the remaining 3+ miles down the pavement/dirt roads to the finish. The 3rd place finisher splits (obtained those on the cooldown) for the down hill miles were 4:48, 4:48, 4:57 and I was roughly 25 seconds in front of him. I think most of that time was put on in the 4th mile. So I am thinking mine were around 4:35, 4:40, 4:50. So I was rocking the downhills and running in fear that someone would catch me. Arms flailing and yelling at myself because I was going fast enough. Finished up in 35:50.

Thanks Scott Mason for the photography (even in the rain).

5.5 miles in.

Within 2 minutes of finishing, I was jogging back to the car to get dry clothes on for the cooldown. Extra slow cooldown with a bunch guys. 4++ miles (42:45) through the trails and on some roads. Give myself 12.5+ miles on the day. Awards and raffle outside underneath the overhang. Gift certificate for the W and a Trigger Point foam roller from the raffle. Sweetness.

Drove back to Lem Vegas (Leominster) to shower and head to Warwick, Mass for a housewarming party at Brandon and Melanie's new home! Fun time and spent the night. Scheduled day off from running tomorrow (Sunday).