--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2012---------------------------------------------------------

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/7/2012 : 5k 16:30.95 Went into the race focused solely on my own performance, not worried at all about trying to race. I knew I'd likely be running alone and didn't want to let my ego suck me into a fast early pace. Navigated the first 50m cleanly and was at the back of the pack with Terry McNatt right behind me by 100m. Came through 200m at 38-39 seconds and felt pretty good. Coming around the turn at 250m, I recognized the familiar feel of a 5k and knew that 5:20s was the right pace for me. Focused only on maintaining a rhythm and clipping off laps early on, and made a point of only looking at the clock for 800m splits. The lead pack quickly gapped us and after a couple of laps I had an empty track ahead of me and was setting my own pace. Through the half mile in 2:38-2:39 and the mile in 5:18. Right at 2k I started looking across the track and saw Kris Frey had started dropping back. That gave me a shot of adrenaline and I got too excited for that point in the race. Kris had a lead of almost 100m on me, but I wanted to catch him right away. I calmed down after a lap or two, got back to my rhythm but kept my eyes on Kris to help pull me around the track. Maintained that way until the lead pack of 4 passed me en masse, at which point I had thoughts of hammering to stay with them. I was still a mile out at that point, though, and after a lap the adrenaline subsided and I was back in my rhythm. By this point my legs had started to tire and I was starting to count down the laps. Tried cutting loose with 5, 4 and 3 laps to go but my legs weren't responding. The gap to Kris was steadily closing and with 1 lap to go I thought I'd be able to catch him. He found some speed and pulled away on the backstretch, watching the gap grow was demoralizing and I just ran as fast as was comfortable over the final 150, I didn't dig for any extra speed. Saw the clock tick from 16:30 to 16:31 as I crossed and immediately wished that I'd pushed it harder. I was happy to race again and hold it together, but disappointed that I wasn't able to get under 16:30 and I wasn't able to catch Kris, both of which I had been sure would happen when I had 3 laps left. Splits (via finish line clock): 2:39/5:18/10:36(5:18)/15:54(5:18)/36s

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2011---------------------------------------------------------

BAA 10k 6/26/2011 : 10k 33:28 Hard to stay focused before the start of this race, we were stretching out by the gate from the Common onto Charles and there were a lot of people milling around and not much space. Navigated the crowds to get to the front and was able to duck under the rope and run some strides in the street. Got off the line cleanly and found a good spot to tuck in. Felt like I found a good rhythm early and was in a big group once we hit Commonwealth. Through the mile in 5:06, a bit faster than I wanted, and it felt like guys started surging after that. In reality I think I just started to slow and quickly went to the back and then fell off the pack by the time we went under Mass Ave. Tried to find my own pace, knowing some guys would be coming back, but slowed far too much. Matt Carter caught me as we hit Bay State, we ran together until roughly the BU Bridge, when he started to pull away. Lost a lot of speed and focus on the way out to the turn around, and was distracted watching the top guys flying past on their way back home. Seeing the slow 5k split jolted me and I was able to focus on running down Carter and the third place woman. Had reeled them back in when we hit the BU Bridge again but couldn't put them away and soon gave back all that ground. Out of the race mentally by Kenmore Square and was really just trying to finish by that point. Was caught by Heather Cappello just after 5M and stayed close enough to her that I was able to kick past her on the finish down Charles. Didn't feel great today, pretty humid out but more than anything I wasn't tough mentally and was unable to hang in when the race got hard. Completely unwilling to suffer and you'll never run a good time that way. Very disappointing day. Splits (via road clocks): 5:06/10:23(5:07)/16:23(5k)/21:19/(10:56)/26:58(5:39)/32:30(5:32) [Official 5k split: 16:29]

Battle of Bunker Hill 8k 6/12/2011 : 8k 25:54 Warmed up alone for 2M then stretched out at home and made my way to the start with 10 minutes to spare. Ran a few strides and bounced around to stay loose before the start. Got off the line cleanly (avoding the little kids) and reeled in Eric Narcisi on the downhill leading to Warren. Didn't want to take the lead, just sat on Eric's shoulder or right behind him on the way out Warren. Had I known he'd run 15M the day before I might have changed my plan. Went in with the plan of sitting back, closing on Eric on the downhill then putting pressure on him over the final 2M and then finding a spot to make a move in the Navy Yard. Didn't want to start hammering early, I didn't think I had the fitness to survive if we went toe-to-toe, throwing haymakers from the gun. Let Eric gap me before the base of the hill, should have stuck with him longer, but had a good climb and didn't feel like I lost much more ground. Tried to open up my stride on the downhill but couldn't bring Eric back, then waited until we climbed up Lowney before trying again. Lost touch on the winding route past the Training Field and hit Warren with a decent gap. There were a few times that I thought I was closing on him, but never got close enough to have a real chance. Must have slowed over the final mile because Eric turned what looked like a 5-10 second gap into a 19 second lead at the finish. Really strong run by Eric today, I probably overestimated my ability to close the gap after the hill and should have just gone with him early and tried to keep the pace reasonable. Splits: 5:03/10:17(5:14)/xx:xx (Based off of Narcisi's splits. Times I heard were: 5:30-10:28-15:25.)

Rhody 5k, Lincoln, RI 6/5/2011 : 5k 15:44 Warmed up with Ely, Hari and Will, we didn't talk a lot about race plans but was expecting to be around Will during the first mile. Wanted to get out in 5:00 to 5:05 and was really focused on running a solid second mile. In the past two 5ks I've coasted through the second mile, trying to save up for the final mile, and didn't want to fall into that trap this time. Got off the line cleanly, in the back of the pack and then fell back a few more spots as we made our way to the road outside the parking lots. Started moving up on the way out to the U-turn and felt like I was in good position. A little crowded making the turn and felt some guys inside of me slip, so I stayed wide, but probably went too wide and wound up losing some speed. Had a clean line on the outside of the pack, though, and caught up to Will and Hari right at the mile. Had to fight with myself for a bit after the mile but managed to keep hammering and didn't back down, by the time we left the casino and started up the hill I was in a good rhythm. Saw Bedoya come past me hauling up the hill and tried to go with him but didn't have it in my legs. Got linked up with Will again, after trading back and forth for awhile, and stayed with him to the top of the hill and past 2M. Had a downhill to the left turn back into the casino and started to realize I didn't have it in me to work the final mile. Lost concentration after the 2M mark, had been so focused on running a hard second mile that I wasn't prepared for the after effects of that. I had assumed that I'd be able to gut it out, but I wasn't able to keep hammering. Could see both Will and Bedoya ahead of me, at the time it felt like I could catch them but I wasn't willing to do what it would take. Tried to just maintain, but I'm sure that from behind I looked like I was dying and guys were coming to eat me up. Got back to the road and was just waiting to see the clock at 3M, but after being passed a few more times decided that I felt good enough to start driving for home. This wasn't much before the 3M mark, but I had enough left to hold off the rest of the guys behind me. Not a great race, but had a few good parts: very happy with how I ran the first two miles, and as rough as the third mile was I didn't have too many negative thoughts and didn't completely crater. Managed to keep working and eventually stopped the bleeding. If I can put the first two miles of this race together with running tough at the end like I did at BAA, I'll wind up with a pretty good race. Splits: 5:00/10:00(5:00)/15:12(5:12)

Mill Pond 5k, Somers, CT 5/7/2011 : 5k 15:51 After listening to Jared sandbag for the entire 90 minute drive to the race, I was expecting to easily pull away from him during the first mile. I was unsure how to react to him pushing the pace in the early going and eventually just tucked in behind him and Jacob Gurzler, as I wasn't feeling great on the slightly uphill course. Crested a hill and had a small downhill leading to the mile, which I used to pass Gurzler and pull even with Jared. He'd later tell me we ran a 5:14 and I'm glad I didn't know that at the time. Felt like we were working hard but running fast (though Brian's GPS gizmo would say the first mile was slightly long.) Was right behind Jared at the turnaround (a cone in the middle of the road,) but quickly fell back and was passed by Gurzler on the ensuing climb. At this point I was working hard but unwilling to turn myself inside out and was just trying to manage the gap and wait for the hill to end. Didn't open up my stride enough on the downhill and was 2-3 seconds behind at 2M. Told myself I was keeping the gap constant, but 400m after the 2M mark both Gurzler and Jared had widened the gap. Tried to keep running hard from there but had basically accepted that I'd finish fourth this morning. Never managed to make any kind of dent in the gap, got stuck in a hard time trial pace, where I feel like I'm working hard but had I actually been competitive I could have pushed myself more. In retrospect I got a bit scared of the distance remaining after the turnaround and wanted to lurk 2-3 seconds back until we were closer to the finish. That might work if I were in better shape, but I need contact with the group to keep me focused on racing right now. Jared ran really well and never gave any indication that he was slowing or that I could make up ground. Splits: 5:14/10:21(5:07) [Estimated from what Jared told me post-race.]

James Joyce Ramble 10k, Dedham, MA 5/1/2011 : 10k 33:39 Went in with a plan of running 5:20s, allowing for a slightly faster first mile since that's the way the course seems to go, and hoping to start hammering after the school. Got off the line well and was feeling good, but probably running a bit too fast. Still trying to figure out pace and feel that this point. Started off the tail end of the lead pack and then gradually faded back through the first mile. The clock was clearly wrong, as I went through in 3:51, about 2 seconds behind Ted Breen. Tried to stay relaxed after going through the mile, knowing it was almost certainly faster than I was planning on. Slowly made my way up to Ted, catching him at 2M but giving back a little bit of distance after that, probably when I veered off to dump water on myself (still paranoid after super hot Ramble two years ago). Came out onto High Street before 3M into a strong headwind, so I tucked in behind Matt Carter who had just caught me. We worked together to get back up with, and then pass, Ted. Carter kept hammering but I was reluctant to do too much before the school so I held back. Got through the school without any big problems, though I wasn't feeling great, and tried to crank it up right after 4M. Matt Haringa caught me shortly after but I couldn't keep up with him and could only watch him pull away and run the last 2M the way I had hoped to (he finished in 33:14). Somewhere along the way my stomach started to bother me, I actually saw a Port-A-John and thought about stopping but managed to push ahead. Wasn't running aggressively at this point, caught from behind by a lot of guys and I don't think I caught anyone. Wayne Levy caught me right around 5M and I did a decent job of not letting myself fall behind him. Had a couple of surges over the final mile where I thought I'd find a groove and keep it going, but fell off every time. Had my eyes on Craig Fram, but made very little headway in closing the gap up to him. A bunch of guys got me right at 6M and I thought I'd be able to hold them off on the final sprint. We were all holding back a little, 400m is still a long way; I made the first move thinking we were closer to the finish than we actually were. I saw a mirage or whatever on the road that I thought were the finish mats and started to push. Should have realized there wasn't a chute around what I thought was the finish, but clearly wasn't thinking straight. Pulled away from some guys, but they quickly came back and I didn't kick for real until Wayne caught me. Didn't realize Harry Stants had kicked past until he came up to talk to me for a second time after the finish. Not a great race for me, wasn't nearly aggressive enough and barely raced as people went past me. I don't know that I passed a single person after the first mile. The distance was a bit of a reach for me, but I should have handled it better. Splits: ???

BAA 5k, Boston 4/17/2011 : 5k 15:52 Very unsure of what to expect pacewise and just planned to get off the line well and find a hard pace and hopefully a group to run with. An amorphous, strung out group of Matt Ely, Brendan Prindiville, Mark Miller, Jeff Caron, myself and some unknown guys formed by the time we got to the Public Garden. We split apart not long after hitting Tremont as people started to decide it was time to make moves. Came through the mile in 5:00 (Matt would later tell me that clock was 5s fast), and even though that was much faster than I was expecting, I felt good enough to surge over the top of the hill and hammer on the downhill. It's not as though I was flying, though, as I wasn't making up much ground but was definitely working hard. Started going back and forth with a BAA guy I didn't know (Aaron Ladd) and as we turned onto Boylston thought that Matt Ely was coming back. He wasn't. Saw 10:12 on the clock at 2M and though that 5:12 made more sense and tried to get my mind to a good place for the final mile. The stretch on Commonwealth is interminably long, I was really struggling to figure out where I was and thought we were about to turn onto Hereford when we were only at Gloucester. Both Matt Carter and Lineth Chepkurui both caught me before Hereford, and Carter built a decent lead on Hereford. Turned onto Boylston and built enough momentum to catch Carter, but started to fade and Lineth passed and gapped me. Hit 3M and was pushing hard and thought I was flat out and couldn't kick, then Jeff Caron went past me and that woke me up. He passed on my left and for some reason I thought I couldn't make a move to his right, I don't remember why, so I crossed behind him and started sprinting. Found some decent speed and managed to pass both Jeff and Lineth, then had to avoid running through the tape they were holding for Lineth. Pretty happy with how the race went, got out hard and managed to push myself the whole way. There was a bit of a lull on Commonwealth but I rallied well at the end. Splits: 5:05/10:12(5:07)

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2010---------------------------------------------------------

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/9/2010 : 5k 15:28.00 I was a little tired on the line but went into the race thinking I'd be able to run away from everybody. Hemu went right to the lead and I tucked in right behind him. We were running about 74s and early on I was feeling good sitting in second. We came through 1k in about 3:05 and I lost touch with Hemu slightly, which led to Dan Harper moving into second place. I stayed in 3rd for the next 3.5k, Hemu and Dan shared the lead a little and I drifted out of touch briefly around halfway but caught myself before it got out of control. I was feeling pretty tired and was glad the guys weren't able to run faster than 74s and as the race wore on we slipped to 75-76. I heard 4:54 at the mile and 9:56 at 2 and from then on wasn't very clear about our pace. With 550m left I decided it was time to make my move, I had moved past Hemu and was sitting in second behind Dan. I put in a surge down the backstretch and carried it through to 400m to go. I backed off a bit but kept running hard and was pretty sure I had pulled away. I had no sense of how fast I was running but I just kept hammering away as everyone was acting like Dan was coming back on me. In the end I wound up about 2 seconds ahead of Dan.

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/9/2010 : Mile 4:32.38 Got off the line very, very poorly and found myself almost immediately in the back. Yermie was in the lead but we were almost jogging and when we hit the homestretch for the first time I swung wide to move up. I found myself feeling so good when I picked it up that I just carried it through and took the lead. I was out front for the next few laps, we were about 70 at 400m and then 2:18ish at 800. I was still feeling good though I was probably starting to slow and at 900m Yermie passed me. I should have moved right up onto this shoulder, but instead I pulled back a bit and then Prevost, Phipps and Hannon all went past me. I was reeling for about a lap, then realized the race was almost over and managed to find a little extra effort for the last 500m. By then it was too late and all I was able to do was stay about the same distance from Kyle in fourth place. Disappointing race, I wasn't ready for the speed and didn't start pushing to the finish until it was too late.

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2009---------------------------------------------------------

USATF NE Champs, Franklin Park, 11/8/2009: 10k 33:18 Got off the line a little slower and more relaxed than usual, as I had planned on. Wanted to conserve energy early with hopes of being aggressive later on with some strength left in my legs. Came through the mile right at 5:00 which felt comfortable and easy the whole way but lost a little ground on the climb up Bearcage. Was telling myself to stay calm and run easy, which worked to some extent but I wound up running alone, somehow letting a group of 3 or 4 Central Park Track Club guys get between myself and the pack of 4 BAA guys. Felt good the first time through the Wilderness and was able to move up a little bit, hit 3M and thought "here we go" but my legs weren't there. I forced things for a little bit and back in the Wilderness had a GBTC guy, Ryan Carrara and Lou strung out ahead of me and should have started moving up but couldn't get my legs to go. That was demoralizing, as I watched Matt Haringa move past me and start running the race I had planned. Mark LaRosa passed me on the way to Bearcage after 4M and that was the end of my race, I was in the mindset of just finishing the race and didn't care that I was getting passed by one guy after another. Lost even more ground in the last Wilderness Loop, where JMark went past me. I tried to rally with a big effort around the field but couldn't get my legs going and backed off a bit. Managed to close somewhat hard from the backstop and just barely held of Ferenc. Not a great day, my legs were feeling heavy during strides before the race and there was never a point at which I felt as though I could switch gears. Just a long, slow, depressing slog today. Splits: 4:58/10:18(5:20)/xx:xx/xx:xx/26:36(8k)

Mayor's Cup, Franklin Park, 10/25/2009: 8k, 26:26 Splits: 4:55/10:13(5:18)/xx:xx/21:15(11:02)

Grace Race 5M 10/10/2009: 26:09 Splits: N/A

Lone Gull 10k, Lincoln, RI 9/20/2009: 31:58 Splits (approx): 4:52/10:07(5:15)/15:08(5:01)/

Ollie 8k, South Boston, MA 9/12/2009: 25:07 Splits: N/A

Battle of Bunker Hill 8k, Charlestown, MA 6/14/2009: 24:55 Splits: N/A

Rhody 5k, Lincoln, RI 6/7/2009: 15:18 Splits: 4:49/9:45(4:56)/14:45(5:00)

Run For Dave 5.3M, Dartmouth, MA 5/23/2009: 26:58 Splits: 4:54/10:01(5:07)/

James Joyce Ramble 10k, Dedham, MA 4/26/2009: 33:07 Splits: xx:xx/9:51/15:15(5:24)/21:00(5:45)/26:45(5:45)

BAA 5k, Boston, MA 4/19/2009: 15:15 Splits: 4:47/xx:xx

Todd's Trot 5k, Durham, NH 4/11/2009: 15:22 Splits: 4:53/9:50(4:57)

New Bedford Half Marathon, New Bedford, MA 3/15/2009: 68:29 Kind of an uneventful warm-up, a little distracted and my legs didn't feel good or bad. Got to the line and made my way up to the front but wasn't able to put in any strides. After standing around for a few minutes we were off and I got out in front, everything felt good and easy but I guess I was going out fast. Got caught and passed by 10-15 guys by the mile and came through in 4:56. Still floating through through the second mile, trying hard not to race and just cover ground. Going into the third mile we had a really solid group of 5-10 guys with Michael Chettle and myself out front. There was a decently long climb just after three, once I got to the top I put in a big surge, trying to break the group up and start closing on the guys ahead of us. At 4M Ely took over the lead and kept driving, I was reeling for a minute or two but somehow managed to hang in there and my legs came back around. Surprised to hear the sub-5 split at 5M, I think Chettle took the lead here right as we were catching the group ahead of us. We kept grinding and slowly closed in on Brendan Callahan, catching him just before we hit the shore around 7M. Had a group of 6 guys: Chettle, Ely, Callahan, Freese, Frank Corrigan and myself, and we mostly did a good job of switching up the lead to fight the wind. I hung in the back of the pack and just covered ground, I was still feeling good but probably stayed in the back too much. We had Casey Moulton and Joseph Ekuom up ahead but didn't seem to be closing on them at all. Turned off the water for a little bit and felt really good coming through the 9M mark. Got back to the water and making the left hand turn felt like it ripped open a blister that had been developing on my right foot for a few miles. The group starting stringing out, I was in the back and really pushed to get up front. Nearly was grouped up with Chettle and Ely but didn't quite make it. We came through 10M and that was about it for me, I started losing focus and dropped off of Chettle and Ely. Something in my head convinced me that the last 3M would pass quickly and I wouldn't get caught, both of which were wrong. Got passed by one of the Wheelers at 11.5M or so and then up the long climb at the finish was passed by the other Wheeler and Bedoya. Finally got over the top and had a rush of andrenaline which convinced me I could hammer to the finish. Started to recognize where I was but thought I was closer to the finish than I actually was. Passed one of the Wheelers and was closing in on Freese, Bedoya and Callahan. Made the turn at the KFC to discover we still had to get through the rotary and then a few blocks to the finish, which was further than I was expecting and kind of killed my focus. Started slowing, got passed back Wheeler and was cruising to the finish. I was thinking that a PR was out of the question until I saw Terry a block or two before the line and heard him shout 68:10. Managed to pick it up through the line but didn't have enough real estate to catch anybody. Pretty glad to finish this one, as I looked down at the finish to find my right shoe soaked with blood from the ripped blister.
Splits: 4:56/10:12(5:16)/15:35(5:23)/20:55(5:20)/25:53(4:58)/30:54(5:01)/36:00(5:06)/41:07(5:07)/46:34(5:27)/51:39(5:05)/xx:xx/xx:xx/68:29
(Miles 3 through 10 from Ely's watch.)

Raynham K of C 5 Miler, Raynham, MA 3/8/2009: 25:45 Got off the line really well, the slight downhill helped a lot, was out in front without seeing Pat Tarpy and for a second or two thought maybe he'd be building into it and I might be able to get a lead early and surprise him. Almost as soon as I could think that he was up on my shoulder and we started hammering. Stuck with him through 2 turns, then we hit a long straight and I felt like I was working way too hard, so I backed off and got behind him, trying to get pulled along if possible. That didn't last long and the race was decided maybe 2:00 after the gun. As we came up on the first mile I thought they had a clock out but I couldn't understand why it wasn't moving, all I could make out was 57 and that didn't make sense, as 3:57 was impossible and I was still too far away for it to be 4:57. When I finally got closer I realized it wasn't a clock, it was a mailbox. Tarpy continued to pull away; I just tried to stay focused on myself and keep pushing. They either didn't have the 2M marked or I missed it, I'd guess I was about 2.5M in when I started wondering when we'd hit two miles and thinking to myself this was going to be a long race. Relieved to come past 3M in 15:10 and since my last 2 races were 13.1 and 10 miles, very surprised at how short this one felt. Over the last 2M Tarpy was too far ahead to try and chase so I did my best to just hammer along. Made a turn around 3.5M and hit a headwind, which slowed me down and really made things tough. Managed to get through it, then hit 4M in 20:31 and pushed up the only hill on the course. Got to the plateau at the top and really tried to get my legs going and finish with some speed, but I couldn't really gut it out. I'm sure that if I hadn't been completely alone I could have found another gear. A slower finish than I would have liked, but all in all a decent effort.
Splits: x:xx/x:xx/15:10/20:31(5:21)/25:45(5:14)

Jones Group 10 Miler, Amherst, MA 2/22/2009: 53:34 Felt really good during the warmup and got out near the front without much effort. I wanted to just hang around and not get caught up in a pissing match early, and did a decent job of holding on to the back of the pack. We were more or less together through the mile, Pat Tarpy and Michael Chettle took off during the second mile, which was largely downhill. I was gapped a little bit during the second mile as I wasn't expecting it to get quite so fast so early. Wasn't really able to make up the gap since I didn't feel like dropping to 4:30 pace would be a good idead. So from 2M on I was essentially running alone, just 5-10m off the back of the chase pack, though. That pack was pretty big, with both Moultons, Miller, Brendan Callahan, and Andrew Hill. The third and fourth miles were up some serious hills which slowed the pace a lot and broke up the pack. I started losing touch around here, still reluctant to really start working hard. Chettle fell off and I caught him around the 3M mark, at some point between 4 and 5M I got passed by Matt Kerr and Justin Fyffe and didn't put up much of a fight. I was still telling myself to wait until the second half and that guys would be coming back big time after the fast start. The course spends 2-3M on dirt roads, which wouldn't normally be a big deal but they were fairly iced over and I wound up running on the shoulder where there was a little bit of traction. Everytime I moved to head for a tangent I started slipping around. I came through 5M feeling good but had to wait until roughly 5.5M to get back on pavement before I felt comfortable to start grinding away. Chettle was starting to rally and he caught me right around the 6M mark, I did a good job of matching him for 30-45 seconds, at which point my stomach started bothering me and I backed off. Just felt really gassy and bouncing around at a fast pace wasn't helping things. Chettle went on to finish 6th and run 52:09. I thought I'd be able to tough it out and hold onto my 10th place standing, but it was not to be as the guys behind me were charging hard. Carrara caught me at 7.5M with a perfectly timed move at the bottom of a short hill, I wasn't even able to latch on for one second. At the bottom of another hill just before 8M I got passed by Bernie, Bedoya and Nate Freese, who all went flying past me. Any thoughts I had to hanging tough and keeping them close went out the window when I saw the big climb ahead of us. Thankfully nobody else came up on me and I was able to keep things somewhat respectable. A terrible race, but not a lot that I can take away from it. I don't think my legs were all there today, but it's almost impossible to tell since my stomach really prevented me from getting after it in the final 4 miles. I have no interest in making the trip out to Amherst to run this course again.
Splits: 5:05/9:50(4:45)/15:17(5:27)/20:55(5:38)/26:17(5:22)/31:34(5:17)/36:49(5:15)/42:20(5:31)/47:58(5:38)/53:34(5:36)

USATF Half Marathon Championships, Houston, TX 1/18/2009: 68:39 Felt good during the warmup and strides, and got off the line reasonably well. The lead pack took off pretty quickly and a second pack formed behind them, I was just off the back of the second pack and thought I was in good position. Came through the mile in 5:08 and then hit a downhill where I was expecting some guys to pick it up after seeing a 5:00ish on the clock. Stayed within myself, had a few guys just ahead and was feeling pretty confident. The first two miles went by pretty quickly, just covering ground and feeling things out. During the third mile I got together with another guy, I think it was Christopher Erichsen, and we were running just off the pack of 3 marathoners, that lead to my fastest mile of the race, a 4:55 to get to 3M in 15:07. Spent most of the fourth mile closing on Nate Brigham, we caught him at the 4M mark, 20:20 into the race, and I was hoping the 4 of us that were there would group up a little. That didn't happen though, and before I realized it one guy (Erichsen?) had broken away and I wasn't able to catch up with him. Made the turn just before 5M, knew I had a long straight ahead of me and was getting ready to grind when I saw the clock at 5M reading 25:32. I thought it would be a little quicker but was still optimistic that I'd be able to make that time up. In reality, the long straight was where my race came apart, I was running alone and not able to force myself to grind out a fast enough pace. Got settled into 5:20s which was hard but reasonably comfortable and just couldn't work harder unfortunately. Got a little down on myself, with the worst stretch being between miles 7 and 8. Got passed by Luis Armenteros around 7M and the distance between us didn't change too much after mile 8. After making the turn just before mile 9 I pretty much resigned myself to a sub-par time but managed to dig in an prevent myself from slowing further. Got through the miles along the Parkway and then hit a little bit of a headwind in the city, though I felt like I managed to push through it decently and finish somewhat aggressively. [It seems as though my recollections of miles 6 through 9 might be a little incorrect. The official results have me at 10k in 32:00 and 9M in 46:08. That makes the 6M split of 30:44 plausible, but I distinctly remember seeing clock tick over 52:00 before I got to 10M. I also remember expecting to see 51-low and being surprised. At the time I figured I was misremembering my 9M split, but I apparently went from mile 6 to mile 9 in 15:24, 5:08 pace, and then ran a 5:56 before bouncing right back to 5:20s? I must have taken the all time worst route around the pylon at the turnaround. I really have no idea what happened out there.]
Splits: 5:08/10:12(5:04)/15:07(4:55)/20:20(5:13)/25:32(5:12)/30:44(5:12)/36:0x(5:2x)/41:2x(5:2x)/52:02(5:2x)/57:25(5:23)/62:45(5:20)/68:05(5:20)/68:39(:34)

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/10/2009 : 5k 15:23.01 The plan for this one was to put in a mile and a half at 5:00 pace and then drop down from there, as a little prep for Houston. Hemu took off from the gun and I settled into 4th, behind Gihan and Jacokes. We were a little quick but I was happy to sit back and pass the time, trying to keep an eye on Hemu to make sure he didn't get too far away. We came through the mile in 4:58ish and I decided Hemu's lead was a little too big and started closing on him. It took about half a mile to catch him, but I went around with him with 12 laps left and he didn't offer much of a challenge. Was running 4:50-4:55ish, I felt really comfortable and pulled away to an easy win. No firm splits, though the last 16 laps were 9:49.

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/10/2009 : Mile 4:29.15 Coach put together a stacked field for this one, with Yermie, Jake and Paul all in the lineup. Jake pulled out during the warmup, but I knew I'd still have my hands full with Yermie and Paul. I had been expecting someone to take it out hard looking to start the season off with a good time and was very surprised when we came through the first lap in 35-36. Was at the back of the pack, trying to stay on my toes and stay ready but we were just jogging around, hitting 400m in 69. Going into the 600 I tried moving up but Yermie stepped out in front of me and slowed a little. We bumped around and broke free going into the turn, then Wildman came flying by down the backstretch and the race really opened up. I wasn't worried too much about Craig, but Yermie went with him and they built a 5-10m gap on me before I knew what happened. I was 2:15-2:16 at 800m and found myself racing Paul and Matty B. Managed to get clear of those guys and started closing on Craig, but Yermie had pulled away and was unreachable. Had Matty B on my shoulder over the final 400m but found enough speed down the straights to hold him off. Not one of the prettier miles I've ever run.

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2008---------------------------------------------------------

USATF Club Cross Country Championships, Spokane, WA 12/x/2008: 10k 3x:xx

USATF New England Championships, Franklin Park 11/9/2008: 10k 31:46
Splits: 4:56/10:10(5:14)/15:20(5:10)/20:36(5:16)/25:36(5:00)(8k)

Mayor's Cup, Franklin Park 10/26/2008: 8k 25:37
Splits: 4:48/10:00(5:12)/15:18(5:18)/20:36(5:18)

Apple Harvest Ramble, Harvard, MA 10/5/2008: 10M 53:31 Not as deep a field here as the past few years, got off the line in the lead without working too hard. Tried to take advantage of the downhill there without getting too out of control, Titus Mutinda came alongside me as the hill bottomed out and started surging almost immediately. I didn't go with him when he surged, but I made sure to pull him right back in to let him know the surges weren't affecting me. Ben Ndaya joined us right after the mile mark and the three of us would run together for the next few miles. Titus continued surging but Ben wasn't helping me reel Titus back in. After three miles or so we let Titus build a gap on us, we just continued running side by side, neither one willing to work just yet. I was hoping to cruise along like this through 6M and then start rolling, but Ben had other thoughts. At 4M he put in a quick surge, I hesitated and Ben pulled away. I was stil confident they were working too hard too early and that they'd come back to me. The big climb up to the five mile mark stung but I felt recovered enough going past six miles. Tried to throw myself into it and speed up but wasn't able to push enough. Didn't have a good view of the leaders as the course started twisting, but it felt like they weren't getting away. Right at eight miles Joe Hegarty came up alongside and we flew down the long hill together. That was enough to get me going again and I started to pull away from him. There were a few times I thought I might have a chance to catch Titus but couldn't put anything together. Not able to jumpstart my legs enough after staying conservative early in the race.
Splits: -

MIT Alumni XC, Franklin Park 9/6/2008 : 8k 27:49 The plan coming in was to sit behind the leaders and make a strong move just after 3 miles. I expected Fivos and Yermie to be fighting up front and hopefully there'd be an opportunity to pick off someone with tired legs. Really humid today which made everybody conservative at the start. Nobody to settle in behind after crossing the field so I ran the first mile shoulder to shoulder with Fivos. I knew we were running easy, which was fine with me, but I wasn't expecting to hear 5:20 as we passed the first mile marker. The slow early pace played to my advantage, as I had a better chance of running a hard 4 miles than a hard 5 given my current fitness. Fivos and Yermie started speeding up after hearing the split and I let them gap me, which put me by myself but not too far ahead of the next pack. Watching Yermie from behind I could tell he was struggling and that I'd catch him eventually, the only question was where on the course that would happen. Kept it easy up Bearcage and steady on the way down, just trying to cover ground without digging myself into too deep a hole. Heading into the Wilderness I could feel guys on my heels and Yermie was coming back quickly. When I looked over my shoulder I was glad to see Khatch there, we waited until the hill in the Wilderness then went around Yermie on either side. From there we started working together to put distance between us and the guys behind us and did a pretty good job. I didn't hear our split at 3M but it couldn't have been fast, and the clock at the finish line said 17:01 when we crossed 5k. I was hurting by this point and just trying to ride Khatch far enough to get out of reach of the chasers. Tried to help him out with the pace through the Wilderness, but at the downhill switchback I looked behind me and lost a couple seconds. I wasn't able to reclose the gap, Khatch started pulling away and I started feeling sorry for myself. I had been telling myself that if I got to 4M with a gap none of the varsity guys would be able to close it, and that was soon put to the test. My legs were pretty much shot, at least that's what I was telling myself, and I did not do a good job of getting down that steep hill after 4M and was slow to the backstop. Not too far after the left hand turn Dan Harper, a freshman, and Jeff Paterno caught me. I made one effort to surge with Dan but couldn't hang on and started slipping back. Tried another push up Bearcage but he was too far ahead and I wasn't willing to push as hard as I would have needed to in order to catch him. I was content to just get to the finish line, Joe caught me after the downhill as we were heading to the backstop and I had nothing in my legs to respond when he started kicking. Pretty bad race on my part, the way things played out dictated the move after 2M and I didn't have the focus I needed to hang in there when things got tough. Need to do a better job of running aggressively when my legs are tired, instead of just trying to get to the line. Can't have the Mt Washington mindset during normal races.
Splits: 5:20/10:57(5:37)/16:2x(5:30ish)/22:??

Mount Washington Road Race 6/21/2008 : 7.6M 66:40 Came into this race unsure about what to expect, other than a long grind and a lot of pain. Got off the line easy and actually pretty close to the front. The plan was to build into it, trying to balance a desire to not blow up with a desire to run as well as I could so I wouldn't feel like I needed to do it again. Hit the bottom of the hill and instinctively reacted as though it were a normal hill, finding a good gear to get over it and getting ready top it well. Caught myself immediately but had to smile, that was the last familiar feeling I had. Eric Blake said to be where you want to finish by two miles so I was fine with sitting back in 20th during the first mile. Was continually moving up and probably started out too hard but felt like I was keeping the pace easy and my legs felt good for a few miles. I wound up running next to Payton Batliner for most of the first half and there was a guy from Club Northwest just up ahead, maybe 20m. In a typical race I would have bridged the gap but was worried about working too hard early and just tried to hold my own pace. Payton eventually dropped back but the gap from the guy in the blaze orange vest never changed. Kevin Tilton caught me around halfway and we went back and forth for the next few miles. I crossed the halfway mark in 31:06 and was still feeling decent, though we took a turn shortly after that and I could see the road stretched out ahead of (and above) me and started feeling worse. At around 3M my left foot started to feel like it was falling asleep, which was a weird feeling and didn't make me any more comfortable. There were times when it felt like there was a ledge or something on the sole of my shoe and my toes weren't hitting the ground. Hard to describe. The push to five miles was by far my worst stretch and I'm sure I gave back a lot of ground. Craig Fram and Ryan Carrara both caught me, maybe one other guy too, and I was completely unable to respond. I was really fighting myself at this point, the race seemed like it would go on forever and my foot was feeling bad and I thought about quitting, but that would have been complicated and I would have talked myself into doing it all over next year so I just kept taking steps. Shortly after five miles we hit a flat stretch, or what felt like flat after climbing for 40 minutes. Had I been racing I would have surged here, but I was content to shake my legs out, take some easy strides and regroup. The timing couldn't have been better for that brief respite and I managed to expell most of the negative thoughts I'd been having. Set out on the next climb and saw Ryan start to walk, which got me thinking about catching him, but he got back to running quickly and didn't seem to have slowed. Around this point I started hearing guys behind me, though for the most part I was so enveloped in my own agony that I wasn't paying any attention to what was around me. I had been telling myself that after 6M I'd be close enough to the finish to start gutting out a move, but at maybe six and a quarter the course hits a switchback into the most spirit crushing climb you could think of. I trudged up it thinking only of the finish line, my only thought on seeing Ryan walk a few steps was "If he stops I can catch him." Mark LaRosa and a pack of a few other guys had caught me by 7M but I was done running aggressively and checked out mentally. My only thought was to end it and the only way to do that was to finish, I didn't care about place anymore just completing the race. All those guys gradually pulled away from me and even on the somewhat flat lead up to the finish I couldn't bring myself to turn my legs over. Fear was entirely in control at this point, I knew I could finish at the pace I was running and was afraid I wouldn't if I tried to surge. I can't remember many times where I was this close to a group and had no desire to beat them. Even in bad races when I can't bring myself to kick I always wish I could. Dan Princic went around right before the steep climb to the finish and despite Terry flipping out and screaming at me I couldn't respond. Staggered the first few steps across the line and then slowly came back to life. I'm not sure how prepared anyone can be for this race, but the climbing aside I clearly wasn't prepared for 66 minutes of suffering and the performance speaks for itself. When I saw 31 minutes I was actually excited and thought I'd run 64 minutes but didn't have it in me to keep grinding when I needed to. For the record, the Club Northwest guy I was behind in the first half was, I believe, Mike Sayenko who ran 65:04 to finish eigth. Ryan finished 11th and Mark was right behind him in 12th, 66:01 and 66:19 respectively. I didn't get any splits as they weren't reading them at any of the mile marks, but that was probably for the best.
Splits: 31:06 at halfway.

Bunker Hill 8k, Charlestown, MA 6/15/2008 : 8k 25:06 A strange situation today as the start was right by the gate to the Navy Yard, less than 2 minutes from my place. Walked down to register at 8am and then just went back home to sit down before warming up. It started pouring rain around 8:30am and was still coming down when I started the warm up. Had a chance to dry off before the start though and got to the line early enough to put in plenty of strides and was feeling really good at the start. My shoes were slipping a bit on the wet pavement so I was worried about taking a turn too sharply, but there weren't too many turns on the course. Headed out on Warren, up and over Bunker Hill, back to Warren via Lowney and the Training Field, then out on Warren again, back on Medford, into the Navy Yard at the back and then finished at Dry Dock 2 on First. Sprinted off the line with a bunch of little kids and pretty soon it was just me and one guy on my shoulder. He put in a surge on the turn onto Warren and I thought maybe I'd have a race on my hands. He built a five to ten meter lead but going past Green I started reeling him in and was right next to him at the mile. Had planned on going right past but got a bit too close and he realized I was there. Heard the 4:42 split and he backed off almost immediately and I started pulling away. Kept the pace hard to the base of the hill and tried to hammer the climb as best I could, but couldn't really freewheel down the otherside as the road was a bit too wet. Had a pretty good size gap by now and took the third mile to make sure my legs were okay after the climb to avoid falling apart towards the end. Tried to crank it up a bit on the way out towards Sullivan Square but couldn't quite cut it loose and essentialled fartlekked home, running well at times and coasting at times. Started cranking it up once I hit First Street and just had a long straightaway left, did a good job of keeping it hard once I started kicking and even found an extra gear when it looked like I might be able to sneak under 25:00. A pretty good job of running hard solo, though it would have been nice to get under 5:00 for those final miles and finish under 25 minutes.
Splits: 4:42/9:50(5:08)/14:55(5:05)/20:00(5:05)

Rhody 5k, Lincoln, RI 6/1/2008 : 5k 15:37 Started in the second row to keep things easy from the gun, had a late night watching Bolt run the WR and spent 3 hours on the road in the morning to get to the race. Got off the line cleanly and managed to get some room to run right away. A pack of Pat Moulton, Mark Miller and few Africans made an early move and got separation after maybe 800m. I was content to sit up front in the chase pack and bide my time. I was hoping to stay close to pick guys off when they started dying, and then just tough it out in the final mile. My legs were feeling good early, the stride was smooth and the pace came easily. We climbed up to the corner and then hit the downhill, passing one or two guys who were falling off early. Terry Shea got up next by the mile mark and I tried telling myself to just keep the smooth rhythm that was working well for me and stick with him. But I let the negative thoughts overwhelm me and started falling back. Matt Carter and Wilson Perez went past around the time that we took a right off the road and back into the parking lot, and they immediately had a gap on me which I should have covered. Wound up floating around in no-man's land for awhile, Ryan Carrara eventually caught me right before 2M and I was able to tough out maybe 200m of hanging with him. Came through in 9:48 which wasn't terrible, the leaders were out of reach but a good final mile could have gotten me up close to top 5. It got too easy to justify not gutting it out and I phoned in the last mile, not racing at all. Got passed by a pack of 4 or 5 guys and couldn't go with them, there was a point where I felt like I was about to rally, but couldn't marshall the effort I needed. Pretty bad finish, there were one or two guys near me but I can't remember whether I managed to outkick them, though I should have been able to. Things really unravelled after the first mile, the only guy I passed was Gilbert Kipton who stepped off at 1.5M.
Splits: 4:47/9:48(5:01)/15:0x

Run For Dave, Dartmouth, MA 5/24/2008 : 5.3M 26:41 Got out well, went right to the front and my legs were feeling pretty good. Gilbert Kipton was right with me from the start and came up alongside just before the first turn, maybe 1000m into the race. I cut the tangent pretty well and Gilbert tucked in behind me as we hit the first downhill and we started opening things up. I wasn't sure what to expect from Gilbert, but I just kept running aggressive and as we hit the 2M mark he started dropping off. I did my best to pull away when I felt him fade and ran solo the rest of the way. Not a very exciting race, felt like the pace slowed as the race wore one, the course had rolling hills most of the way and my legs started fading. No clocks after the first mile, so not sure how final 4.3M went, but since it took 21:58 (5:06/mile) it couldn't have been that good.
Splits: 4:43

Medical Center 6k, Nashua, NH 5/11/2008 : 6k 18:24 Had been going back and forth on strategy for this one and didn't really settle on one before the gun went off. Had thought about sitting in the pack and making a big move around halfway and had thought about going hard from the gun, like at Claddagh's, and burning guys off. I got out hard and in the lead and wound up going with strategy number two, but didn't buy in all the way. I was feeling good and running very aggressively, possibly too aggressively. Working a little too hard to cover each and every little move, surging around corners, etc. Matt Carter had a lead of a step or two at the mile, which was around 4:45 at the clock, but the marker was a few seconds later. We caught Matt and spit him out in short order, then Casey Moulton, Ben Ndaya, Ryan Carrara and myself started trading surges as the course gradually climbed uphill with turns every block. As we climbed up the biggest hill on the course, Wilson Perez made a big move to the front and I dropped back a bit. The pack was 8 guys, much bigger than I was expecting, and I was sitting in eigth as we dropped back down hill, somewhere after 1.5M. Managed to work my way up to Matt Ely and Ryan, hitting the 2M mark with them, maybe 10m behind the lead pack of Terry Shea, Casey and Ben. By this point I was working hard and trying to get a little closer to the finish before having to really push. Thankfully Terry started falling off and I was able to work up to him, catching him at about a mile to go. Then Wilson started dropping back and I reeled hime in with maybe 800m left. This whole way it felt like I was pulling Ryan along and I was expecting him to go around me at any second, but when I caught Wilson it felt like I was finally running solo. Didn't put in a good enough surge to catch Ben and Casey, the gap was probably too big to overcome without them helping me out some. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had I stayed in the lead pack instead of dropping back when I did. I closed with a decent kick, and looked back to see Wilson coming as I got close to line which brought out enough speed from me to keep him behind me. I did not race well at all today, should have sat back in the pack and started pushing at 2M. The course was significantly easier from there and my legs were good enough to have given me a chance to win. Bottom line, I tried to burn guys off early, that didn't work and left 8 of us together at 1.5M and me feeling sorry for myself. By the time I got back on track, the damage was done and the gap was too big.
Splits: 4:48/9:51(5:03)/14:50(4:49)(approx.)

James Joyce Ramble, Dedham, MA 4/27/2008 : 10k 30:44 Almost missed the start because of a long line at the Port-A-John, didn't have any time to run strides, aside from the sprint to the line. Got off the line well, settled in right behind Mark Miller at the front of what felt like a big group and tried to get a feel for how Mark was running. The pace was fast from the start but my legs were feeling really good and things were still comfortable. The start is a long straightaway and downhill so we were able to just keep the legs turning over and get into the race. A couple of quick turns right before the mile gave Mark a lead of a few steps, I was right with Paul Ryan at the split, which was called out as 4:35, though that seems a bit fast. I had to pull back a bit and that let Terry take over leading the chase pack for a bit. Mark was looking really good early and the plan became to run hard, but within reason and hope Mark started coming back over the final few miles. By two miles Terry and I were running shoulder to shoulder and were working really well together. The pace was more aggressive than I would have run on my own, but everything was still feeling smooth and just bought in, hoping I wouldn't blow up later on. We set about breaking away from Paul Ryan, not explicitly but as we kept the pace hard he started slipping further back. Around 3 miles we turned into Noble and Greenough, which is a really hilly, twisty part of the course. It looked like Mark was started to fall apart, but with all the turns we were never able to keep him in sight and he managed to stay away. After four miles we hit the road again with Mark up ahead and in sight, but seeminly further away. I said to Terry that we still had a chance to catch Mark, meaning more that if we kept him close there was a chance he'd start to slow. Terry apparently thought I meant "Let's pick it up," as he dropped the hammer and nearly dropped me. I was hanging on by a thread and a few steps behind for maybe half a mile before I rallied enough to get back on his hip and then take over leading for a little bit. Just after 5M we swung through Dedham Center and Mark somehow extended his lead, which forced me to start racing Terry for second place. We headed back along the same road we started on and I was really looking forward to being done. A few times Terry started to surge, but I would somehow get a step ahead and slow the pace down again. I felt bad for setting Terry up like that, making sure it would come down to a kick, especially since he had carried me through the fifth mile. Just before the 6M mark is a short downhill which is where I started making my move, by the time we reached 6M I could feel that I had a gap on him and knew I could probably hold him off. Terry's been running some quick workouts though and I wasn't completely confident in what kind of kick I'd have after six miles so I was pretty nervous all the way to the line.
Splits: 4:35/9:27(4:52)/14:32(5:05)/19:45(5:13)/24:40(4:50)/29:42(5:02)

Todd's Trot, Durham, NH 4/12/2008 : 5k 15:28 Surprised to see Wilson Perez before the start, I had been looking forward to a solo effort here and an easy paycheck. We agreed to work together and try to get under the course record (15:21, which I set last year) and got after it from the start. After the short uphill and right hand turn it was just me and him, with a HS junior from Durham sitting right behind us. My legs were feeling good and I kept on hammering down the long straight and cut the tangents on the first two turns. Going up a hill at maybe 1200m I could feel myself pulling away so I just kept hammering right over the top. Came through the mile around 4:50 with a second or two lead and then just set out trying to run down the lead car. Had a long downhill to really open up my stride but most of the second mile was uphill and I wound up slowing too much. By this time I was way out front and couldn't keep up the effort running solo. Tried to get my legs going on the steep downhill heading back to the school but it wasn't enough. As I was turning onto the final stretch I saw 15:14 on the clock and found another gear, but as the clock ticked past the record I slowed down and cruised the final few steps. Should have run slower last year.
Splits: 4:50/9:52(5:02)/15:28

USATF 8k Championship, Central Park, New York 3/15/2008 : 8k 24:28
Splits: 4:45/9:27(4:42)/14:25(4:58)/14:57(5k)/24:28

Claddagh's Pub, Lawrence, MA 3/2/2008 : 4M 19:55
Splits: 4:59/10:21(5:22)/15:01(4:40)/19:55(4:54)

Valentine's Invite, BU 2/9/2008 : 5k 15:03.92

Terrier Invite, BU 1/26/2008 : 3k 8:25.93

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/12/2008 : 5k 15:25.31

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/12/2008 : Mile 4:24.78

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2007---------------------------------------------------------

USATF Club Nationals, Voice of America Park, OH xx/xx/2007 : 10k xx:xx

USATF-NE Championship, Franklin Park xx/xx/2007 : 10k xx:xx

BAA Mayor's Cup, Franklin Park 10/28/2007 : 8k 25:21 I didn't feel all that great on the warm up, but my legs started getting loose during the few strides I got in before the gun. I got out pretty well, but started getting passed pretty much right away after the right hand turn. I settled into a good pace going past the stadium and could see Mike Chettle, Dave Bridgewater and Mark Miller up ahead of me. I was a lot faster at the mile than I was expecting, 4:45, and felt like a lot of the guys ahead of me would be coming back. I got horrible positioning going up Bearcage and lost a couple spots, but started running aggressively on the way down. Matt Carter caught me at Bearcage and we wound up running the rest of the race more or less together. I wasn't able to keep the momentum I had going down the hill, and slowed as I ran the straightaway to the 2M mark. I was just under 10:00, about 9:57, and in a decent sized group. I saw Mark Miller up ahead and thought I was catching him, but didn't seem to make up any ground through the Wilderness. Ramon LaBoy went past me just after 2M, moving really well but I wasn't able to go with him. I didn't do much over the final 3M of the race, mainly held my position but lost a couple spots. I was about 15:45 or 15:50 at the 5k it seemed like if I were able to run a good last 3k I could move up 5-10 spots. I simply wasn't able to sustain a hard pace, I didn't have the focus needed to really hammer. I was 20:25 at 4M, a step or two ahead of Carter, and put in a good stretch to the top of Bearcage. I got passed at the top and wasn't able to respond, unable to really kick until after rounding the backstop. Disappointing race, I don't think the time reflects what I'm capable of right now. The big takeaway for me was that I'm not accustomed to racing, it is much different than just running workouts. This race was fairly similar to Ollie way back at the start of September, in that I didn't feel like I ran my hardest afterwards, but during the race when I knew I needed to run faster I couldn't. 2 weeks after Ollie I ran much better at the 10 miler, so hopefully I see the same improvement at USATF-NE Champs.
Splits: 4:45(4:45)/9:57(5:12)/15:45(5k)/20:25(10:28)/25:21(4:56)

Apple Harvest Ramble, Harvard, MA 9/23/2007 : 10M 52:55 I only got in a couple strides before the start, but I was feeling good and not worried because I knew I had plenty of time to work into the pace and get loosened up. I watered down beforehand because of the noon start and warm temperatures. Of course, by the time the gun went off I was pretty much dry. Casey Moulton took off right away and Ben Ndaya went right to his hip, with Nate Brigham and Kibrom Temelso behind them. I was 10-20m behind and by the mile Casey and Ben had broken away, with a gap to Nate and Kibrom then a gap to me. I was fast at the mile, about 5:03 and just tried to stay calm and not worry about what was coming up over the next hour. I was running fairly aggressively, cutting tangents on all the curves and felt like I was right on the next two guys despite the gap. On the first serious uphill right before 2M I saw Nate start falling off the pace and I started moving up slowly. I didn't reel him in until the 3M mark and by then Kibrom had at least 20m on me. I spent the next few miles just trying to keep him close, afraid of going too hard too soon. I noticed Ben had fallen off from Casey around 4.5M and I tried to start going hard there, thinking he'd be coming back quickly. Unable to move up at all though, the course had turned into more of a gradual climb, no real downhills to stretch the legs out on. I started hearing someone coming up on me but I wasn't sure who it was and resolved not to look back to check. I tried to use the turns to get away from the guy behind me but couldn't really shake him at all. Kibrom wasn't coming back at all, the gap fluctuated between 20m and 50m, maybe. I started moving at 7M, Casey had said 4-7 was really tough, 7-9 easier and then everybody knew the last mile was uphill. I saw a 5:08 on my watch at 8M and started thinking if I could throw in another of those I'd pull away, but my legs just weren't there and parts of the ninth mile got really tough and I wasn't sure my legs would last. I made it to the nine mile mark before being caught, by Terry Shea and Avi Kramer. We hit the base of the hill together, I looked up and saw Ben had finally come back and was close. I decided to forget about running smart and just try to gut out a big push to catch Ben. I'm still trying to run myself back into shape, so I figured that even if I cracked just kicking my own ass for awhile would be good for me. I was surprised at how much I had left in my legs, I caught Ben halfway up the hill and easily pulled away. The finish was a ways past the top of the hill though, which I wasn't expecting, but I was able to hold things together through the line. I wound up putting 0:10 on Avi and 0:14 on Terry in that last mile, although they're both training for marathons right now and Terry ran 10M before the race. Coming in I was hoping to double my Ollie time, which would have been 52:00 and I hit 26:00 at 5M but the second half was much harder, for me and for everybody I talked to, so I was happy with how things turned out. It would have been a lot easier had I been running with someone, but it was a good solo effort. The course made it difficult to maintain a certain pace, but I felt like for the most part the effort was fairly consistent throughout.
Splits : 5:03(5:03)/10:13(5:10)/15:35(5:22)/20:44(5:08)/26:00(5:16)/31:23(5:22)/36:50(5:27)/41:59(5:08)/47:26(5:27)/52:55(5:28)

Ollie Classic Road Race, South Boston, MA 9/8/2007 : 8k 25:59

High Performance Series : 5k 15:10

Penn Relays, Philadelphia, PA : 5k 14:55.66

Todd's Trot, Durham, NH 4/7/2007 : 5k 15:21 I was looking to get in a race between the US 8k and Penn Relays in order to break up the training a little bit, and also to pick up a check. Fivos and I headed up to Durham for a relatively low-key 5k and I pretty much accomplished both goals. I got off the line in the lead and never lost it, running solo the whole way. About 600m in my legs got tired and I was a little worried about pushing too hard too early and losing it, so I backed off a notch and settled in for a little while. Looking back I wish I had hammered a bit longer and maybe my legs would have come around. I looked back at 4:00 and saw I had a 10-20m lead, which was at the base of a hill and I just cruised up, knowing that pushing uphill wouldn't turn out well since I haven't run hills in a very long time. I was 4:50 at the mile which was at the top of a gradual downhill. 4:50 was 5-10s slower than I was hoping for and I tried to use the downhill and speed up going past the mile mark. Didn't work out too well, I stayed aggressive but wasn't able to find a good, fast rhythm. There were one or two more climbs before the 2M mark and I got there in 9:46, for a 4:56 second mile. There was a really long climb right after 2M which pretty much ruined any chance I had of saving 15:00. I got to the top and just started looking for the part Fivos and I warmed up on, since I knew how far from the finish that was. I made the left hand turn at maybe 4k and looked behind me to see a pretty decent gap back to Fivos. There was a really steep downhill for a few steps that was jarring and I didn't run well at all, then a longer, less steep downhill that I didn't take enough advantage of. At the bottom you went right back into a climb and I really backed off on that. I wasn't focused at all, not pushing or trying to race, just waiting until I got to the top. I climbed up and immediately sped back up, kicking home the final 400m or so with a fast final 150m. Only 15:21 which means about 14:40-14:45 at 3M, so something around 4:55 for the third mile. Not the best of races or the fastest of times, but a decent solo effort on a hilly course. Splits: 4:50(4:50)/9:46(4:56)/15:21(~4:55)

US 8k Championships, Central Park 3/18/2007 : 8k 24:04 The race was delayed for 24 hours and the route was changed as the NYRR worked to get us clear pavement to run on. I was feeling really good on Saturday and my legs were still pretty fresh during the warm up on Sunday morning. I got off the line well, but looking back at the video I'm pretty near the back as I made no effort to get near the line before the start. I stayed on the outside of the pack and was dodging cones for a little bit before the pack started thinning out. I rode along comfortably and 3 minutes in I noticed a gap forming between the huge lead pack and the guys I was running with. I slid out and started moving up, catching up to a few guys and coming through the mile in 4:42, right where I wanted to be. I knew that following the right hand turn there was a slight climb and I tried to coast my way up and went back to just sitting behind the guys I was running with. I wound up coasting a little too much, the group I was with broke up and I got to 2M in 9:36 basically alone. I picked things up going downhill and caught up to Leo Kormanik. He was drifting out so I tapped him in the ribs to let him know I was there and we started running together and pulling some guys back. On the "backstretch" we went around Karl Dusen and another guy, Leo on the left and me on the right and were clipping along pretty well. I can't remember the 3M split but I do remember that right there I threw in a surge to get to 5k (14:54) and dropped Leo. I came through the finish line 10-20m behind the next guy ahead of me (David Gramlich) and tried to start closing on him. I didn't feel like I was really able to get rolling at all, despite the long downhill after the finish line. The gap from me to Gramlich didn't change at all and I continually felt like Leo was closing on me. I came through 4M around 19:20, and even though it felt like sub-24:00 was out of reach I did my best to stay positive and keep charging. I knew exactly how I wanted to run the last mile and did a pretty good job of executing that plan. I didn't get too hyped up and start hammering immediately, I built into a slightly quicker pace, maintained through the 800m mark and waited until after the slight hill to really get going. There was a crosswalk and traffic light around 600m which is where I had decided to really get into it. Up until 600m I felt like Leo was going to catch me, but once I started really driving for the line I was pretty sure I'd hold him off. They had a clock set up at 400m to go and I was 22:40 which got my hopes up slightly. However, the finish is uphill and despite feeling like I was running all out I never really got into a full on kick and watched the clock tick past 24:00 as I was still steps from the line. I feel like this was a pretty good run for myself, I'm not sure what would have happened had I come through 2M sub 9:30. I think there would have been a bigger pack to work with and I wouldn't have been on my own, but maybe I would have been over my head and slowed down even more over the final 3k.
Splits: 4:42(4:42)/9:36(4:54)/14:54(5k)/19:22(9:46)/24:04(4:42(0.97M))

Ras na hEireann, Dunleer, Ireland 2/4/2007 : 6k 19:08 The 2 hour bus ride from Belfast to Dunleer made me feel a bit like I was back running college cross country. We had plenty of time to look at the course, sit around and try to stay warm when we got to the park. Mark Miller and I took a walk around the course, it's 4 times around a 1500m loop and normally wouldn't suit me much as it's pancake flat, but there was a heavy mist and it must have been raining earlier as the whole course was soggy and muddy. Since we were running after a bunch of junior races the ground was even more torn up and I felt like that would give me an advantage. The night before I was thinking that I should make the most of the opportunity and I was going to just get out hard, put myself in the lead pack and just hold on for as long as possible. After seeing the course I decided that wasn't the best strategy, since the conditions would really make you pay for going out over your head. Whether or not it's actually true, it always feels like it takes exponentially more energy to run on soggy ground as you get increasingly tired. I decided to still get out hard, but not go crazy and just focus on moving up the whole race. I got a bad position on the line, I was one or two people deep and way over on the right, so I wanted to get out fast since the right side of the course narrowed quickly, but I was afraid of running up someone's back. Thankfully there weren't any issues on the start and I hit the first turn amongst the leaders. I spent most of the first lap looking for good footing and finding my place in the pack, I started moving up a bit at the furthest corner of the loop, managing to power my way through the soggy ground better than most. The second and third laps were mainly the same, running my line (to borrow a NASCAR term) and moving past runners (mainly Poles) who went out too hard. There was only one area on the course with firm footing, so most of the lap was just biding my time and setting up a surge on that section, which was working beautifully. I started getting fairly tired halfway through the third lap but did a good job of staying positive, reminding myself that the conditions played right into my hands, and that trying to race twice in four days suited someone training at high mileage like myself. Three guys had broken away but with 1 lap to go I had moved up into a group of four runners all vying for fourth place. I got too amped up, however, and tried to surge after the first turn on the course. It's a long straight that normally would be great for a move, but the ground was far too soggy and all my effort was wasted. We hit the next turn and the only guy in the pack I had broken was myself. I hung around until the firm section of the course (where I had been making moves previously) and the other three guys started pulling away. I gamely held on and really turned myself inside out trying to get to the finish. I was getting really tired and every step on the soggy ground was taking more and more out of me. Thankfully I made it to the finish without being caught, I rallied over the final 200m when I thought for a minute I could catch the guy in sixth. I couldn't be happier with how today went, after dying over the final 1000m on Thursday I was glad to run so well in a strength race. I feel like had I managed to stay patient and waited for firm ground to make my move I could have gotten away from some, if not all, of the guys I was racing that last lap. Just need to work on staying calm and not getting overly excited.

Armagh Road Race, Armagh, Ireland 2/1/2007 : 5k 14:38 One of the organizers of this race described the course around the town Mall as "the profile of a cricket bat," which seems fairly accurate. The loop was just over 1k and was essentially two long straights connected by very short, maybe 50m sections. The backstretch climbed slightly uphill at the end and the homestretch was slightly downhill at the start. We started on the backstretch and had 4 laps once we hit the finish line for the first time. I wound up two or three people deep at the start, and after some bumping and nearly shoving Mark Miller over, I found some free room to run. We were really hauling and I never even caught up with the leaders, I was maybe 10m back going into the first turn. Coming downhill towards the line for the first time I just tried to find a good patch of road to run on because there was a lot of gravel towards the curb. I came through 1k in 2:54 and decided to settle in and move up towards the leaders on the next downhill. I moved up when I wanted, but the leaders surged at the same time and the lead pack exploded. I went past Mark Miller here and my strategy was pretty well set, maintain around the loop and hammer on the downhill section. I moved up steadily, going past Ian Marcus just before our third time downhill and felt like I was running very strongly. At 3k I heard 8:32 and got really excited and started thinking about 14:15s and really tried to hammer on the uphill, abandoning the plan that had been working so well. At this point, I was leading the chase "pack" and was a full 20-25m behind the last guy in the lead pack who wasn't really falling off the pace at all. Going downhill to the bell lap two guys, one from Finland and one from Wales went around me and I tried to settle in on them. I heard 11:40 at 4k and spent the next 100m trying to figure out how I could possibly have run a 3:08. I tried moving up as we hammered on the backstretch but my legs were leaving me and I couldn't close back up to the two guys who had passed me. Coming downhill I was just trying to get to the line without giving up places, but the homestretch was far too long and guys kept going past. I didn't seem to be making any progress towards the finish, then I looked to my right and Mark Miller went flying past at a dead sprint which I had no chance at matching. I really thought I had put him away when I went past earlier in the race, but I slowed too much over my final 2k and gave him a chance to get back into it. Right before the line Ian Marcus snuck past me, which serves me right for not running hard all the way to the finish. Afterwards we were talking over our splits and Mark explained to me that I was 8:42 at 3k, which makes a hell of a lot more sense. Some of those simple things are hard to figure out when you're in the middle of a race, though. Later in the week we'd meet Paul from Amiens AC, whose teammate finished in 14th, just behind Mark and just ahead of Ian and I, who claims he timed himself at 14:21. I don't really believe that, since I was still a ways from the finish when I heard them announcing Christian Hesch won and he ran 14:07. I have no idea what kind of timing they used, it certainly wasn't chips, but they must have been way off on the splits for me to have run under 14:30. It would be nice to think I had run in the 14:20s, but I'm trusting the posted results. Splits (every kilometer): 2:54(2:54)/2:53(5:47)/2:55(8:42)/2:58(11:40)/2:58(14:38)

MIT Quad Meet, MIT 1/20/2007 : 3k 8:39.24

MIT Alumni Meet, MIT 1/6/2007 : Mile 4:23.50 800 2:06.79 5k 15:19.21

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2006---------------------------------------------------------

BAA Mayor's Cup, Franklin Park 10/22/2006 : 8k 24:44

Apple Harvest Ramble, Harvard, MA 10/1/2006 : 10M 50:37 I was feeling pretty good running strides before the race and squeezed into a spot on the front line for the start. Got out hard since it was really crowded and I didn't want to get tripped up. Joshua Kemei, John Mortimer, Pat Moulton and I were out together and pulled away from the pack early. I was a little concerned that I was getting out like it was just an 8k and that I'd regret it later, but I was feeling good and stuck around. The four of us were together through the first mile in 4:50 but Kemei took off soon after that. We got strung out a bit, I was off the back and struggling to hang on. Coming at the 3M mark Mortimer and Moulton grouped up to say a few words and that gave me a chance to get back with them. The miles from 3-4.5 kind of ran together, Mortimer slowly pulled away and Pat and I ran more or less together. We hit the big climb to 5M and Mortimer had us pretty well gapped. After the 5M mark Pat and I started going back and forth a bit and I thought we might start closing on Mortimer, but we never put anything together. It still felt a bit too far to risk a move, so I was content to hang until the 6M mark. We rouned a right hander to the 6M mark and I told Pat we had to start closing the gap, but he thought it was too far and too hilly. I took off after Mortimer, my legs were still feeling good but it was really hilly and I only managed a 5:19. The chip strapped to my ankle felt really loose, kept sliding around and I kept trying to look down and see if the velcro was coming undone. At the 8M mark heading through "downtown" Pat came up next to me and we started working together. There was a long downhill which Pat gapped me slightly on but I recovered at the bottom and we ran side by side to the 9M mark. The climb up to the 9M mark was excruciating, we could see the mark from the base of the hill and stared it down the whole way up. By the top I felt like I was walking. After the top of the hill Pat and I split up to opposite sides of the road and never really got back together. I hit the last turn with a small lead, managed one last good climb and at the top I could see that Mortimer had a big gap. Idid my best to get rolling on the long downhill, trying to put enough distance between myself and Pat. I managed to put together a pretty good one today, just caught my legs on the right day, I guess.
Elevation:
Splits: 4:51/9:45(4:53)/14:55(5:10)/19:50(4:54)/24:51(5:01)/29:58(5:06)/35:18(5:19)/40:20(5:02)/45:27(5:06)/50:37(5:10).

Striding for Smithfield, Smithfield, RI 9/24/2006 : 5k 15:21

Ollie Classic Road Race, Boston, MA 9/9/2006 : 8k 24:54

MIT Cross Country Alumni Meet, Franklin Park 9/2/2006 : 8k 25:47

Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, New Bedford, MA 8/4/2006 : 5k 14:56

New Charles River Run, Boston, MA 6/25/2006 : 7.5M 39:05 Showed up for a tempo / hard run today and found Casey Moulton was running too. Casey wanted to average 5:00s, but I didn't think I'd be able to hang at that pace. I wound up wearing my trainers for this one, and caught some grief from Casey for that decision. I didn't really have a choice though, since the Zoom Streaks are all I've got for flats and they're barely good enough for a 10k, nothing but a thin sole and some mesh on either side. I got out in the lead at the start but Casey was quickly up next to me. We went different ways around a puddle maybe 600m into the race and that was the last time we were together. Casey had a small gap going over Elliot, I came through the mile in 4:59 and he was 7 seconds up on me. He stayed in sight through 3.5M, the course just ran along the river up to Watertown on the Boston side and came back along the river on the Cambridge side. After the first mile I was clipping them off between 5:10 and 5:20 and Casey kept pulling away. I caught a glimpse of him after crossing the bridge at Watertown, and that was the end of it. I wanted to cruise through 5M at a good pace and then throw down a fast 2.5M to finish up. The 5M mark was just at the crest of the hill by the school for the blind, I hit that at 26:04 and got moving going downhill after that. I hesitated slightly at North Beacon Street because the traffic was a mess, came through the 6M mark splitting 5:00 and then relaxed too much. I think I tried to start grooving it from the 6M mark to the finish, trying to hold a fast pace but at the same time stay smooth and relaxed, which never really works so well for me. I should have just kept hammering and forcing things like I did over the sixth mile. I split the seventh mile in 5:20 and ran the last half mile in 2:40, which was very disappointing. I gave away :30 over the final 1.5M, which isn't a big deal since today was just a workout, but things could have finished up a lot better, I felt.

Rhody 5k, Lincoln, RI 6/4/2006 : 5k 14:49 Warming up for the race today I was running with Oscar just behind Pat Moulton and Nate Jenkins, and Oscar gave me some good advice. He said that Pat and Nate would probably get up front and fight it out and I should just sit behind them and wait for the top of the hill just after 2M and then move. The race started with a short downhill and then a right hand turn after just 50m or so. I got out decently quick to avoid any problems and Benjamin Ndaya quickly put a large gap on the rest of the field. I settled in right next to Nate and Pat for the first long straight. About 1000m into the race we had caught Ndaya and were at another right hand turn which I ran very poorly, was too far on the inside and had to cut my stride. There was another turn 20m ahead and I sprinted to the front to avoid the same problem and wound up leading the race through a U in the middle of the parking lot. Coming back to the straightaway I settled in behind Nate and Pat, running next to a guy in a Nike kit who I didn't recognize. The four of us had a slight lead and we came through the mile and just kept rolling as a pack on the long straight down to the road. We turned left and things started to break up a little bit. I faded slightly but rallied to close the meter or two gap just before the two mile mark. I didn't hear our split very well, I caught something which sounded like 9:4x but didn't spend too much time thinking about it. Pat started fading around then and just 100m after the 2M mark we hit the base of the only hill on the course and the guy in the Nike kit threw in a huge surge which blew the race open. I didn't know who the guys was and was kind of expecting him to just fall off and that I'd wind up racing Pat and Nate at the end, but I was completely wrong. Pat went out the back when the guy surged and I was running right next to Nate as we climbed the hill. I wanted to surge to catch the guy but I kept Oscar's advice in mind and waited, waited, which was hard to do. We crested the hill and I had a small lead on Nate, I surged over the top and knew it was down to just me and the leader. I was trailing by maybe 50-100m but at first felt like I had him in reach and thought the gap was going to start to close. We wound up staying roughly the same distance apart, winding our way through the parking lot. I knew the 3M mark was right at the starting line, so I kept looking for the corral. I must have closed the gap a little bit, but I hit 3M and felt like there was still a lot of ground to make up and was thinking maybe I wouldn't catch him. I saw Steve Vaitones right at 3M and a few seconds later heard someone yell "Throw in a kick" and so I started sprinting. I don't know if the leader was spent or just not expecting me, but the gap closed in a matter of seconds and he didn't respond when I went past with 75m left in the race. The finish was as close to Schmeckpeper-Holtschulte 2004 as I've had since that regional race, thankfully this one didn't hurt as much as that race. Afterwards I found out that the guy in the Nike kit was Brian McGovern, a guy I had never heard of, but definitely not someone to just drop off like I had expected him to. A really good race for me, especially coming just a week after the High Performance debacle. Just before two miles I felt like I was tying up and was afraid that I was going to have a repeat of that race, but I managed to just relax and float through a few strides, cover ground and just hang on. Today just shows that if you have to be able to take the good races with the bad.

Boston High Performance, Bentley 5/27/2006 : 5k 15:13 Ugly, ugly race. The race today was a late one, which I think may have contributed to the sluggishness I felt throughout. The sun was going down as we started but it was still pretty humid, the first day of the summer with weather like this. I got off the line well at the start but nobody wanted the pace, so I went to the lead and took us through in 35-72-2:22, already a little bit off pace. Nate Jenkins went to the lead at the 1k, and after some bumping around I was sitting on his shoulder and felt like I was in good position. We covered the first mile in mid 4:40s and I was getting ready to take over at 2k when Rob Wong went to the front at 1800m. I moved past Nate and stayed in second place, but was no longer feeling that great. We kept hitting around 72s and Ryan Cararra went past me with 6 to go. He went to the front and dropped us to 68 for a lap, but I couldn't hold that and fell off the pack and basically out of the race. I started slowing down more and more and slipping back further and further as guys kept passing me. I just couldn't grab on anywhere. With 500m to go I had to surge and find some turnover to hold off Adam Fitzgerald and thought maybe I'd be able to bring it around for a solid last lap at least, but that didn't happen. I slowed again on the backstretch and with 150m to go Fitz went past me like I was walking. I jsut couldn't get a good rhythm going, didn't feel comfortable at a slow pace even though I should have and I doubt I was up on my toes like I should have been. Races like this can be incredibly frustrating. Luckily I cooled down with a couple good guys and spent the time talking about something other than the race, instead of running alone and dwelling on it. Just a bad race, time to move on.

James Joyce Ramble, Dedham, MA 4/30/2006 : 10k 30:49

MIT Spring Invite, MIT 4/22/2006 : 5k 14:56

An Ras Mor, Somerville, MA 3/26/2006 : 5k 16:11

2006 Boston's Run to Remember, Downtown Boston 3/12/2006 : 8k 24:13 Had to deal with a big mess at the World Trade Center, because there were two races this morning, a half marathon and the 8k starting from the same place, 15 minutes apart. It was like getting through a cattleyard to start my warmup, I headed opposite the starting line through a pretty industrial area. My hip was aching a lot, I think I tweaked it trying to get through the pack and out the door. The bathroom lines had shrunk a lot by the time I got back since the half marathon was about to start. Stretched out a little and then had to wind my way up to the starting line and had about 5 minutes to stride and loosen up. Got out well at the gun and tucked in behind one guy. The start was about a 1000m straight shot down Seaport, up and down a small bridge before turning onto Atlantic. By the time we got to the bridge me and 7 Africans had broken away and were the lead back. I slipped out of the pack on the downhill, hit the tangent onto Atlantic and found myself in the lead. We packed back up again on Atlantic, it was actually a lot of fun because the guys kept looking around, looking back at me and then talking to each other in some language that wasn't English. I screwed up going into the left onto State, I stayed in the pack and kind of got cut off instead of paying attention, getting some space and running the tangent. I later found out that the mile mark was right there. There was a slight rise before the turn onto Congress, one or two of the guys in the pack started surging, I noticed that Paul Mwangi, the only other guy in the pack I knew, dropped off, and before I knew it, there was a gap and I was on the wrong side of it. I turned onto Congress and tried to at least keep the gap close, hoping that the pack would break up and I'd be close enough to pick some of them off. We turned onto New Chadron and hit the only hill on the course. That's about when we started passing the half marathoners, and when we turned onto Cambridge there was a big pack ahead of us of all the half marathoners. At first it wasn't a problem and they were roped off onto the side of the road, but when we got closer to Charles Street, it got a lot more crowded. It felt like I was starting to close the gap a little, but that might have been because they were getting to the crowd and had to slow down. The lead vehicles couldn't get through so we all went past them and I did my best to weave through the big pack and catch the leaders. I turned onto Charles Street and there was a big gap from me to them. One guy, Paul Ngeny, had dropped off, but he still had a decent gap on me. Nothing much happened down Charles, we turned onto Arlington and I was two blocks behind the leaders, 1 block behind Ngeny. When I turned onto Commonwealth they were turning around on Berkeley. I wrapped around Berkeley and then east on Comm Ave, where I could see the guys behind me, Mwangi had dropped off a lot and then there was a pack of Jared Markowicz, Joel Anderson and one other guy. Turned onto Arlington and there was the 3M mark, right before Boylston, which was the first mark I noticed, it was 14:15 when I went past. Turned onto Boylston and just kept running hard, but by the time I made the turn onto Washington everybody was pretty well gone, even Ngeny who I had been chasing. Just did my best to keep running hard, the 4M mark was right after we turned back onto Congress but the clock wasn't working there, so I don't know what the split was. The rest of the way was pretty boring, I knew I couldn't catch anybody and I knew nobody could catch me, I just tried to keep the hammer down and hit a good time. It was a nice, straight, downhill finish on Seaport and I kept it steady most of the way, noticed Nolan about 600m from the finish and then started hearing the announcer talking about the first finishers, right at 23:00. For awhile I thought I was going to have a chance to break 24:00, but when I got close enough to see the clock I realized I wasn't going to. I wasn't too happy with the result today, I hoping to finish top 5 and pick up some money. My time would have put me third last year, just 2 seconds out of first place. I wish I would have been more aggressive after the first mile and hung in the pack a little longer. I doubt that I had a 23:00 in me, but I'm pretty sure that if I were in a pack, or at least chasing somebody a little closer to me I could have hit two more 4:45s and run 23:45. After talking it over with Nolan for a few minutes though, I was really happy with my time, especially since I more or less felt like I was cruising the last two miles. I feel like in the right race, with a good pack I could tack on another 2k and run close to 30:00 for 10k.

2006 USATF-NE Championship at Harvard 2/19/2006 : 5k 14:36.38

2006 Valentine's Invite at BU 2/11/2006 : 3k 8:19.02 Got out a little slow from the outside barrell, then hit the backstretch and remembered the 3k is a fast race, so I picked up the pace and settled in mid-pack. We had a rabbit who was supposed to be running 65s through the 1k so I figured sitting midpack would get me 33s and it pretty much did. I was right on pace through the 1k and hit 1500m at roughly 4:07, from what I could see on the scoreboard. I wound up running behind a pack of 3 Columbia guys, separated from the top 4 or 5 by a gap of maybe 10m. The pack eventually broke up and I was running right behind the first Columbia guy. I thought it was the right place to be, but we wound up slowing slightly and I hit 2k and tried to get moving again. I was running basically as hard as I could then and started closing the gap to a guy who had fallen off of the lead pack. I was close to faltering at 600m to go but managed to convince my legs to just keep moving. Swung wide with 150m left and kicked as hard as I could, managed to actually find another gear and I closed pretty quickly to finish up right at 8:19 flat.

2006 Terrier Invite at BU 1/27/2006 : 5k 14:47.04 Racing at 2:30pm on a Friday was a little different, but once the race started things felt normal again. I tucked into the middle of the back and we were clipping off 35s, more or less. I was doing my best to stay relaxed, we were bunched up pretty tightly though, typical BU racing. We hit 1k in 2:55 and came through the mile just over 4:40. I wound up moving up through the field until I found myself going around Abadallah from NYU and into second place behind Ryan Gough. We hit 2k at 5:51 and I moved into the lead and tried to maintain 35s. After about 4 laps Barret from Harvard went around me and then about 5 or 6 guys followed him and by the time I got to 3k I had been gapped. I hit 3k in 8:47 and did my best to speed up, tried to close the gap, but my legs didn't cooperate. I also started getting sick to my stomach, which didn't help anything. Over the final 1000m I started going back and forth with Josh Kennedy from Tufts. I found some speed with 400m to go, but Kennedy went around me at 250m to go and I started reeling slightly. Then with 150m to go I found a whole lot of speed and started closing the gap to Kennedy. I caught and passed Kennedy going into the final straight and wound up running about a 67 for the final 400m. I must have really slowed from 3k to 4600m though, that mile works out to be something like 4:53.

2006 Alumni Meet at MIT 1/7/2006 : 5k 15:12.40 Got off the line pretty well, Chris Wong took the lead through about 60m, then I went around him and led the next 4940m. Didn't hear any splits until the half mile, which I reached in 2:24. Khatch was sitting right behind me, I did my best to stay relaxed and to just keep clipping off laps. Came through the 1k right at 3:00, 2k was just over 6:00 and 3k was about 9:02. After coming through the mile in 4:50 I hit the top of the backstretch and knew I had a gap over Khatch. I heard Coach Taylor telling Khatch that he had a chance to catch back up, so I surged down the backstretch and that essentially sealed the race. I did my best to stay on pace while running alone, I started lapping guys and used them to pull me along. Over the final 2k I relaxed slightly and started joking around with Uzoma who was at the start of the homestretch. Was at 14:02 with two laps to go and managed to refocus and found a little bit of speed in my legs. Going into the bell lap I really started hammering because I knew I had a chance to catch Khatch, and with 150m to go I went around him, so I wound up lapping everybody in the field at least once.
800m : 2:14.09 I was way too cautious at the start, got shuffled to the back of the pack, and with a field of 12 it was a serious problem. I tucked in and did my best to keep my legs moving, but was thinking about shutting it down. At 350m I surged down the homestretch, and despite feeling like I was running really hard I didn't move up at all. So with 2 laps to go I decided to bag it for good and went back to jogging, more or less. With 150m to go I put in one last surge to get around Hanson and John Vincent. Not a great race.
Mile : 4:25.51 Wasn't feeling too confident about this race, but thought I'd have a chance if I could sit on the leader and then hammer the last 1000m. Knew I didn't have a lot of speed coming in, but hopefully strength would compensate. Got out hard at the gun and after bumping into Brewer found myself leading the race and was a little upset. Came through the 400 in 63-64s and then backed off on the third lap, preparing for a hard last thousand, like I planned. I could hear Coach was upset with the guys behind me, he was yelling that we were too slow coming through 600m. I started moving a little and we hit the half right about 2:12. At 550m to Jake came up beside me and he surprised me a little and moved ahead slightly down the backstretch, but I just went into a sprint basically and beat him to the turn. I probably should have lost the race right there, but for some reason Jake didn't totall commit to his move and even though my turnover sucked I was able to hold him off. He tried again down the homestretch but there I easily held him off and was then ready and alert over the final quarter. I got through the next 200m without an attack from Jake and then with 150m to go it was on. He got right up on my shoulder and was really moving. I had to dig down but was able to rally and we hit the curve even, we bumped forearms a little, just making sure he knew where I was and didn't try to cut me off. Coming down the homestretch he didn't give me much of a challenge and I got the win by 0.44.

--------------------------------------------------------POST COLLEGIATE 2005---------------------------------------------------------

2005 USATF Club Nationals at Genesee Valley Park, Rochester, NY 11/19/2005 : 31:19 The warm up went by pretty quickly today, some of the guys were running fast so I hung back and turned around earlier than they did. Felt really good on the pick up and the end and was able to stay calm and relaxed during stretching. It took me awhile to get the chip laced into my shoes correctly, but I thought I was going to have plenty of time for strides. Put in about a 400m jog off the line and a stride or two back, but then they corralled us in our box and I couldn't get in any more. Felt like my legs were loose enough though, I wasn't worried about it at all. Got out pretty hard, we were to the right on the line and there was a big pack coming down on us from the left, so I was on the outside and in the top 50 or so around the 1k loop. The 1k mark was at the top of the first hill and I settled in after coming through in 2:54 or so, I probably settled in too soon and was further behind than I thought I was. Came through the mile mark in 4:50, the leaders were 4:42 and it was solidly packed from them to me. I started moving up from there, came through 2k in right around 6:00 and could see Miller ahead of me. Moved up a couple of places through to the 3k mark and then coming downhill into the field toward the soccer goals I caught up to Baker and then Miller. Almost tripped on a stack of pumpkins that was on the course for some reason, then Baker caught up and I got boxed in behind him. Miller went past, I wound up just cutting my stride to get out of the box and moved up alongside Miller. The next couple laps were pretty much the same, Miller would catch and pass me through the low part of the course along the river and then I would catch up to him through the hills and pass him in the field. Between 5 and 6k I noticed Roland Lavallee about 75m ahead and I started trying to close the gap. Unfortunately, the gap started closing more because he was slowing, because I didn't move up any places as I closed on him. My postition pretty much stayed constant over the final two laps, I just went back and forth with the guys around me. At 8k Miller got a pretty big gap on me and pulled away along the river. Coming up out of the low area with 1200-1600m to go "celebrated 2-time war-veteran" Justin Lutz came up next to me and we started closing on Lavallee and Miller. I got a pretty good run up and down the hills and was moving pretty well through the field towards the finish. The last 400-600m was basically a "U", going into the first turn I was holding off Lutz and right on Lavallee's heels, with Miller just a few steps ahead. But at the next turn, onto the finishing straight, I started fading and Lavalle, Lutz and a couple other guys who were just ahead of me got away. Not a very good finish. Never really felt like I was racing, I was just running hard but not moving up or being aggressive enough.
2k Splits:5:55, 12:10(6:15), 18:33(6:23), 24:58(6:25), 31:19(6:21).

2005 USATF New England Cross Country Championship at Franklin Park 11/06/2005 : 30:55 Pretty uneventful on the warmup, was a little rushed to hit the Port-A-Johns and get to the line, but had plenty of time to loosen up and put in some good strides. Didn't know quite what to expect, Miller raced the day before in Mobile, thought I might have a chance to get in the lead. Pat Moulton took the lead pretty much right away, I was behind him next to a guy in a red vest. Nate Jenkins and a couple of Reebok Boston guys went past as we hit the turn at Bearcage. Came through the mile in 4:44 and in sixth place. Moulton was out in front with a chase pack of 4 behind him. I was alone behind that pack, probably should have been up in the mix with that pack. My plan was to run hard from the start but not to start racing until I past the 5k, which I think lead to a little hesitation to mix things up from the start. Kept it steady up and down Bearcage, Miller shouted something like 9:53 at the 2M mark. Nothing changed through the first Wilderness, Oscar Ponce came alongside heading back towards the field and we ran together through the 5k (15:34) and then I started pushing and broke away from Ponce. Didn't move up at all through the next Wilderness, but was chasing after Paul Ryan who had fallen off the chase pack. Through the Wilderness Ryan Cararra caught up to me and we were racing each other through the 4M mark. Somewhere along the way Mike Pieck got in the mix as well. Carrara really started hammering up Bearcage, he broke away. Pieck had moved up to Ryan, and I was starting to get frustrated that I had been chasing Ryan for miles and hadn't caught him yet. I came through the 8k mark in 24:57 and started to understand why I was feeling tired. I thought I was just not racing well because I was sitting in 8th place and felt like I should be higher. Lutz came up next to me at the 2M stone and we ran together to the start of the Wilderness. I faded a little going up the short hill and slipped back to 9th. Managed to get things back together before the downhill, reminded myself that I had run 2:14 at the end of Wednesday's workout and got my legs going again. Went past Lutz, Pieck and Ryan on the downhill and was in 6th place when we came out of the woods. I think just Lutz and Pieck passed me as we dropped into the field, I started going again and passed Pieck but couldn't close on Lutz at all. Finished with a pretty strong kick from the backstop to the line.

2005 Mayor's Cup at Franklin Park 10/23/2005 : 25:09 I think the overarching theme of this race was that the course was horribly torn up. These were easily the worst footing conditions I've ever run in, unavoidable stretches of mud on the downhill behind the Stadium, on the grass at the bottom of Bearcage, on the straightaway to the finish, on the stretch from the 2M mark to the Wilderness Loop and on the straightaway after the 4M mark. I didn't get a very good start, got shoved in the back by somebody at the gun, but got up to the front by the time we climbed the small hill. By that time my feet were soaked and coated in mud and mud had splashed up onto my face and into my mouth. Was leading the race behind the Stadium before Daniel Zegeye surged away and I dropped a couple spots heading back towards the start. Came through the first mile in 4:44, the leaders were 4:40. Tried to catch back up to the leaders but never really was able to surge at all, didn't have a lot of speed in my legs today. I climbed Bearcage really well the first time, went past Casey Battey, who I'd wind up going back and forth with the rest of the way. I think at the bottom of the hill is where Vinny Mulvey went past, he went on to finish in 3rd. Came through 2M in 9:55 before wading through a bunch of mud towards the Wilderness Loop. Again, I didn't feel like I could surge. Even though I felt really strong all the way through the loop, I wasn't able to turn my legs over when I wanted to. Justin Lutz and his teammate Ryan Carrara caught up to me here, so it was the three of us and Mark Miller heading into the field. I was feeling good still, but just couldn't hammer at all to stay competitive with them. There wasn't a clock at the 3M mark, but Mark and I came through 5k in about 15:55, Lutz and Carrara had pulled ahead by then. Right at the two mile mark Miller surged and I didn't go with him, then I started burping and I thought I was going to throw up, which threw me off going through the Wilderness the second time. I felt like I was falling back all through the fourth mile, got to the four mile mark in 20:22 and managed to refocus and run the last mile hard. Elarbi Khatabi was with me at the 4M mark but I started hammering to the base of Bearcage and dropped him. Battey was ahead of me but I remembered passing him last time up Bearcage, so I kept hammering and just went past. Got to the top of hill and made a point of not relaxing, kept hammering the downhill. Had Zegeye just ahead of me but the course was so torn up to the finish that I couldn't get my footing well enough to pick it up through the finish. Felt like I had another gear to go to but wasn't able to get my legs moving. (It would have been nice to catch Zegeye, given his resume - 6th place in the 1500m final at Sydney.) I had wanted to go out in 4:40 and follow the formula from there, but wasn't aggressive enough when guys started moving around the Stadium. Second mile was a little slow, but I ran Bearcage pretty well. Third mile split would have been around 15:10 which is too slow and the fourth mile was definitely too slow. Brought it back for a good last mile in about 4:46-4:47. Disappointed in how I raced, felt like I could have run a lot harder, but I think it's encouraging that I ran pretty fast anyways.

2005 Ollie Road Race and USATF NE 8k Champs in South Boston 10/2/2005 : 24:42 Very familiar territory, the course started around the Courthouse, ran the first mile in the area of the World Trade Center and then crossed over to South Boston, ran almost to the ocean then turned and ran perpendicular to the letter streets, turned right and headed up G street, ran around the Telegraph Hill park, right on Broadway and back to the World Trade Center for the finish. I got out in the front hammering with Mark Miller, my legs were feeling good and we were moving well. Casey Moulton was up there, I assume Oscar Ponce and Nate Jenkins too, I don't know if anybody else was. We rolled through the first mile in 4:47 and Miller dropped back and let Moulton and me lead. We were 9:42 at 2M, so we slowed to a 4:55. It was basically three wide the whole time: Miller, myself and Moulton. As we were getting closer to G street I knew I had a decision to make and it felt like Moulton was falling back, so I thought if I could really hammer the G street hill I'd be able to pull away, so I surged at the bottom, ran the tangent on the turn and was leading going up the hill. As we got to the top Miller came by and gapped me far too easily. I lost focus there, I ran the third mile in 5:05 so I was 14:48 at 3 which is where Moulton went past. Oscar Ponce and Nate Jenkins went past as I was heading down Broadway, I definitely screwed up and didn't run the downhill well at all. I hit the 4M mark in 19:40 (5:01) and was only 10-15m back of Ponce and Jenkins, but could not make up any ground on the two of them. Had a decent amount of speed over the final mile (4:49, was really working to close the gap but couldn't make it happen. Was still fresh coming to the finish and had anyone been in range or come up on me I felt like I could have thrown down a good closing sprint. One mistake at the top of G street and the resulting lack of focus dropped me back a couple of places today, pretty disappointing. Miller ran 21:19 for the win, but I was right there through 3M, give or take, and I think if I had relaxed a little more on the climb I could have hung close to Miller and finished higher. (All these splits are from my watch, and add up to 24:40 so I'm missing 2 seconds someplace.)

2005 Cider Mill 5k in Tolland, CT 10/1/2005 : 15:13 The course was flat for maybe 400m then a couple hills through 3/4M and then more or less flat and downhill the rest of the way. Wasn't expecting much competition so I didn't bring my flats, also because racing in my flats last time trashed my legs and I was hoping to stay fresh for Ollie the next day. Got out and Bridgewater was in the lead with Mwangi and another guy next to me. Heading up the hill the three guys gapped me and from there I was 10-15m back through the mile mark. I came through right at 4:50, the leaders were probably around 4:46. Right after the mile we turned left and I got my legs moving and the top three had strung out. I went past the guy in third and was closing on Bridgewater pretty quickly. We hit another left hand turn and I went past Dave and he didn't come with me. I tried to get my legs moving a little more and bring Mwangi back but I couldn't close the gap. Came through two miles in 9:42 and just couldn't pick the pace up any more. We had pretty much pulled away and the race was more or less decided, for a second I thought I was going to have a big kick but I couldn't find the gear and just came through in second place. Surprised that I was able to run that fast in my trainers on a slower course than Smithfield. The big money today was in the course record, so I missed out on that.

2005 Striding for Smithfield 5k in Smithfield, RI 9/18/2005 : 15:08 Warmed up out and back along the course, it seemed to be just as promised, flat and fast. I didn't see anybody who looked like they'd give me much competition, so I decided to get out comfortably hard and play it by ear. Hardly anybody wanted to get up on the starting line and at the gun I was in the lead. Got out well, my legs were feeling really fresh and I was running pretty quick without really thinking about it. I was not entirely focused, at times it felt like I was just out for a training run, but as I neared the mile marker I started to buckle down. I carried my watch with me, since that seemed to be the only way I was going to be able to check my splits, came through the first mile in 4:56. I could still hear some footsteps, so I decided I'd drop the hammer and see just how good these other guys were feeling. Able to pick it up easily, I could tell that I had been holding back a little, because the speed was right there without too much extra effort. The course was a simple out and back with a police escort clearing the way. There was a little downhill to the turn around and I accelerated there, got a good look at the gap I had and then picked it up climbing back up the hill. Came through the second mile in 9:43, a 4:47 second mile and enjoying a big gap. Knew I had the win locked up, and the course record was 14:21, so the $250 bonus was not in my grasp, and I relaxed a little heading back towards the high school. There wasn't a 3M marker, but I hit the half mile to go at 12:41, so I closed with a 2:27. Went to kick when I turned into the high school parking lot, but the tank was empty. Legs were tired and a little heavy and I had no speed to speak of. Perhaps if I had been pressed or was racking somebody I would have found something, but today I had nothing. Otherwise I was happy with how things went, put in a good race without any competition and picked up a good sized check at the same time.

2005 Alumni Meet at Franklin Park 9/3/2005 : 25:56 Felt good running strides before the gun, had talked over strategy with Dan Feldman a little and was expecting him to be around. We got right to the front and ran side by side through the first mile in 4:54. He was breathing a little harder than I was, but I hadn't ever raced with Dan and had no feel for when he was hurting. Going up Bearcage the first time I opened up a big gap on him and had to decide what to do. Thinking we maybe had a shot at beating the Varsity as a team, I decided to slow up and hopefully Dan would catch back up to me and we could start hammering again and go 1-2. That turned out to be the wrong decision, as I slowed down way too much through miles two and three and Dan wound up slipping to fourth anyways. We were at 10:24 for the second mile, far too slow, but Dan got back with me as we headed into the Wilderness and it felt like we got rolling a little again. Coming out of the Wilderness I knew that I had to head off on my own, so going around the field I dropped the hammer a little and tried to get my legs moving again. Came through the third mile in 15:44 and knew I'd have to really get rolling just to break 26:00, and I wasn't going to be anywhere near the 25:15 I had hoped to run. Going through the Wilderness the second time I could feel that a blister on the bottom of my left foot had formed, and whenever I stepped on a rock or stretched my foot too much it felt like my foot was ripping apart. Tried to just get through the rest of the race without slowing down or getting caught, because I did not want to lose to Fivos two weeks in a row, regardless of the reason. I hit the fourth mile in 21:04 and knew I had the race pretty much won if I just finished with a strong fifth mile. I tried to gauge how big of a lead I had but couldn't tell. Going up Bearcage was pretty bad on my foot, but from there to the finish it was fine. Going around the backstop it sounded like everybody was going nuts and I was afraid Fivos had found a giant kick and was closing on me, so I tried to find another gear as I headed to the line. Finished in 25:56, a little slower than I wanted, but I lost pretty big time in miles two and three trying to give the Alumni a chance to win. Next year I'll know better.

--------------------------------------------------------CROSS COUNTRY 2004---------------------------------------------------------

NCAA National Championship at Whitetail Golf Course, Colfax WI : 24:49 Felt like I got out decently well, but I was back in 50-70th place after 600m. Moen got out fast and took the group way left for some reason, so I was getting cut off for a bit, but was able to establish a position on the outside of the group before the first turn, right where I wanted to be. Legs were feeling decently well, I could tell they weren't 100% there but I knew they were feeling good enough for a solid race. Moved up well on the first downhill and was right at the back of the lead pack and kept moving up through the mile mark. I had forgotten how loud it gets to be in that lead pack, just awash in sound, gets the adrenaline going. Had my eye on Moen and noticed he put in a surge right before the mile mark, but the group responded and we brought him back. He moved again at the start of the second mile and this time made a clean break. I was running near the top five at that point, behind Turner and Sawicki. Yuot came up on my side and we were running together for a bit, as we went around the pond he took off in pursuit of Moen but I held back a bit. Looking back I should have either moved with Moen when he went or gone with Yuot, because the gap became too much to make up. Came through 2M with that same group of Sawicki and Turner, headed up the hill by Highway 40 and established myself in third place. Felt like I was keeping Moen and Yuot close by, they weren't expanding the gap on me at all, but I couldn't get my legs under me enough to start closing the gap. Came through the 4k mark a bit ahead of Sawicki and Turner, but they were up on my shoulder as we climbed back towards the high part of the course. Headed downhill stride for stride with Sawicki and was still feeling good. Tried to really move as we climbed back up from the 5k mark but the legs weren't quite there and I couldn't make a break. We headed back downhill to the pond and I got the legs turned over but a big pack caught us from behind. Holtschulte went past, as did Garcia, Lalonde, the Case Western guy, Rizzo was up there, I don't know who else. I faded for 100m or so, but got my head back on my shoulders and started moving up again. Hit 4M basically all in a big pack, it would just come down to who had it on that day. Moen wasn't coming back but Yuot had been struggling and we all caught him by 7k. I managed to get away from Rizzo and Garcia, but Holtschulte and Sawicki were out of reach. It took a big effort to keep the speed up over the last 1000m, I had been running in the front of the case back for almost the whole race and my mind was starting to get tired. I managed to hold onto the back of the group as we climbed the last hill and was in a good position to kick as we entered the long, downhill straightaway but I couldn't get my legs turning over as well as I wanted to. I got up on the Case Western kid's shoulder but he outlasted me, and Lalonde and a kid from Pomona Pitzer finished just ahead of us. All four of us crashed the line within a second or two of each other. Would have liked to have had a little more in my legs for that last mile, but I still wound up with an eighth place finish.

New England Division III Championship at Twin Brook Park, Cumberland, ME : 25:37 Got out well at the gun, settled in on the outside of the pack and was in about 30th place after 200m, behind all the Tufts guys, keeping my eye on Bridgewater. Was expecting that Bridgewater would go out hard, I'd run him down about 2-3M in and then Holtschulte would try to come up from behind. Things stayed relatively under control, moved up slowly through the first mile. I was passing going up the hills and trying not to get too excited, hammer the hills and then die later on. Hit the mile just behind the lead pack in 5:10 or so. Bridgewater was leading, with Kiely and Furhman from Wesleyan and Pyle from Wheaton up there with him. Closed a small gap and was running with them around the soccer fields. Heading back out along the trees we were running 3, 4, 5 wide up front and it was clear nobody wanted to take control. Going downhill Pyle made a small move which Bridgewater covered quickly. It became clear that Bridgewater wasn't going to lead, but run with the leader. Didn't help my plan much, but I figured I could still break him. Hit the 2M mark and slowly started moving into the lead. Hooked a left turn and it was Bridgewater and myself up front and we started going. I was feeling good, they had let me jog through 2M and my plan was to hammer the third mile, so everything was working out. In the woods I was leading and somebody was right behind me, I'd guess it was still Bridgewater. We were snaking around and the fans scattered were still yelling for other guys, so I figured I hadn't dropped them too much. Came out of the woods briefly and I knew the Wesleyan guy was right there and Neal had showed up too. We went back into the woods and I went to work again. Was climbing really well and hit 3M still feeling great. I knew it was going to come down to the next 2M, and even thought I didn't have the gap I wanted I figured I'd be able to make one still. Went up the hill out of the woods really well, back out in the field with everybody yelling. As we turned into the inner loop Neal came up on my shoulder, which spooked me a little. There are a lot of turns through that loop, so I was just thinking half mile speed and running tangents and trying like hell to drop him. Came out of the woods together and headed left. Thought back to last year for a second, then was back at it. Heading to the fourth mile there was an uphill, then down into a gully and back up right away. Out climbed Neal up the hill, he caught up on the downhill but I gapped him again going up hill to the 4M mark. I had the lead with a mile to go, telling myself that I ran 4:23 two weeks ago and Neal wouldn't be able to run away from me. Snaking around the soccer fields again I was in the lead and felt like I maybe had him on the ropes, but he snuck by on my left. We headed out stride for stride, I opened a slight gap before we got to the trees but he closed that and we were side by side again. We were just going at each other, waiting for the other to blink. Unfortunately, I did first. There's a slight downhill before the hairpin turn at the end of the trees and he got a stride, then two on me. I was keeping him close as we turned and headed back towards the finish, but couldn't make up anything. We were going the same speed, and my little hesitation had cost me. He seemed to be running well with 400m to go and I was just trying not to fade, not to fold, to give myself a chance. We had 200m to go and I was pretty much beat, but still felt in touch with him and just kept hammering. Going to the finish there's a downhill which evens out and then it goes down again and then it's flat to the finish. At the first downhill I thought I was going to lose, then at the second downhill, less than 100m from the finish I knew I could catch him. I wasn't sure I could pull away, but I knew I could get on his shoulder. We knew the team race could be close between us and Williams, and I didn't know if we'd need the two point swing, but I was going to get it for the team. Everybody was yelling for him to beat me, but I got up next to him and we were just slugging away at each other. I was just praying he'd crack first because my legs were just dying. We crossed over the gravel road that's 10m from the finish and he finally gave way and I went on to win by 2 seconds. Looking back, I think I had the edge over those final few meters just because my legs are a few inches longer than his and it felt like I was covering much more ground than he was. Still, until he started slowing I was not sure who was going to win. We ran five miles, covered the last 3M in 15:00 and turned a 4:50 to finish, but it was all decided in the last 10m.
[Mile Splits : 5:10(5:10)/10:37(5:27)/15:45(5:08)/20:47(5:02)/25:37(4:50)]

NEWMAC Championships at Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford CT : 25:07 COMING SOON
[Miles Splits : 4:48(4:48)/]

All New England Championships at Franklin Park : 25:17 COMING SOON
[Mile Splits : ]

PreNationals at Whitetail Golf Course, Colfax WI : 25:49 Got off to a solid start, took my time accelerating but moved up through the pack and was in the front group before 400m. Some guy, I think from Eau Claire Alumni, running in a TShirt and baseball cap was in the lead but he faded and dropped by the 1k. Along the ridge next to Highway 40 I got into the lead with 2 guys from Loras and a kid from Emory. We came through the mile in 5:06 and after making the right-hand turn at the bottom of the hill Winder from Loras took off and we let him get a 10m gap which he held the rest of the race. I took the hairpin turn around the pond and was blasted by the wind. I was feeling very strong through the mile mark and was able to get up the top of hills and close gaps pretty well. Looking back I shouldn't have let Winder just take off like that, but I thought he'd come back. Tucked in behind the kid from Emory, we dropped the kid from Loras and caught a kid from Bethel. It wound up being the three of us duking it out over the final 3M. We came through 2M in 10:11 and the pace started getting to me a bit. Working back up the hill along 40 I relaxed a bit too much at the top and the kid from Emory and Bethel got a bit of a gap, but I came back on them on the downhill after 4k. We were bunched up down the downhill at 5k but the kid from Emory took the lead heading back uphill. We were grouped up again at the 6k and I tried breaking away but couldn't. The 4M mark was a misplaced and I was wiped out by the time we got there. Settled in the back of the group and climbed up the hill. Relaxed again at the top and the kid from Emory got a gap which I never closed up, but I was able to pass the kid from Bethel on the downhill. The last 800m I was just trying to bring the kid from Emory back to me and couldn't close the gap. I was running my legs off though and tried to gather all my speed down to the finish line. The crowd was yelling like somebody was closing on me, but if he was I was able to hold him off because he never got close enough for me to feel him. Wound up finishing third overall.
[Mile Splits : 5:06(5:06)/10:11(5:05)/15:23(5:12)/4th Mile Mark Out of Place/25:49(10:26).]

Alumni Meet at Franklin Park : 26:21 Got out in the front and was feeling decent, came through the first mile slow though. There was a group of Sean, Eric, Carlos and I. Khatch took off on the downhill after the mile and I couldn't get the legs turning over enough to move with him. Carlos, Sean and I hit Bearcage at the same time and I got outclimbed by both of them. I was doing fine up the gravel section, but at the top I couldn't go with them. Khatch and Sean took off there, I was with Carlos through 2M and he moved ahead through the Wilderness. Heading to the 3M mark Brewer came up on me and moved past. I tried to hang with him and we both closed on Carlos and put him away. Brewer ran away during the Wilderness though and I wasn't able to stick with him. Brulois came up on my shoulder at the very end of the Wilderness loop but I was able to get the legs turned over enough to get away from him. I entered the fourth mile maybe 10 seconds behind Khatch and Brewer and for a second thought I might be able to bring them back. But I hadn't closed the gap by the time we got to Bearcage and that was the end of my race. Pretty disappointing way to start this season.
[Mile Splits : ]

--------------------------------------------------------CROSS COUNTRY 2003---------------------------------------------------------

Engineer's Cup vs. RPI, WPI at Franklin Park : 25:34 Feeling great at the start. Got out quick, ahead of everyone, and came through a little quick in 4:50. Planned on going until I couldn't hear any footsteps, brought me up to the mile mark with Coach telling me to listen to my body and not my legs. A little freaked about dropping the quick time, afraid that maybe I'd dug the hole a little too deep, took about 400m to convince myself it was going to wind up alright. HR was at 42BPM last night, had a good workout during the week with 2 easy days between. Came through the 2M a little slower than I needed to, largely due to needing to reassure myself it'd be alright. Mile 3 was likewise too slow, losing focus a bit alone in the woods. Hit the 3M in 15:25, before the race I was hoping to come through in 15:30-ish. Re-focused through the Wilderness the second time, worked on picking up my heels and that brought the pace down to where it belonged. Worked the last mile, but the quads were pretty tired and it was difficult to lift the heels up like I needed to. Struggled up Bearcage a bit, didn't focus on the hill as much as I was thinking about the finish. Coming down though, a van turned onto the path and was driving straight at me, flipped them off and yelled at them on my way down. Came out onto to field and opened it up a bit, trucked it home but didn't red line it. Would have liked to have some comp out there today, especially through the Wilderness.
[Mile Splits : 4:50(4:50)/10:10(5:20)/15:25(5:15)/20:42(5:17)/25:34(4:52).]

Alumni Meet at Franklin Park : 25:53 Solid start to the season, got out in front at the start, and stayed there through the tape. Hit the first mile slower than planned, 5:04 instead of 4:57, was a little cautious at the start, didn't want to blow it out too hard. Especially due to my feeling less than amazing the day before, and during the warmup. Legs fatigued, worn out, didn't really ever feel loosened up. After hearing the slow split I made a concerted effort to get it back on track, did a good job of hammering through miles 2 and 3. First time racing alone in a long time, need to work on staying focused, as my concentration broke and I fell asleep through the Wilderness the second time. Came through the 4M split and woke up, hauling to the base of Bearcage, getting up acceptably well, then opening it up on the way down, around the backstop and to the line. From the start I could feel my right foot slipping in my spike, and knew the end result would be a blister. Felt it forming between mile 2 and mile 3. Wound up not being too bad, especially in comparison to last year's.
[Mile Splits :: 5:04(5:04)/10:25(5:21)/15:44(5:19)/21:05(5:21)/25:53(4:48).]

--------------------------------------------------------OUTDOOR SEASON 2002----------------------------------------------------------

ECAC Championship at HOME : 3000m Steeplechase 9:22.87 Got out to a fast start, cut off and shoved a guy in the back to keep room for myself. Settled in behind Ferenc and Curry, hoping we'd get some fast laps in. First circuit was quick, and the second we stayed on pace, stayed in third through three, but the pace had slipped too much by the time I took over. Went past Ferenc easily into second, and past Curry down the homestretch. He hung with me for 50 yards or so, and over one barrier, but I easily put distance between us. From there it was going to take a monster effort to hit the 9:teens like I was shooting for, but I was feeling good and up for the challenge. The team was making a lot of noise, and Coach was behind me, which helped a lot. Thought I was going to make it with about 3 laps to go, but I really needed someone to be racing with. Didn't sink in that I wasn't going to hit the time though, can't do math in my head too well while I'm extending myself like that. Mark Miller chimed in with some encouragement, made me chuckle a little, as I was whupping Ferenc at the time. In any event, rounded the last turn into the homestretch and saw the clock at 9:06 and knew the time was out of reach. Managed to get over the last barrier and end the season with a decent race. Hurdling was a lot better today, need to continue working on that, it's clearly the limiting factor in my race right now.

NEIAAA Championship at UNH : 3000m Steeplechase 9:34.14 Horrible day today. Went up the day before, spent it sitting around watching the meet as everyone else competed. Feeling good on the warmup, went in knowing I needed to run a good race, but not feeling too good about the way Nolan ran the day before. That's sometimes an indication of how I'll be feeling, probably let that into my head a little bit. Feeling good going over some hurdles beforehand. Got out in a big group, which I don't particularly enjoy hurdling in, and let Easter, Remsen and Miller sprint away. Marking off of Winkler and Ferenc, let Winkler run away. Don't precisely know what happened, but I started hurdling horribly and running slow. Was coming up on Ferenc as he climbed over a hurdle, tried to get away but didn't have the legs. Stuttering nearly every hurdle, didn't have any speed between the barriers either. Really bad race, wound up getting past Ferenc and Miller, who hit a barrier, but didn't really compete at all today. Big blow to the confidence.

New England Division III Championship at Bates : 3000m Steeplechase 9:26 Good race, finished third but should have been second. Easter was running hard from the gun, won in 9:04, but 7 fools went with him at the start. I laid off, maybe a bit too far, and started rolling them up, maybe a bit too late, and caught everybody but Easter and Ferenc. I need to beat that kid. I was eating him up with just over 2 laps to go when I had a bit of a mental lapse, and let him get some ground back. Got my head back in at the start of the last lap, closing on him a bit. Saw him step on the second barrier on that lap, I love seeing guys mess up on the barriers, tells me they're dying and about to be my dinner. Starting trucking after that barrier, went over #3 just a little behind him, but gave up some ground. He also realized how close I was and started moving. He beat me over the water and finished 2 seconds quicker. Respectable time, would have liked to be :05 faster, but didn't set it up that way. Would have had to run a bit more by myself. Hurdling was passable, got too close to some barriers though, and had to sky. More work needs to be done, but the pieces seem to be in place.

NEWMAC Championships at Smith College : 3000m Steeplechase 9:41 Horrible, just horrible. Don't even want to write about this one. Should have won by :10+, wound up in second with a trashy time. Legs weren't feeling great during the warmup, but didn't feel like a big problem during the race. Alex Curry got out next to me over the first lap, we were hurdling together and bumping a bit, no big deal. I double footed the landing on the second or third water jump and he gapped me. That got in my head a bit and I struggled to keep him close. Giving up time and distance over every barrier, and was double footing way too many landings. He was dying hard at the end, clipping a couple barriers and stumbling through the water pit, but I didn't have the speed in my legs and my head was out of it and I couldn't close on him. Absolutely disgusting, there's no reason I should have lost that race, I need to figure a lot of things out. We were way up and I didn't need to jump in the 5k, but I kinda wanted to just to redeem myself. Wasted the day.

Husky Invite at Northeastern : 3000m Steeplechase 9:35 Not my best race, could have been about :10 faster had I run with Ferenc at the start. A kid was seeded at 9:00 so I decided I'd run a bit off the lead pack and roll them up in the later laps. Well, the kid's seed was bullshit and Ferenc won in mid 9:20s and I was too far off the pack to close well enough in the later stages. Came through the first mile around 5:04, that needs to be right at 5:00 or even a little faster. The race is a little deceptive, in that the laps melt away quickly and all the sudden you've got 3 to go. Need to get in better shape I think too, wasn't feeling too strong over the last 2 or 3 laps. Hurdling pretty poorly too, still stuttering. That needs to go away. Was able to move a bit near the end and roll up some guys, but there's a lot of work remaining.

Dual Meet at Bowdoin : 3000m Steeplechase 9:44 Things are getting a little better. Quick first lap, slow second, then ran away from the other 3 guys in the race. They had an outside watter barrier, so that was a new thing, but not a big deal. Running comfortably, not really hammering. Feel like I'm getting back into reasonable shape. Had to keep it under control at the end because of a possibility of doubling back in the 5k. These races are pretty uneventful and there's not too much to say. Hurdling was better in this race, not passable yet, but I hit about 2/3 of them fairly well, much better than last week. Cooled down a mile and put the feet up.
5000m : 15:30 Going into the 5k we needed to go 1-3 to lock the meet up, any worse and we'd lose it. Nolan was coming back from a 1500 and feeling pretty good, so he decided to just run away from everybody at the start. I figured I'd just sit on Barbuto and outkick him for second. Went through the mile in about 5:00, 2M in 10:00. Maltas had been hanging around, but fell off right around the 10 minute mark. Kept thinking about making a move to drop him, run away, but kept putting it off a lap. With 6 to go I got up next to Barbuto the backstretch but he matched me, so I slid back in behind him. His teammate had been gaining on us, and it was about to become a whole new thing, since I knew I had to split them to get us the win. The kid went trucking by us down the homestretch with a mile to go, so I went with him, leaving Barbuto for dead, I thought. I'd keep falling off and then closing back up, trying to stay focused and run with the kid, and find an opportunity to turn on the jets and grab second. With a little over 600m to go he made a move and started to get away, and I wasn't able to cover this time. Coming into one lap to go I just tried to cover ground as fast as I could, just wanting the race to be over. With 300m to go I was moving fast and feeling good, but down the homestretch I thought Barbuto was coming back, so I swung into lane 2 coming off the turn. At this point he wasn't next to me yet, I wasn't even sure he was coming up, but then there he was, and I kept drifting out and found another gear and got away with 60m to go, finishing in lane 3. I guess I shouldn't have been drifting, according to Coach I could have been DQ'd, but it worked out in the end. Glad to get in an outdoor PR, and get back at Barbut after the junk he pulled indoors at Bowdoin. Payback's a bitch.

Engineer's Cup at Home : 3000m Steeplechase 9:57 Horrible race. Killing guys between the barriers, but wasn't accelerating into them, so I wound up stuttering and leaping over just about every barrier, and Carlos and Wildman would close the gap on me. Lead from the gun, Carlos passed me after the water barrier on the 3rd lap, I think it was, but I passed him back at the very next barrier. Just hurdling poorly and ran slow. Going over the last barrier Carlos came up next to me and started kicking, fast. I responded with just enough speed to edge him out at the line. That's probably the only reason I avoided running slower than 10:00 for the first time. The meet was rescheduled to Sunday due to inclement weather, so that was strange, and it was non-scoring, so there was no reason to come back in anything. I've got a lot of work to do still, running two consecutive 9:50+ races is unacceptable.

Tri Meet vs. UT-Pan American and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi : 3000m Steeplechase 9:54.30 Not a very good debut. Got the win but ran really slowly, stupidly and painfully. Went out after a UTPA guy in 69. Ideal pace is 74. I can't run 8:40, at least not yet, so I don't think I should have gone out in 69. Need to stay calm. He opened up a gap on me over the next few laps, since I hit the brakes and he didn't hit them so hard. Running in second place and feeling content but tiring, just going round and round and hurdling poorly. With 3 to go I saw the UTPA guy try to step on one of the barriers and almost bite it as he came off and knew he was dying quickly. Hard to steeple with a grizzly bear on your back. I took my time rolling him up though, which was a mistake. Passed him with a lap and a half to go and just focused on holding off Wildman. Got the win by about 2 seconds. Got in some good water jumps, it's a little different in a race than doing 10-12s in practice, but after the first 2 I was confident. There was a lot of bad hurdling, especially near the end of the race where I was ass tired and just wanted to get over them without falling, so I'd wind up getting too close and having to jump too high and with horrible form. Could tell that my legs still aren't back in shape, especially not in steeple shape. I was beat after the race, sometimes I can't understand why I like this race so much.
5000m : 16:15.72 Coach thought we might need the points, so he put Wildman and me both in the 5k along with Sean. Wound up not needing us though, so I just ran it to get miles and a "workout" for the legs. Went out in the pack, behind some unattached guys, and just sat for 2 laps. Decided they were holding me up, so I moved past them and sat 5m behind Nolan. There were 4 Corpus Christi guys burning it out up front, one who'd drop out and three who'd come back to Sean. Came through the mile around 4:56 I think, and a little later another Corpus Christi guy came past me. I just sat on his shoulder the rest of the race. Just running laps behind him, started yoyoing a little bit over the last 1000m. With 600 to go he dropped me, not with a big move but just by me slowing down. Not in the race mentally enough to push it, just coasted home pretty much, but did get moving slightly over the last 200m to make sure Wildman didn't beat me. That guy was too close to me in both races today. Sean went on to win in 15:24. Not a fast day for anybody today. My run was pretty unspectactular, only one move, just a lot of ovals. Got to do something to get back in shape I suppose.

--------------------------------------------------------INDOOR SEASON 2003----------------------------------------------------------

New England Division III Championships @ HOME : 5000m 15:58.17 What a shitty race. I don't really even want to write about it. Went out behind Emord, running 68-70s for the first 3 or 4 laps. Pace slowed down to 72s and I was content to ride the pack. Sitting in about 4th or 5th, the usual gang was all up there. Emord, Brigham, Holtshutle, Abdi et al. At 12 laps in I was in a situation where I was forced to get to the lead pretty much. Sitting in lane 2 going into the turn, didn't want to take the lead but didn't want to hit the brakes either. Decided I might as well try to break the guys, since I was in the lead. If you take the lead, you gotta do something with it. Got in a couple laps before Abdi went past me, and I pulled out the parachute. Just started dropping like a rock. Just about everybody went past me, Wildman, Bromka, Lerner. Bromka! Ran the last mile in 5:30 or some crap. Just didn't have the legs under me and I panicked and paid for it. What a horrible way to end the season. Brigham went on to win in 15:02.65.

MIT CoEd Invite @ HOME : 3000m 8:55.15 Good to be back racing, the knee didn't hurt too much warming up, and not at all during the race. Nolan and I got out to a quick lead, there wasn't anybody else in the race, pretty much. We started out quick enough, both of us wanted to go below 8:40, but we slowed up a couple laps in. Nolan took the lead away from me part way in, and I caught on a trailed him for a while, before passing him back with a few laps left. I held on, expecting him to surge like crazy, a la intrasquad, but managed to stay in front of him and cruise to the finish. Disappointing time, but good to waste a bad run a week before Div3s. Wasn't willing to push through the pain, that's the long and short of it.

Quad Meet vs. Bowdoin, Tufts and Springfield @ Bowdoin : Mile 4:32.85 Nervous about my knee, didn't even decide to race until they called us to the line. Pretty much expecting it to be too bad to race, would have to drop out. Got out really cautiously, there was a fast starter I didn't anticipate. Chilling near last for the first 100m, then realized my knee wasn't hurting at all and went blazing into 4th place over the next 100m. Not a smart move. Should have stayed relaxed and stayed patient, but I was all hyped up by this knee thing. After that, I was pretty tired and just waiting on the knee to start acting up. During the warm up I could barely run, it hurt so much. I had heated, but could still feel it on the strides and wasn't too confident about the knee at all. Just started going backwards and couldn't stay with guys, couldn't race, only thinking about the knee. Bad, bad race. Manged to go by Neil Orfield out of Tufts over the last lap, but finished ninth and didn't score a single point. Hideous. Went 64/2:10 and was feeling not too terrible but still tired. Should have been able to hammer down and go past guys who were dying over the last half. Need to use my strength in these short races. I'm not going to die that much, my base is too big, but I don't ever feel like that during the races.
5000 15:18.16 Plan was to go out and just chill behind Brigham until the end and then run away from him. Went out on straight 35s, brilliant pacing by Hog. Running in third for the first mile, behind Brigham and Bromka, both from Tufts. Went around Bromka and closed up on Brigham. Maybe should have just kept rolling on past Brigham, because it was a good move and I was feeling good. Managed to ignore the knee the whole time. Only problem was the hip getting a little sore, but didn't worry about it at all. Started to slow down and Coach started yelling to run away from Brigham since the pace was getting slow. I was unwilling to, since that wasn't the plan at all. Also disappointed the pace was slowing, was feeling good and ready to turn a fast time. Went past Brigham with a big sprint halfway into the race. Felt good, opened up a big gap, then started going around lapped traffic. Scott Barbuto from Bowdoin (25:32 at Regionals, 25:51 at Nationals) was one of the guys I was closing on. He sped up and ran next to me the whole straight, which I couldn't understand at all. Then he latched on and passed me back a time or two. I wound up being more concerned with racing him than with moving past and chasing down more guys. I don't understand what the hell he was doing, but I'm not happy about it at all. The pace kept slowing, Coach kept yelling to speed up and Tufts kept yelling at Brigham to pick it up. With one lap to go I started rolling, or thought I started rolling, but he went blazing past me. We hit the back stretch and a guy we were lapping swung way wide so Brigham was out in Lane 3 to avoid him, and I picked it up because I thought I might be able to sneak back in. But he was trucking way too fast and I couldn't close on him, although I was running wide open. Just really tired. Maybe had I passed him before the pace started slowing I would have been alright, but I just couldn't pick it up when I needed to. I can't believe I'm going to be racing that fool for another 2 and a half years.

Quad Meet vs. Williams, RPI and Westfield State @ Home : 5000 15:00.94 Felt good about my chances of running fast. Plan was to go out in 35s, on pace for 14:35 and run away from everybody. If anybody was hanging on after 2k I was going to start surging and try to drop them. Knew the only real competition would come from Holtshutle out of Williams, who beat me at Nationals in cross this year, which I'm still sore about. From the gun Driver started hammering out of the outside barrel and I slid in behind him, not really sure what the hell he was doing running so fast. Didn't hear a split for the first deuce, went around Driver and took control of the race. First 400m was 72, not what I wanted, but I was still in control and could feel a little gap already, so I just started hammering. Thought I was running away from everybody really easily, around 6 laps in I started looking ahead for guys to lap, and they pulled me around the track. With 13 laps to go Coach started telling me I had to go, that I didn't have a gap, so I got to the backstretch and threw in a big surge, and the next time around had Holtshutle dropped. Then it was just me racing around the track, trying to lap guys. Dropped off ideal pace somewhat, there were a few 73s, mainly 72s. With 7 to go I got pretty excited and threw in a 70, that kinda burnt me a little, which is disappointing. Need to work on squeezing it down at the end of the races. Wound up passing Wildman on the last homestretch, Holtshutle is the only guy I didn't lap. Good race, I'm excited about my first collegiate indoor win, but would have liked to be at least 10 seconds faster. Just need to work on hammering when I'm running alone.

Tri Meet vs. USCGA and Bates @ USCGA : 1500 4:09.15 Ran the 15 first, with high hopes. Went out on Verbal's heels, wanting to run straight 64s. After one lap I cliped Brian's heel and that kinda threw me out of my mindset. I wasn't ready for a fast pace and a short race. I settled in, which I can't do in such a short race and Bartonicek went around me. I kept chasing them, but they were pulling away. I realized I wasn't paying any attention to the laps, and we were running on a 176m track, so I had no clue what was going on. Joel Anderson from Bates went past me and I tried to go with him, but he ran away from me too. I just kept running in circles til the finish, unable to close on anyone. Pretty horrible showing, need to work on the short races. Still don't feel like I have any turnover though.
1000 2:40.12 Went out hard from the gun. Decided to make the race about strength, because I felt like that was the only way I could hold on in a short, fast race. Started hammering immediately, felt good, felt like I was breaking guys and was going to run away with it. Don't know any splits, because of the crazy, short track. With one lap to go I felt good, but on the turn Bartonicek went around me, and all the sudden I was reeling and couldn't hold it. Then two more guys went around me and I could not hold on. Still need to work on latching on to guys as they go around me. Finished up not so fast.

Brandeis Invite @ Brandeis : 3k 8:45.90 Slow start, nobody took the lead for the first 100m, so I took over. First deuce was 37, far too slow. Then started dropping it down 36, 35, 34. Would have liked to keep holding 34s but wasn't able to. Mainly held 35s I think, but I haven't seen the splits. Running with the lead the entire race. Brigham came up next to me with 1650m to go, but then backed off. Over the last 8 laps I was surging on the back stretch hoping to drop guys and get out in front alone, and I thought it had worked. Going into the last deuce I thought I had run away from everybody and had a comfortable lead and didn't focus as much as I should have. With 100m to go Brigham came flying past me, and had a 2m lead on me before I realized what was happening. I tried to reel him back in but he managed to stay ahead, beating me 8:45.45 to 8:45.90. Very disappointed with the race, feel like I should have won easily. Warmup got cut short because they combined the Men's and Women's DMRs so I got back from the warmup run and had to throw the shoes on. That's no excuse though, because I was in position with 100m to go and let it slip away. I like Brigham, so I won't comment on his tactics, but he won the race and that's all they give points for. Didn't feel fast at all, didn't feel spent at the end of the race either. Should have been running faster over the last quarter mile. Running this basically all on strength, feeling good despite the high week (105m).
4x800m, first leg 2:05 Running on the "B" team, went out in 28 behind Katchadourian, came through 400m in 60 then took the lead. A runner from NYU ran away from me as I finished with a poor second half. Not really disappointed in this effort, just a chance to run fast and have a little fun. Would have liked to be closer to 2:00, but there's no speed in these legs yet.

Alumni Meet @ Home : 5k 15:31.35 Didn't run such a great race, finished second to Nolan. Goal was to drop it below 15:00, pacing was right through 3k. Went out with 2:24, 4:48, 6:01 at 2k and 9:06 at 3k, a little off but nothing terrible. But then just kept dropping. 6:25 for the last 2k, just horrible. Pretty sure the quarters dropped below 75s. Nolan and I were switching off the lead every half, but With about 11 laps to go I had started yo-yoing off Nolan, I'd drop back a little ways then fight back up even with him. I was able to take the lead again like I was supposed to with 9 to go, but couldn't hold it. At about 6.5 laps to go I was leading and couldn't keep the pace up, so he came around me. I held on for a little while, but he eventually just pulled away. I'm pretty disappointed about the race, it's giving me doubts about my fitness level and where I'm at right now. I need to be able to go 15:00 easily and that should be happening right now. Sean's coming back off a low week because of a slight injury, but I have no excuse. Need to start working for real if I want anything to happen this season.

--------------------------------------------------------CROSS COUNTRY 2002---------------------------------------------------------

NCAA Division III National Championships @ St. Olaf University : 25:47 Finished 32nd, barely grabbed an All-American. Disappointed with the low finish, guys like Brigham, Remsen, Easter and Emord, guys I've run with were all top fifteen, feel like I could have been there, but didn't have it today. That's not to say I didn't put it on the line out there. I don't feel like I could have run any harder out there, maybe a little smarter, but I gave all I had to give. Went out quick, got to the front, was in 3rd after a couple hundred meters and Bak was just sitting on it, I was content to jog behind him. Pace managed to pick up though, went through the mile in 4:45 sitting in about 5th place and just off Bak. Nolan came up next to me and we had to make a decision to join Bak and Cisewski and another dude in the front or to lead the chace pack. We settled in with Emord at the front of the chase pack the second time around the loop. I fell back a bit right at 2M, seems to be my M.O. of late, something I need to change. Dropped from 5th back down to about 20th. Hitting the prarie Boehlke sidled up next to me and we plugged away, closing the gap some. He managed to keep moving up, wound up 6th, not bad for a kid from Three Lakes. Could feel the back of the main pack but could never close up the gap enough for it to matter. Ran hanging off the back, just like last week, through the rest of the praire and up the hills. I could see that the leaders were only about 200m ahead and the main pack was starting to string out, but couldn't capitalize. On the second hill managed to put in a spurt and hold off a couple guys, but Holtzschutz from Williams got away. I hate losing to freshmen. Hitting the last mile I pulled up next to Forsgren from Bowdoin, really just trying to hold on though. A kid from Widener came past me fast, but I managed to chase him back down. Couldn't get the turnover I always hope to get over the last mile but so infrequently get. Maybe one day... Got excited over the last 400m though, found a little more speed, chased down Forsgren and held off the kid from Widener. Couldn't catch some other freshman though. There's a short and fairly steep hill about 100m from the end and as I turned to it I saw Nolan stumbling up it. He had bee in about 20-25th place for the majority of the race, and his body starting giving out about 400m away from the finish. I went past him right as he fell, didn't know what I should do, then realized I needed to finish and threw in a furious kick to pass the Widener kid. Turned out Sean was passing out, but he managed to make it to the finish line in 69th place. I have so much respect for that kid.

New England Division III Championships @ Westfield State University : 25:03 Finished 10th, got qualified up for Nationals, so I guess I should be stoked. Team didn't show up as well as we needed to though, only Sean and I are going to be racing tomorrow. Disappointing. Went out in 4:52 in a pack following Bak and Miller. Remsen, Easter, Abdi, Bridgewater, Emord, Forsgren were all up there. Feeling good, didn't feel incredibly fast, was confident about my chances. Started moving slightly, got around Abdi but stayed a step or two behind the pack, waiting on Nolan a little bit, but didn't want to jump in too soon mainly. Bartonicek came past me right before the 2M mark, went with him for a little while, closed up to the pack a little more. Plan was for Nolan and I to be in the top 5 running together at about 2.5M. Nolan came past me right then but I hesitated and didn't go with him like I should have. End result was he was running about 2m behind the pack and I was hanging 5m behind the pack and stayed there for a long time. He was able to get in and mix it up with the pack, but I pretty much just hung the same distance behind the rest of the race. David Clayman from Conn. College came up next to me and we were moving together for a short while, then he broke away and closed the gap some more, but I caught him on the way up the hill. At the left turn there Emord fell way back, thought I had a shot at getting back into the race but wasn't able to move fast enough to get back into the pack. Held my ground winding through the last part of the woods, coming out into the open field I felt good, turned it over and thought I was going to be able to catch a couple of guys, I could see Nolan and thought I could close up to him, but the legs tied up too much and I just held position, trailing Bridgewater and Forsgren as the pack strung out over the last 600m. Didn't really have the speed over the last quarter mile that I wanted, but that might be more my mind's fault than my legs'. Cold weather, snowing a little bit. Coach suggested tights, but I don't really like those, so I put some Red Hot stuff on the legs, that seemed like it worked fine. Maybe the legs tightened up and that's why I couldn't move when I wanted to, but it didn't feel that way at all. The only problem I felt from the cold was that my hands got cold, probably should have gone with the gloves. They were freezing at 2M, but by 4M they didn't bother me at all. One more race left.

NEWMAC Championships @ Wellesley : 26:38 Course was 200m long, but slow even without the extra distance. Plan was to get out hard, go from the gun and run away from everybody. That's the way it went for about 2.5M. Nolan and I got out running together in about 4:52, but Bartonicek was sitting right behind us. We had broken away from everybody else though, so the plan worked pretty well. My legs hadn't been feeling great all week, my head was pretty messed up because of that. Through about 2M I was running pretty well, but legs were starting to hurt. Managed to hang on to Nolan, but it was clear that he wanted to keep moving and I was not facilitating that. we went over a bridge and Bartonicek made a move on my right and I couldn't cover it. He and Nolan kept going at it, I was sitting behind them, gapped and hoping they'd come back. They didn't. Basically ran the last 2M alone, watching the gap grow gradually, but unable to close or do anything to combat the fact that the race was getting away from me. At 4M it was pretty clear that unless they blew up, I was going to finish third, so I basically set about protecting that, but made a charge up the last hill, hoping that something might come of it. Nothing did. Dowthitt was closing, but it was too late and I was able to finish thrid overall, :28 behind Nolan, way too far off. Team ran a good race though, guys stepped up when we needed them too, which is good. I was afraid that my mistake might be costly, since finishing 1-3 against a USCGA 2-4 took 2 points off the gap since we should've gone 1-2 vs 3-4. Thankfully we were far enough ahead to not need those 2 points. Second straight race where a lapse around 2M shot my race to shit, need to get that figured out before Div3s. Hard to stay disappointed though, since the team stepped up and got the win, 5 years straight as Conference Champions.

James Earley Invite @ Westfield State : 25:22 Wasn't feeling too good leading up to the race, legs feeling flat coming off a flat week. Had problems falling asleep the night before, basically I was less than confident hitting the line. Took off well though, had been expecting Keene State, Trinity, Bates to be there and a lot of good competition, but Keene and Bates were elsewhere and Bak sat out. Emord and I wound up running in front until Kapfer from US Merchant Marine took off. Wasn't sure if I could go with him and Nolan was still back, so I waited til Nolan came up to get after Kapfer. Finally hooked up with Nolan a little before 1M, went after Kapfer but couldn't reel him in. Got past Brigham and was going with Emord, but a little after 2M Kapfer still had a small lead and I hesitated a second going into a turn and Nolan and Emord gapped me. Went into the woods, twisting and turning and never had a chance to catch back up. Brigham came up to challenge me at 3M, that was almost the start to a disastrous race. I have a problem of getting passed and not latching on, then winding up dropping farther back. Luckily I was able to fight off Brigham, but at the base of the hill, just before 4M Bartonicek from USCGA came up next to me. I stayed ahead of him up the hill and did my best to conceal that I was hurting, trying to keep the form together, etc. Hit the grass fields, a long, flat sprint to the finish, almost 800m long, and I could finally see Emord, Nolan and Kapfer again. By then it was too late, one mental mistake back at 2M cost me the race. Had to fight off Bartonicek over the last 100m, basically cutting him off down the stretch by gradually drifing over in front of him. Wasn't pretty but it got the job done, managed to beat him by 0.4 seconds. I don't think he liked it too much though. Looking back on the race, my legs didn't feel as bad as I expected them too, I shouldn't have been so scared going into the race. And I should have moved to go with Kapfer sooner, instead of waiting around for Nolan. I didn't want to forsake him, but by waiting I pretty much ensured that neither of us would have a chance at catching him. Kapfer got to the front and stayed there, a very impressive win. Teamwise, we were going without Maltas, took second to Tufts. They ran a solid team race, packed them in between me and Verbal (third man for us.) Verbal cut the delta down to 1:05, good progress, and Albert was right behind him. Had we had Maltas we would've finished a lot better as a team. Hopefully his injury gets sorted out real quick. I'm not letting this race mess with me too much though, I wasn't as tough as I could have been, but I didn't see anything out there today that scared me. In four weeks at Div3s, I'll be ready to roll.

All New England Championships @ Franklin Park : 24:44 Slipped coming off the line, I was pushing off my right foot but it was in a mud puddle or something, got no purchase and almost went down. Not a big problem, I was able to get up and get reasonably near the front. Got out behind a few too many guys, but took the first mile in 4:44, quicker than I had planned on. I was feeling good though, running side by side with Nolan. It was still pretty crowded there, sitting back in 35-45th place, somewhere in that region. Started moving strong on the second mile, managed to pick off and pass a lot of guys, really just moving up past guys I should have started in front of, probably. Don't know the 2M split, but Nolan and I hit it just behind a group who we needed to pass immediately to have a shot at catching the top dudes, but I hesitated and started to slip back a bit. Luckily I recovered, although Nolan wound up running most of the first Wilderness by himself. Caught him on the way back onto the fields, we ran side by side through the 3M mark and into the second Wilderness. By that time I was feeling good, wanting to push it and Nolan wasn't quite moving with me, so I broke away about half way through the Wilderness. Had moved up into the top 20 by that time, past Bridgewater of Keene State, Emord had tried to come with us but couldn't, Easter was hanging right on us. Easter and I broke off from Nolan and started moving towards the 4M mark. On the grass hill out of the Wilderness up to the field I could see Miller and thought I was going to catch him, but wasn't thinking clearly, because he naturally dusted me over the final mile. I was maybe 7-10 seconds behind him and finished up 22 seconds behind him. Easter moved past me at the top of Bearcage, that's the second straight race I got passed up there, that's unacceptable. I need to get stronger over the last mile, mentally and physically. Managed to out kick Remsen from Williams over the last hundred, came in 15th place, made the All New England team, got a nice certificate and medal, pretty sweet. Team came in 12th, 5th DIII team. We've got some serious work in front of us if we want to be racing in Northfield. (Mile Splits 4:44, 5:09, 5:03, 5:05, 4:42.)

Codfish Bowl Invitational @ Franklin Park: 25:42 Took the start conservatively, going out behind the guys from Coast Guard, which worked pretty well, but also wound up costing me the win, I think. Nolan did it well, took off at the right place, had a bit of a lead on me as we came through the mile (5:00,) but I was expecting to catch him by Bearcage. Didn't quite do that and as a result never ran with him during the race. Hit 2M in about 10:15 in fourth place, behind Nolan, a kid from Mass. Maritime and Griego of Brandeis. Got past Griego in the Wilderness, running down the top two guys at the 3M mark (15:30ish,) feeling strong but knew I was pretty far behind them. Fourth mile felt awesome, I was really strong, moving up on Nolan and Mass. Maritime, wound up passing the kid from Mass. Maritime just before the 4M mark (20:45ish.) Right then I thought I was going to win the race, I was feeling really strong and ready to wail over the last mile. But then a grizzly jumped on my back and I started tying up and slowing down. Tried to fight it off, held off the Mass. Maritime guy up Bearcage but he got around me atop the hill and opened up a gap quickly, as I was still reeling. Managed to hold on and finish pretty quick, but I really choked over the last mile. I don't have a problem saying I was disappointed with a third place finish, I could have raced much better and run much faster and won that race. The team as a whole stepped up really well today, ran to a first place finish 47-53 over USCGA. That's very encouraging, delta was 1:09 and Albert didn't run, CBW was #5 today. (Mile Splits 4:59, 5:16, 5:15, 5:16, 4:56.)

St. Olaf Invitational @ St. Olaf, Northfield, MN: 25:45 Went out 4:56 a step ahead of Nolan. Started with a quick 200m, Nolan was lamenting that, but it didn't bother me that much. Knew I had to start up near the front to finish up near the front, and I didn't feel any negative effects from the fast start. A couple North Central guys (Tim Nelson & Pat Rizzo) ran past before the 2k mark, Nolan and I ran together a few yards off. Hit 2M in 9:57 or 9:58, essentially running next to Nolan still. Hit the wheatfield in good standing, still a yard or three off the lead pack. Looking back, should have moved right there (about 4k) and gotten with the leaders instead of sitting. At 3M we planned on taking off down a long downhill, stringing out the pack and setting it up to get separation, but that didn't really happen. Nolan wasn't feeling all that rested, so I waited awhile to see if he was going to go and he didn't, so I took off after the 3rd NCC guy (Kevin Licht) who had just came past me. Dropped back to about 8th or 9th at 3.5M, right at the base of two big hills which are basically linked as one. Moved up one spot to 7th on the first hill and closed right up on a guy from Point at the top of the second hill (4M mark.) From there I knew it was going to be fast but never really got the turnover I should have or was capable of. Basically hung behind the Point guy (James Lavash) until a quarter mile to go, where I dropped him. Coming up a fairly steep 20m hill at 100m from the finish I was 6th, behind a kid from UW-Platteville (Ryan Kliemenhagen) and 4 NCC guys (Nelson, Rizzo, Andy Enright and Licht.) I had way too much left and exploded, caught Licht and should have had Enright too. Looking back on it, I was in a position to hammer the second hill harder than I did and take off flying over the last mile. I feel like I could have been up with the leaders right there, turned it in to a footrace over the last half and won it. In that respect, I'm disappointed with the race. But that's the ONLY thing I'm disappointed with. I can keep that in mind come Nationals and it will help out tremendously. I'm ecstatic about this race, put my name out there, only 15-20 seconds behind guys like Rizzo from NCC. Nolan came through in 10th, about 20 seconds behind me. Team finished third, got hammered 27-100 by NCC and lost to Point by 21. NCC ran a really good race, but I know we had the talent to take 2nd from Point. Things are looking up.

Engineer's Cup @ Franklin Park: 26:23 Went out in 4:57 next to Nolan, slower than the 4:52 we had hoped for. Came through 2M in 10:17 and 3M in 15:42. Nolan and I were surging and working a little too much through the second mile trying to break a kid from RPI who was hanging on. In retrospect we should have just let the kid break himself. About 2.5M in the legs starting tying up and Nolan would edge forward a little bit but I kept closing back in. After 3M though he got separation and basically ran away over the fourth mile again. Turned about a 5:00 5th mile, had to bust my ass up Bearcage to shake Maltas who was closing quickly. A disappointing, bad race in my mind. It was hot out and we had a rough workout on Thursday, but I should have been able to hang onto Nolan through 4M. Need to work on that a lot. Ran 0:17 faster with giant open wounds on my feet, I should have been under 26:00 today. I really need to figure this out quickly, Pre-Nats is next weekend, the first race with real competition. Need to get on top of the work in the beginning of the week. Woke up this morning with tired legs, I rarely wake up with tired legs. Need to take better care of myself, drink more H2O and get the complex carbs too. Need to stretch more after runs, take care of my body in general. First full week of classes just finished up, so it's understandable that I'm a little rundown, I just need to get on top of things again. SPLITS: 4:56, 5:22, 5:24, 5:38, 5:03.

Alumni Meet @ Franklin Park: 26:05 Went out in 4:59, a little slower than Nolan and I had planned. Came through 2M in 10:10, back on pace. Nolan gapped me at 3M and I never got back into the race. About 2M in I felt blisters developing on the bottoms of my feet, and they just got worse. That contributed to Nolan getting away from me, but I also didn't have the get up in my legs that I'm used to. I could see Nolan getting away but couldn't close the gap. The last mile was really painful, all the skin had been scraped away off the bottom of both my feet. My toes were tingling a little over the last half mile, like they were almost numb. Tore off my shoes at the finish line, blood all over the inside. The trainers had me soak my feet in an iodine solution then cut away all the extra skin. Tried an epsom salt bath, that was killing my feet. Nolan wound up at 25:21, right at the pace we wanted to run. I really wish I could have gone with him, I was feeling good. Warm up was poor though, hardly got in any strides, and I botched the start, thought I had false started because they blew a whistle instead of shooting the pistol on the start, so I took two strides then stopped, and restarted a second later. Over the first 3M Nolan and I were switching off the lead, running well together. Had my feet not fallen apart over the last 3M I feel like I could have run with him until the finish. But I won't know that for sure until next week. One thing I learned for sure from this, I'm always going to wear socks in cross country races. Click here to see why.

--------------------------------------------------------OUTDOOR SEASON 2002----------------------------------------------------------

ECAC @ Springfield: 3000m Steeplechase 9:32 Got out well, felt strong and confident. Came in #1 seed, racing same guys, Lutz and Mann. Got out in 72 then a 74, right on pace, but then dropped to a couple laps of 75s, too slow, as I was trailing Mann by 5-10m. Mile was about 4:52 I think, which is faster than last weeks, so maybe I got out too fast and started dying. My legs were aching, burning and I could not motivate myself to get turnover. I kept telling myself I'd wait another lap and then push, but I never pushed, kept putting it off too long. I was attacking the barriers better, didn't have to stutter at all, because I was leading with both legs, instead of exclusively using my right, as I had before. I clipped 5 hurdles or so, not very good, but hopefully that means I wasn't jumping as high. With about 3 or 4 laps, Lutz went past me to take the lead. He went on to run about 9:18 for the win. So that's upsetting, to think that there would have been competition to push me to a better qualifying mark, had my legs been under me and had I been willing to push. I was dying the last lap, got passed by two more guys, so I wound up in 5th. Horrible, disappointing run. But there were a few improvements that I made that make it not a completely worthless endeavor. There's still a lot of work to do still, but I've got a pretty good feeling about next year.

All New England Championships @ Northeastern: 3000m Steeplechase 9:24.12 Good race, good race. Got out well, established a pretty good position and then tried to go with it. I was right up on Dunham's shoulder, running in third behind him and Remsen. Ran pretty much with the plan, clipped off 74s until the last few laps where I was running 76s. But I was able to stay in contact with a few guys, including Justin Lutz and Jason Mann that I was able to take off the last 200m and go from 9th to 7th. In the middle I wasn't feeling too fast, was getting beaten over hurdles and was dropping back, but somehow I was running 74s. Really, the laps kinda slipped by without me noticing them. It was strange and nice to have them kind of fly by without me noticing. The race was pretty physical, a lot of bumping for position, but I really don't mind that. I was hitting guys with my arms inadvertedly as I was hurdling, just because my hurdling form sucks ass right now. I got spiked in the left knee too. That knee seems to always have some little nick or scrape on it, all the time. So after the race, Coach called my form "horrible" and I'd have to agree with him. It seems like every barrier slows me down and I have to start all over on the other side. He claimed I was fast enough to win that race by a lot, I'm not sure about that, but I don't doubt that I'd be killing this race a lot more if I could hurlde better. I think a big part of it is hip flexibility, and thats something I can work on every day, so thats good. The other thing I need to do is focus on the barrier so that I'm accelerating into it and over it with my hips up, so that I'm not killing my momentum by leaning back. This time got a provisional NCAA qualification, I'll probably wind up 28th, 29th, 30th in the nation tomorrow when they post the list. It also got me the freshman record, broke Leif Seed's by a second and a half. Moved me to seventh all-time too. In a nutshell, I'm happy with the time, but know that I have a hell of a lot more work to do before I start running this race well.

New England Division III Championships @ Willaims: 3000m Steeplechase 9:34.74 So this came off a harder than normal week of school for me, which is unfortunate, because I could have probably run a little faster just with more sleep. Regardless, the mileage cuts left my legs fresh and I was ready to go. Got out conservatively, Coach wanted me to run my own pace, and just be in a position to capitalize when guys started coming back, because just about everybody comes back a little in this race. So I was sitting about 8th or 9th the first few laps, got out around 74 I think. Good pace. Almost bailed on the first water jump, kinda stumbled on impact, hands hit the ground, but kept myself up. That first one is always rough. With about five laps to go, I looked up and saw a guy from Wheaton in front of me, and realized I was going too slow, since I had run away from all the Wheaton guys last week. So I started moving, really charging at barriers. Was trying to keep my trail leg parallel to the ground, so I wouldn't be jumping as high over the barriers. Spent a lap or two chasing down Jason Mann from Tufts, got past him over a barrier, although I kicked it with the toe of my lead leg, kinda came down stumbling, but beat him to the next barrier then sprinted away. Was closing in on Ferenc from Keene State on the last lap, but my last water jump and last barrier were sub-par and dropped me back from him. Looking back, I really regret not getting out faster, Remsen went 9:08, probably out of my league, but Easter only went 9:16, and I feel like I could have been chasing after him to a really nice PR had I gotten out a little quicker. Next week is All New Englands, we'll see what happens there, I've got no idea what kinda competition I'll be running against then.

NEWMAC Championships @ MIT: 3000m Steeplechase 9:29.71 Felt pretty good out there today. Still though, I'm not dying after the race is over, so I'm thinking that I still got a lot of room to improve, merely by running faster between the barriers. Lets not even talk about hurdling. I clipped a barrier with my trail foot today, almost went down. In the middle of the race I kinda lost concentration and neglected the accelerating into the barrier aspect. So the race went like this: I got out in the lead at the gun, mainly because I didn't want to get stuck behind guys who were falling all over the place. The first water jump I almost bailed on, got really in front of myself coming off the top of the barrier. Justin Lutz from WPI was trailing me for a few laps, but it felt like I had managed to run away from him, until about 3 or 4 laps to go when I started hearing water splashing behind me as I was leaving the water pit. I felt like I was beating him over the hurdles, so as he was coming up on me, I started focusing more on the hurdling aspect. At the last water barrier we were pretty much even, but I beat him off that and had a small lead hitting the last barrier. I really didn't want to fall right there, but got over and sprinted off to a one second win and a NEWMAC meet record time, also a nine second PR. All in all, I'm pleased with what went down today, put myself probably #3 or 4 in New England Div3 rankings. Hopefully with a little more competition in the middle of the race, I'll step up next week and drop some more time. Right now, I think that about a 9:18 would give me a legitimate shot at nationals, so thats still 11-12 secs I gotta shave. Things are looking good. Check out the guest summary courtesy of Austin Roach.

Husky Invite @ Northeastern: 3000m Steeplechase 9:38.22 Good race, but showed me that I don't know how to 1) run in a group and hurdle at the same time and 2) race during this race (related to problem #1.) I really don't see any resolution of these problems outside of merely running more steeplechases with groups of people around me. That'll come in time. Anyways, I fudged the early water jumps, even landed w/ 2 feet a few times, a fool from Wheaton kept falling in front of me as I was coming down, making me check up in the air. And I was stuttering up to a few of the barriers, especially right as I was trying to push and get around guys, that was pissing me off. Every once in a while I feel like I get over one well though. Then ten seconds droppage keeps continuing. Next week is the same set up, just the steeple, so I'll cut that one loose, hopefully just get to the front so its just me and the barriers for most of the race, really hit it hard. I'm feeling pretty good right now, see a lot of room for improvement. This time qualified me for All New Englands, so I extended my season another week. But I'm still 13 secs off of the National Provisional Time, 30 secs off Automatic.

Tri-Meet (vs. Bowden & UMass-Lowell): 3000m Steeplechase 9:48.6; 5000m 15:40.5 So I finally got a collegiate win under my belt. Theoretically, it should have come last week, if not earlier, but I'll take this one. Had planned on going out easy, because of the double, and was running behind Wildman for awhile, in third. The leader was seeded at 9:20, so I assumed he was out of my league. But with a couple laps to go, his water jumps started looking awful and I could see him fading. Coach was yelling that he was dying, I wasn't sure if I should go after him or not, but he was coming back so quickly, I passed him before the second to last water jump and went on from there. In the 5, I got out alright, 5:01 first mile or so, just leaching off the leaders. The plan was to focus on the second mile, hang with the leaders. But around 6 laps to go, they started surging and I started fading. I haven't been able to keep my mind out of my legs as well as I would like. Wanted to run around 15:20 or so, couldn't get the turnover going though. I'd like to be able to have a steeple where I can just go out and run fast the entire way, see how well it goes. Last week, the first half I was figuring out what the hell I was doing, and this week I was trying to keep it easy. I don't know how fast I could go if I pushed it. We'll have to wait and see.

Engineer's Cup: 3,000m Steeplechase 9:59.80 I have to say that this was a pretty good first time experience for me. I fell in the water pit the first time over (can't land two footed. DO NOT land two footed.) That shook me up a bit and I was prepared to chill in 5th and get some experience, until I saw an RPI guy pull the same move next lap. Then I kinda got moving again. I really ran two different races. The first half was all about getting over the barriers. Then I realized, maybe running fast between the barriers will help. The second half of the race was significantly better because of that small change. I chased down Wildman and passed him with a lap and a half to go. Had I been racing from the gun, I probably would have won. I'd guess that I can easily drop 10 seconds, maybe even 15, without any work, just on the confidence I got from the race today. (Not falling will probably save me 5 in and of itself.) Things are going pretty well.

Stanford Invitational: 5,000m 15:47.9 Wow, I really kinda choked in this race. Things were set up for me to run pretty well, but then my legs got tired and again, my mind got out of the race. The field was pretty large approx. 50 guys and after the first mile (4:50) a few guys tripped. I had to jump off the track to avoid one pile up, and that distracted me, but it shouldn't have. I started out well 69, 2:20, then 4:50 and just started dropping from there. The heat winnner was high 14s I think, so I could've been racing at the front. I definitely need to work on staying focused during these races and not letting small little things work their way into my head and destroy my confidence.

--------------------------------------------------------INDOOR SEASON 2002----------------------------------------------------------

All New England Championships: 5,000m 15:08.92 I guess this race was pretty good, but I'm still disappointed that my season ended here. Running at the BU armory for the last time. I got a little crazy at the start, took it out too fast and I'm sure I paid for that near the end. Looking back, I should have sat on Cruz the first mile, since he was trying to make it to nationals too. This time, when the pack went past me, I made sure to latch on to the back of it and was riding around the track with them for awhile. I was telling myself not to fall asleep, to keep looking for when they made a move, but somehow, I looked up and they had gapped me by 10m. I tried, but failed, to catch up to them, and my season ended with only one race below 15:00 and no records.

New England Divison III Championships: 5,000m 15:44.06 What a bad race. I got boxed in at the start, but sprinted up to the front on the backstretch. From there, I was in the lead for the first 1200m or so, sharing the lead with Nolan. We were 4:48 through 1M, too slow, but my legs were not feeling good, and that threw my mind off track. That's something I really need to work on still. I'm not responding to discomfort in races correctly. Reutimann went past, and almost the entire field followed him past me. I had a chance to grab on to the back of the pack and sit there, but I didn't take it. I just kept dropping and fell back to 10th, 11th place. I kinda got my head back into it, but not well enough. Basically, this race sucked.

MIT CoEd Invitational: 1,500m 4:10 So I ran mostly to my plan. I went out with the leaders, made a move with four laps to go to take the lead, but from then on it felt like I was forcing it and my legs were about to drop off. Nolan and Feldman went past with 400m to go and then I just started dropping. I feel like I put it out there, made the move I wanted and was in the lead, but couldn't put it away. I knew coming in if I was going to win, I'd have to put distance between myself and them quickly with half a mile to go and to do that I'd have to stay relaxed and let my body go fast. But that didn't happen, I tensed up, my whole body was aching, then when they passed me it all recoiled on me, and I dropped like a rock. I was with the leaders with a quarter mile to go, and they beat me by 6 & 7 seconds. Not pretty. I need to work on staying tough when I'm hurting and I get passed, becuase it seems like everytime I get passed, I start to drop off the pace. More mental work needed, what a surprise. On a side note, DMR went 9:53, fastest time in the nation D3 by ten seconds. DAMN!

Greater Boston Championsips: 5,000m 14:56.6 This race was awesome. I came in just hoping to qualify for NE Div3s (15:25) and coach wanted me under 15:10, so I'd at least have a shot at scoring at Div3s. I got out fast (68) running kinda alone, and didn't know if I had gone out too fast and would be paying for it. Nolan told me to "put some time in the bank," so I thought going out in 4:40 would be reasonable. Came through 8 in just over 2:20, feeling good. Hit 1600 in 4:43, a little behind Nolan and Feldman. I slid in behind two Harvard guys (one was Simon Holmes) and hung for a while. We were clipping off 72s, I was just feeling the rhythm. I love that track. It's too bad they're gonna tear it up. The other Harvard guy dropped off. I moved on Simon with 10 laps to go, but couldn't drop him. Came through 3k in 8:55, 3200 in 9:30 (I think). With 4 or 5 laps to go Holmes passed me back and I hung for awhile. He gapped me with three to go and I couldn't come back. Provisionally qualifying on a banked track is 14:56.50, so I just missed out. Thats unfortunate, but I made All New Englands. I've got a few more shots at it. Coach was pretty pumped about my run.

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