Race Results/Reports: I Love Woodford

Race Report:

12-28-08: I Love Woodford - 3.5 M Snowshoe race - Woodford, VT

CMS was out in southwestern VT this weekend for the first race in the DION Snowshoe Series put on by the Western Mass Athletic Club.

• DoubleJ's Full race report here.
• Jim P's race report here.

Race Photos Here.

Results (CMS in blue):

01. Josh Ferenc M27 23:44 100.00
02. Jim Johnson M31 24:32 98.84

03. Mathew Cartier M33 24:50 97.67
04. Dave Dunham M44 25:15 96.51
05. Tim Mahoney M29 25:22 95.35
06. James Pawlicki M34 25:30 94.19
07. Mathew Westerlund M36 26:10 93.02
08. Jay Kolodzinski M29 27:40 91.86
09. Steve Wolfe M44 27:48 90.70
10. Ken Clark M46 28:01 89.53
11. Abby Woods F30 28:08 88.37

...86 finishers.

Full Results Here.

PR's and aging

Chart above shows the slowing down of world records at various ages

Personal Records – PR’s
As you probably already know, I’m into stats and as a (rapidly) aging athlete I’m interested in age groups. I’m just about to enter a new age category and this will be the first time I’ve ever been interested in 5 year-age-groups. I’ll turn 45 in March of 2009, so I’m already more than half-way through the “masters” age group. Wow, the years seem to accelerate by as my times seem to decelerate.

Obviously there are many factors in how an athlete ages and how PR’s reflect that. For the most part distance runner’s peak in their 30’s then steadily decline. Some interesting reading is available on this link: http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/agegroups.html and there is a cool calculator that shows your percentages at any distance and age. http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/runcalc.html


Looking over my past performances my best result is a 20 km race (60:53) at the age of 28 = 92%. I had some decent performances into my mid-30s and even some fast times after 35, but they became few and far between. After injury and illness I before turning 40 it took a few years just to get some decent performances. Most of my best times in the 40-44 have taken place over the last year to 18 months. If I can stay healthy (and that is always a big if) I may top some of my 40-44 times when I enter the new 5-year age group.


Pr’s over 5-year age group
Age………00-18….19-24….25-29….30-34….35-39…..40-44
1 Mile……..4:18… ..4:10…..4:14……..4:12…….-……….….4:45
2 Mile……..8:55…...8:52…..8:56…….9:12…….9:20……10:06
5 K………..14:27….14:08...14:17……14:34…..15:02……16:27
8 K…………..-……..23:46….23:59….24:07…..24:43…….27:50
5 Mile…...24:08….23:27….23:33….23:58…..24:39…….27:52
10 K……...32:04…29:17….29:26…..30:01…..30:31……35:04
10 Mile……-……...50:03….49:36.....50:23…..51:34…...59:29
13.1 m……..-….….69:11…..65:02…..66:48…..69:58……78:22
26.2m……..-……….. -…….2:19:28…2:19:50…2:21:55…2:49:25

Race Results from the weekend of 12/27/08

Boston U All Comers Meet #2
Boston, MA, December 27, 2008
Mixed 1 Mile Run
==========================================================
Name Year Team Finals
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Section 2
5 tilton, kevin CMS 4:35.20

Mixed 800 Meter Run
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Name Year Team Finals
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Section 4
4 tilton, kevin CMS 2:05.18

Mixed 3000 Meter Run
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Name Year Team Finals
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Section 1
9 noone, paul CMS 8:50.54
12 mccarron, andy CMS 8:56.62

Section 2
12 cote, louis CMS 9:21.30

MILLENNIUM MILE
LONDONDERRY, NH
CHIP TIMED BY YANKEE TIMING 978-430-5669

Place Name No. Div/Tot Sex/Tot Ag S Time Pace
32 David Quintal 464 4/61 31/338 45 M 4:37 4:37

Woodford 3.5 mile snowshoe results TBA once results are posted.

CMS race retrospective--2001 Stu's 30K

(Since I have a lot of old race reports that are currently doing nothing besides taking up space on my hard drive, I've decided to start unfurling them here, one at a time.)

STU'S 30K: 3/4/01

Stu's 30K was once a highly competitive event held on a beech of a course. Ever since Stu's relinquished its role as a USATF-NE Grand Prix Series event, it has stopped attracting the best runners in the region, but maintains a lofty reputation as a fitness check and high-yield training run for aspiring Boston Marathon participants - not only because it's 18.64 miles long, but because of what Henry Rono might have fondly called "...da heeeeeels."

Going into the race, teammate and 2000 New England Runner of the Year Dave Dunham and I each hoped to run "just sixes" if such a pace was good enough to win - we had the USATF-NE half-marathon championship the following Sunday and neither of us wanted to trash ourselves in the name of scraping out a definitive win in a popular, but otherwise meaningless, race. The catch: Someone was bound to come along who could break 6:00 pace (three other runners did), and moreover, our independently contrived goals were, by definition, mutually contradictory - not unlike the situation in the NBA where four players enjoy contract clauses stipulating they will be among the three highest-paid players in the league. In other words, neither of us, given the other's presence, was entitled to his hoped-for luxury. With this in mind, we agreed to run "just sixes." Sound familiar?

The race offered few surprises. Dave and I hung back in the early miles, hitting splits of about 5:32 for the first (downill) mile and, as I recall, 23:26 for four miles while Ken Carabba led. I grew impatent somewhere around the six-mile mark and at 10K was leading (36:11) but expecting Dave to pull alongside, which in due time he did. But Carabba made a game move just after 10 miles (58:51), making up a hundred-yard deficit in about ten minutes and re-joining our little CMS parade. I surged again near 20K (1:32:32), just as impatient as before, and just like the last time, Dave eventually caught up while Carabba fell behind, this time for good.

Once we were well out in front (which didn't occur until about mile 15 or 16), we had to decide how to handle things in a sporting fashion. For me that was easy because, operating on the idea that had we been going all-out he would have been a quarter-mile up the road, I was just going to let him cross the line first in any case. He also told me I could win "if I wanted to." He was hinting that he wasn't thrilled with the idea of an intentional tie, perhaps for the same reason I was - maybe doesn't look good to pull a virtual hand-hold when your entry fee has been comped by the RD's, etc. etc. But it wasn't that big a deal. Dave actually said as we entered the last 200m that we should speed up and "look like we're trying really hard" and then cross the line together and let the timing crews sort things out. We did, and just as he'd guessed, they started asking us who had won. We reminded them that was their job, cie la vie, yada yada yada, etc., etc. We wound up running 1:48:33, or 5:49 pace.

All in all it was an excellent way to cap off a 145-mile week, my highest seven-day total ever.

Oh yeah - Dave won the race.

Photos by Rich Bolt

Team Member Bio: Jeremy Huckins

Jeremy Huckins
Age: 26
Location: Lebanon, NH
Blog: mtnhuck

He started running at Merrimack Valley Middle School and quickly realize that running was a much better fit than sports requiring coordination. He ran for Bishop Brady under the tutelage of Kevin Beck, who first introduced him to CMS and mountain running. During his senior year he won 4 of his first 5 races until a knee injury derailed any hopes of running quickly for the remainder of the year. In the winter months he partook in cross-country skiing, where he won the DIII state title his senior year. He then attended Bowdoin College, running for the first two years then concentrating on skiing for the remaining two, where he consistently scored for the team. Since college he has been active in the USATF-NE mountain running and grand prix circuits as a member of CMS.

After working in Boston for the last 2 years, Jeremy is currently studying Neuroscience in the training friendly atmosphere of the Upper Valley and is happy to be living near legitimate elevation change.

Team Member Bio: Kevin Beck (Emeritus)

Winning the 2005 Space Coast Half-Marathon in Florida

Kevin Beck Age: 39 Location: Dover, NH

Kevin has been with CMS for almost eleven years. At Concord (N.H.) High School, he ran 9:43.3 for 3200 meters and finished in the top three in three different state championship meets in track and cross-country, and ran 15:57 for 5K on the roads. He competed sparingly in college after becoming serious about academics and launching an impressive drinking career (pursuits which, oddly enough, seemed to complement one another) and recorded track bests of 8:55.2 for 3,000 meters, 15:51 for 5,000 meters, and 32:56 for 10,000 meters.

Returning to serious running as a grad student, Kevin ran his first marathon in 1994 in Atlanta, placing seventh in 2:39:37. He eventually pared his time down to 2:24:17 (BAA Marathon, 2001). He has completed thirteen marathons, winning once and placing second three times. He was second in the USATF 50K Road Championship in Peachtree City, Georgia in 2004, his best year overall. His other personal bests include 14:58.2 for 5,000 meters (track), 15:16 for 5K, 51:32 for 10 miles, and 1:08:22 for the half-marathon, all at age 34. In 2002, he averaged over 100 miles a week for the year. He may hold the N.H. state record for the costumed-with-canine 5K (17:18 at the 1999 Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 5K).

Outside of the competitive milieu, Kevin has been a senior writer for Running Times Magazine since 1999, and has also written for Marathon & Beyond, Triathlete, Men's Fitness, and a slew of other eminently forgettable rags. He was the editor of the CMS newsletter from early 1998 to early 2000, is the editor of the training book Run Strong, and expects to begin work on another running book--this time as a writer rather than as an editor--in early 2009.

He has been as inert as he has been itinerant for the past three years, with his only remotely serious wire-to-wire effort in that span being the Groton 10K in April 2007 (33:38). Having moved back to New England for good, Kevin, despite being officially musty (39 as of last week) and even surlier, more cynical, more shiftless, and more catastrophically misanthropic than before, hopes that the company and influence of his old running friends will revitalize his competitive spirit or at least force him to run enough to pare the disgusting roll of fat that has recently sprouted around his abdomen.

Team Member Bio: Dave Dunham

Dave Dunham
Age: 44
Location: Ward Hill, MA
Blog: ddmountainrunr

Dave started running in 1978 and has logged over 100,000 miles and more than 1,000 races.
He has been a member of the CMS racing team since 1992. Injuries and age have considerably slowed him, but he still enjoys competing and “getting my butt kicked every weekend”.

Dave was the CMS Men’s racing team manager for a number of years and is now the manager of the master’s racing team. He founded the USATF New England mountain series and race directs numerous trail, mountain, and snowshoe races. He also manages the US Mountain running junior squad.

Dave is a published author with his 2005 tome “Only one hill – A history of the Mt Washington road race”, and is currently working on a revised edition.

Team Member Bio: Justin Fyffe

Justin Fyffe

Age: 29

Location: E. Dummerston, VT

Blog: jfyffe.blogspot.com

I first started competing in the Hershey Track and Field league at 10 years old. I fell in love with the sport and have been drawn to it my entire life. In high school I specialized in the 3000m. I was Div I runner up my Sophmore year and Div I Vermont State Champion my Junior year of '97. My senior year I attended Keene High School in New Hampshire and was introduced to Cross Country. It was there that I found a new dimension of running. I went on to finish 3rd at the NH State Championships and 5th at the New England Championships. After high school I entered the US Navy and served two deployments overseas. I have just gotten back into training in the '08 season and have since joined the CMS Running Team.

Championships and Major Races:

USATF NE Mountain Grand Prix Champion

3rd USATF NE Trail Championships

3rd USATF NE Mountain Championships

1st Mt. Cranmore Hill Climb

1st Clarence Demar Marathon

2nd Rochester NY Marathon

Team Member Bio: Greg Ward

Greg Ward

Age: 37

Location: West Boylston, MA

I have been running since high school where I was 13th and 9th in the All-State meet my Junior and Senior years of Cross Country. I was on the Boston Globe All-Scholastic team.
In college, I was a 6-time letter winner in XC and Track at Division I, Marquette University. I was All-Conference in XC in my Senior year.

After college, I ran a 2:36 Grandma’s Marathon in my debut, and the following year ran 2:38 in Boston. I trained off and on for a number of years and returned to competitive racing in 2003. I have since finished in the top-100 at the Boston Marathon, and in 2006, set PRs from 5k to the marathon. I won 8 road races in 2005. I also finished 4th, in my first attempt at an ultra – the Jay Mountain Marathon. After 3 years of moderate mileage, combined with cross-training, I have begun running significantly more mileage to continue setting PRs in every distance in 2006.

Championships, awards, major races, etc.

3rd Place at 2005 USATF-NE Marathon Championship
4th Place at 2006 USATF-NE Marathon Championship
5th Place at 2006 USATF-NE 5k Indoor Track Championship
5th Place at 2007 USATF-NE 12k Road Championship

PR's

5,000m: 15:15 in 2006
Road 5k: 15:33 in 2006
5 mile: 25:49 in 2006
10k: 32:43 in 2006
10 mile: 53:40 in 2006
½ marathon: 1:12:02 in 2006

Marathon: 2:31:01 in 2006

Team Member Bio: Joe Shairs

Joe Shairs
Age: 40
Location: Peabody, MA

I had a taste of running back in middle school where I ran 1 year of cross country before Prop 2 1/2 took the program away. It took me until my junior year at Beverly High School to pick it back up again. I guess I was bored with getting into trouble. I ran all 3 seasons of my junior year and all 3 of my senior year being named captain of the outdoor track team and named to the Salem News all-star team for cross country. I then concentrated on getting my BFA at the University of Lowell in 1991.

Once again I would have a hiatus that lasted about 10 years well past my college days at UMass Lowell. I begin running again in 1995 when I joined a local running club, North Shore Striders, and left that team in 2004. 2005 was the year I officially joined the most competitive team on the east coast, the Central Mass Striders. That year we went on to win the USATF New England Men's Open Road Race Grand Prix series which has been a highlight of my running career.

Road P.R.'S:
5K: 15:33
5 MILES: 26:10
10K: 32:38
15K: 51:35
10 MILES: 53:50
13.1 MILES: 1:12:01
25K: 1:26:30
MARATHON: 2:36:25

Team Member Bio: Jim Pawlicki

Jim Pawlicki

Age: 34

Location: Beverly, MA

blog: Good Clean Run

Jim flirted with running in high school at North Shore Regional Vocational High School in Beverly, MA with the highlight of finishing in the top 20 in the State Vocational Cross Country meet in 1991. His part time running became full time as a distance harrier for the Salem State College under Tom Derderian and Steve Czarnecki. He was honored with the following: MASCAC Cross Country All Conference Team 1993-95, MASCAC Cross Country Champion, hosted by Fitchburg State in 1995, and MASCAC Performer of the Meet in 1996, hosted by Westfield State.

Jim proceeded to join the Greater Boston Track Club where he was introduced to post collegiate racing and competition. Jim joined CMS in December 2003 imediately getting involved with snowshoe racing and was named WMAC rookie of the year (winter 2003-04). Since then, Jim can be found racing any given weekend in a trail, cross-country, mountain, road, or track event to keep things interesting. Jim is often meeting friends for runs and seeks to get on trails as often as possible on the weekends.

Road Race PR's

5K Brewery Exchange Classic, NE Championship, Lowell, MA 9/12/99 15:47
5 miles Ro-Jacks, NE Championship, N. Attleboro, MA 10/5/97 25:58
10K Market Square 10K, NE Championship, Portsmouth, NH 6/12/99 33:03
12K Bedford Rotary 12K, NE Championship, Bedford, NH 5/20/00 39:12
10 miles Yankee Homecoming 10m, NE Champs, Newburyport, MA 7/29/97 53:34
1/2 Marathon Bay State Half Marathon, NE Champs, Lowell, MA 10/19/97 1:10:48
20K New Haven 20K, US National Champs, New Haven, CT 9/6/04 1:09:08
20 miles Eastern States 20 miler, Kittery, ME 2/20/98 1:51:44
Marathon Ocean State Marathon, NE Champs, Warwick, RI 11/9/97 2:33:35

Indoor Track PR's
800m Brown Development Meet, Providence, RI 1/2/97 2:03.7
1000m Brown Development Meet, Providence, RI 12/26/96 2:39.1
1 mile Harvard Invitational, Harvard U, Cambridge, MA 12/14/96 4:30
3K BU Development Meet, Boston, MA 1/15/00 8:57.7
5K Terrier Classic, Boston University, Boston, MA 1/31/98 15:48.31

Outdoor Track PR's

1 mile GBTC Relays, MIT, Cambridge, MA 6/4/97 4:29.9
3000m Steeple Bay State Games, MIT, Cambridge, MA 7/14/96 10:03.4
2 mile Greater Boston Relays, MIT, Cambridge, MA 6/3/98 9:53.5
5K Twilight Series, Northeastern, Dedham, MA 6/6/98 15:52
10K Northeastern Husky II Meet, Dedham, MA 5/26/01 33:32.5

Team Member Bio: Jim Johnson

Jim Johnson

Age: 32

Location: Salem, NH

blog: DoubleJRunning

Jim joined CMS in August of 2008, exactly 2 years since making his return to running after 8 years away from the sport.

Jim began his racing career at Wakefield High School in Wakefield, MA, where he ran XC, indoor, and outdoor track his Junior and Senior years, and he earned All Scholastic honors for both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald for cross country and outdoor track. He was a 2 time State Champion in the 1000 yards (indoors) and 800 meter run (outdoors) and still owns the Wakefield High School school record at 800 meters at 1:56.2. He then went on to UMass Lowell, where he ran all 3 seasons, all 4 years. He was the 1998 NECC Conference Runner of the Year and NECC Conference Champion in cross country his senior year at UML.

After a break from running that spanned from 1999 to the end of 2006, Jim returned under the wing of Coach Fernando Braz for one more go at it. Now back for 2 solid years, he races just about every weekend at distances from 5k up to the Marathon. He has begun a transition toward mountain, trail, and snowshoe racing over the past year and frequently trains with CMS Men's Masters teammates Dave Dunham and Dan Verrington.

2009 Accomplishments:


Granite State Snowshoe Series Champion
First at Loon Mountain Race
First at Ascutney Hill Climb
First at Run to the Top of Vermont
12th at US National Mountain Running Championship
13th at New England Marathon Championship - 2:37:46
5th at US Trail Marathon Championship
Gold Team Medal at US National Mountain Running Championships
Gold Team Medal at US National Trail Marathon Championships

Events:

Mountain/Trail, 5k -10k roads, XC, Snowshoe

HS/Collegiate PRs:

800M: 1:56.2 (o)

1000Y: 2:19 (i)

Mile: 4:24 (i)

5k: 15:10 (o)

5M: 24:59 (xc)

30+ PRs:

5k: 14:55 (roads) (downhill)

5k: 15:12 (roads)

5k: 15:21 (track)

5M: 25:26

10k: 32:20 (roads)

10M: 55:08 (roads)

Half Marathon: 1:13:36

Marathon: 2:37:46

Welcome...

Welcome to the Central Mass Striders Men's Open Racing Team webspace...  Here, we will be posting team member bios, race results, schedules, news, and anything and everything else Men's Open Team related....