FCR Amherst 10 Mile Road Race

The Five Colleges Realty 10 Miler was held Sunday, February 22. This was the first of seven USATF-NE Grand Prix races. Despite the crazy snow storms that tortured New England the course was cleaned up nicely, save for the section of dirt road that was still a bit slushy and muddy. All things considered, it was a nice day for a stroll through the back roads of Amherst. The sun even managed a cameo appearance, adding some pleasantness to the second half of the race.

A brief summary of my overall placing:

7th of 32 55-59 year old male age group runners.
19th of 75 50-59 year old male age group runners.
139th of 344 total male runners.
160th of 565 total runners.
Chicked by 20 of the 221 total female runners!

The gory details....

My official chip time: 1:05:56.9 6:36 min/mi (2014 1:08:15.4, 6:50 min/mi)

My official gun time: 1:06:01.0 6:36 min/mi (2014 1:08:22.3, 6:50 min/mi)

Life according to my GPS watch:

Total Running Time: 1:06:00
Total Running Distance: 10.07mi
Average Running Pace: 6:33min/mi

1. 6:21 I had hope to go out at 6:30min/mi.
2. 6:23 Downhill, easy mile.
3. 7:25 Up, lost a bit of focus, as well as time.
4. 6:44 Upish, rolling, worked a bit to regain pace.
5. 6:36 Still in woods, rolling and slushy.
6. 6:19 Downhill.
7. 6:14 Downhill.
8. 6:16 Downhill
9. 6:54 A bit uphill.
10. 6:23 Finished at the same pace I started.
11. 0:24 a bit of residual GPS time or course length.


The requisite excuses/rationalizations.

I felt I was developing a cough/cold and felt pretty crappy for the first 5 miles or so. I was trying for a 6:30 pace but gave up too much time on the hills. I’ll blame it on too many treadmill miles and not enough outside running. Tough February in Massachusetts. I believe the strength work I performed early helped carry me. And a good training plan, thanks Amanda, prepared me to better last years time. I am ok with the finish. We always want more and all things considered it was way better than last year. It is a new personal record on this hilly course by 2+ minutes.

Old People Running

Senior team competition was fairly strong. Whirlaway dominated with 5 runners under 6:12min/mi pace. CMS was 4th of 10 teams in the 50+ year old division. I think it was a decent showing for early in the year.

1st Whirlaway Racing Team
2nd Green Mountain Athletic Association
3rd Boston Athletic Association
4th Central Mass Striders

CMS 50-59 year old team scoring finishers.

Bib Name City Place Time Cum. Time
329 DAN VERRINGTON BRADFORD MA 5 1:00:53.7 1:00:53.7
330 DAVE DUNHAM BRADFORD MA 17 1:04:18.8 2:05:12.6
298 JOHN GRIEGO BLACKSTONE MA 20 1:06:01.0 3:11:13.7
260 PHILIP SAVOY SHREWSBURY MA 34 1:11:45.7 4:22:59.4
131 DAVID LAPIERRE CHELMSFORD MA 44 1:14:34.2 5:37:33.6


In the USATF-NE Grand Prix scoring, I managed to squeak out 7th place for 4 points in the 55-59 year old age group.

USATF-NE 55-59 year old Grand Prix Points Awarded. (non-official)

10 ROBERT CIPRIANO 55 SRR | M 58:46 592
9 CRAIG FRAM 56 WRT | M 1:01:57 568
8 PAUL HAMMOND 55 WRT | M 1:02:46 567
7 TONY BATES 55 GMAA | M 1:03:27 641
6 PATRICK STUMBRAS 57 BAA | M 1:04:02 696
5 NORM LARSON 59 GMAA | M 1:04:28 257
4 JOHN GRIEGO 56 CMS | M 1:05:56 298
3 JIM GARCIA 56 GLRR | M 1:06:53 432
2 MATTHEW MANNEY 55 SRC | M 1:09:54 713
JEFFREY MISH 57 | M 1:10:13 395
1 ANDY MACDONALD 55 BAA | M 1:11:24 672

Next stop...the New Bedford Half Marathon!