Another Week In The Record Books

Another 12 miler to round out another 50 mile week,for those playing along at home or just interested that's 8 weeks in a row of 50 miles a week and 7 weeks of Sunday 12 milers,obviously last Sundays Masters 5k Road race c'ships in Syracuse meant no 12 miler last week.
Won't lie,I was feeling yesterdays 5m xc race a little but was able to do what needed to be done today,glorious day to be out running period but along by the river in the sunshine in October it's a beautiful thing,each Sunday now in October will get treated like it might be the last as predictably these conditions can't last forever but I'll be grateful for each one I get b4 the long sleeve running shirts,running tights and eventually ski hat,thermal gloves and jacket get pulled out of the closet.

So yesterday,my first cross country race in over two and a half years,I initially though my last xc race was the inaugural Jack St Clare 8k xc race in Dec 08 but upon pulling my xc spikes up from the basement I discovered the D tag from Masters Winter Nationals in Derwood Maryland in Feb 09 still on them.
Why the hiatus from xc? coming off my achilles injury in the summer of 09 I wasn't sure xc was the right terrain to race on in the fall of 09,courses like Belmont and Van Cortlandt have a fair amount of gravel to run on,not exactly achilles tender friendly so I side stepped the 09 xc season and last year after the Syracuse Masters 5k Road race C'ships in early October I shut things down initially for 2 weeks which then became 3 b4 using the end of October and November/early December to build base mileage so no xc races last fall,I was kean to get back to xc this fall and offered to "take one for the team" at the St Clare 5 Miler.

This years race had become a college race w/ several college teams entered,fitting given the race is in honour of former Temple coach Jack St Clare and this years field of 85 runners is a far cry from the 08 race that only attracted maybe a dozen or so runners.
It sure wasn't xc weather,75 degrees and sunny as we took to the starting line at 1pm,frankly after getting soaked in 44 degree temps last week in Syracuse I wasn't complaining!!!
I knew not to get "sucked in" at the start and paced myself through the outside loop and opening mile in 5.38.
Second loop meant going up Parachute which is a lot smoother these days but still a bastard hill to negotiate on the 5k or 5m course,back out of the woods and up Flagpole a second time,after the fustercluck the first time the field had thinned out considerably the second time.

Entering the woods a third time I heard 17.46 for my three mile split,I think I heard 11.58 at 2 miles and while the field had thinned out at least I wasn't in no mans land as I headed down Dark Road towards the refurbished Nursey Hill section.
I was feeling it now but knew I was near to the finish......one more trek up Flagpole,pre race as we jogged the Parachute and Nursery section Chuck mentioned going up Flagpole three times might be tough and while I wasn't dreading it coming out of the woods a final time there was a sense of "fucking ada,Flagpole again!!!"

One runner went by me b4 we exited the woods and while I would've liked to go w/ him my almost 48 year old legs had other ideas,I settled for 50th overall in a field 85 in a time of 31.28.4.
By virtue of this being my first xc 5m race{I have 6 xc 8k races to my credit since 06}it's a pr for what it's worth,I'd like to come back next year a little more xc tough.
To that end there's the Masters 5k xc up in Rochester in 2 weeks time and then maybe a long overdue trip to the Bronx and Van Cortlandt Park in November and then the Brandywine 5k xc just after Thanksgiving b4 calling time on my 11 outdoor season.

A final foot note,if you're in the vicinity of Chestnut Hill College and you see a very disgruntled bunch of runners out there spare a thought for them,GPTC president Bill Kampf is also the coach of Chestnut Hill College and he told them pre race if they didn't beat "a bunch of old guys" from GPTC they'd be doing double workouts.....we finished 8th,they finished 9th.....enjoy those double workouts boys!!!