Bridge of Flowers, USATF New England 10K Championship

Saturday was my third visit to Bridge of Flowers 10K in Shelburne Falls, MA... I got up at 3:30 a.m. setting 4 alarms... drove to Methuen to meet Doc, Rebel, Renegade and travel in the Goonmobile limo...  thanks to our sponsor Catauduella

First mile was 6:50, then 6:48, then Crittenden Hill comes in around 3 miles and added about 2 minutes to my mile pace, 8:42... that killer hill scared away a few teammates, as I understand.   Drum beats let me know when I was headed up and I set out to hang with a trio of Whirlaway girls.  Goat form took over and I was able to get past them... kept focused looking for ballons at the top... flying down didn't feel as out of control as last time, but checked my watch after the race and my pace was 6:13!  I felt smooth and looked for fellow Goon, Flash (Scott Mason) who made the trip from RI, I knew he'd be not far from the finish. 6:47 at mile 5.  Both Renegade Rick Bayko and GTD trackmate Janos Mako had something left the last mile and sped up, I had enough to hit 6:31 pace at 6m... heard the annoucer give my name, saw clock, crossed mat, hit my watch 43:12... holy crap... I had been shooting for 47:00 to beat my previous best here!!  WTF??!?!  I'll be perfectly honest, it doesn't make any sense to get 4 minutes faster since I was last here in 2008 and if I figure it out, I'll keep doing it... thanks to PRof Fernando, Goons & training buddies  

Goatie official time:   5/31 in divison,  43:17,  6:58 pace 
Full results


photo courtesy Krissy Kozlosky