USATF NE 10K Championship, James Joyce Ramble, 05.01.11 (PR)

photo courtesy Krissy Kozlosky

I had not been to James Joyce since 2001 and 2002 when it was USATF NE 10K Championships.  Being very distant memories, I had forgotten about the hills... at least until they started popping up in front of me this year.   Despite that, I still hoped to beat my 10K PR  (Lone Gull 2009, 6:56 pace) but didn't know how it would all play out in the end. 

The first mile was slightly downhill, so I didn't panic about a 6:14.   Anxiety time was later, ahhh the hills.   Keep it together, try not to look at my watch, just focus. 

The final stretch was also an incline, so I looked for the American flag and sprinted towards the clock... was it going to be close to the number I wanted?   I had my finger on my watch for final time 41:53, a 65 second PR!

As soon as I was over the finish line, my Whirlaway teammates seemed to be everywhere, the boys & the girls.   I feel very honored to be part of the team... the Whirlaway "boys" even let me warm-up with them before the race...  yup, the really fast boys.  

After the race, I checked in with photographer Scott Mason & friends about how their races went... then an enjoyable long warm-down for a 13 mile day.  Results were posted and not only had a PR, but I scored in the top 10 for Masters and my Whirlaway Women's Masters Team placed 1st!  The Whirlaway Men Masters & Seniors also were 1st and Whirlaway Men's Open was only 4 seconds behind CMS for 2nd place. 

Thanks to Coach Fernando, Dave &Whirlaway teammates and all my running friends & training partners!

Full results

10/271 F4049   42:03   41:54   6:45   (PR by 65 seconds)



photo by Scott Mason