1st Race - Thirty Years Ago

It was thirty years ago that i ran my first race, the Kiwanis 10k Road Race in Warwick, RI. What prompted me to try this race i really don't remember. Could be that i just saw it mentioned in the local fish wrap and figured it was time to see what it was like. I had started running 8 months before just for the hell of it and was addicted right from the first lap i ran on the cinder track at Lockwood Jr. High.

Going into this first race, i hadn't a clue about pacing, actually, most all of my runs were solo so running with all these people had to feel strange. I can't say as i remember much of this race other than running hard and finishing in 35.28 for 11th place. Having never raced before, i had nothing to compare this race to and since i did not know any of these runners, i couldn't gauge myself against the others. I ran 5.42 pace in my first race, not bad. Now i was really hooked!

In thirty years, i have run good, run great and not run at all. I have dealt with way too many injuries, most could have been averted, but i always had this thing about running fast workouts. When healthy, i ran very well, seems like there was no in between. Run good or don't run. I do wonder just how much faster i could have run if i wasn't always getting sidetracked with one injury or another. Oh well, one can only speculate.

On to the next 30 years.

Boston '09

I took the day off from work today so i could make the annual trip up to the Boston Marathon to watch and take some photos. George Ross, Glen Guillmette and myself left Warwick at 8am and headed to Framingham to see the runners at 5 1/2 miles. We then planned on going over to the 20 mile mark to catch the action and then back to RI. 

The lead womens pack at 5 1/2 was large and at a somewhat casual pace, but the men came by at record pace and it showed, the lead pack had already distanced itself from the rest. Nice to see Ryan Hall setting the pace, even if it was a tad quick into the headwind. I did not see a whole lot of familiar faces out there, but  DoubleJ Jim Johnson came by looking good, wish i could say the same of him at 20, not a good day for JJ. Don't fret Jim, there will be others. My teammates, Don Henderson and Patrick Meacham came by looking comfortable, as did Scott Bessette. Don and Scott lost time over the second half where Patrick stayed pretty close to first half pace.

At 20 miles, the women were still bunched up where the men had blown things apart. It must have been a fun womens race to watch coming in, but it is not like i could have recorded it since it wasn't on tv in RI. This must be the first year in a while that it hasn't played on national tv, must have been something more important on, like a poker game! 

It is always a fun time coming up to watch, it almost makes me want to run it again. Last time i ran Boston was 1981 and that was a DNF. I could never really see the lure of this race, but i would like to do it again sometime. 

Want to see shots from todays race? Go to scottmasonphoto.com  

Mt Washington Road Race

OK, so i got my spot in the lottery to run up Mt Washington, YAHOO!!

Now for the reality of it all, i have to start training for it. Lets see...last week i ran 18 miles. That is not going to get it done for this race. I have 12 weeks to whip my body into decent shape so as not to embarrass myself on this run. Can i do it? I think so! It isn't like i expect to compete for age group or anything like that, just have a good strong run. Having some of my teammates running will help, Bob Jackman, John Peabody and Martin Tighe will be there running. So, here goes nothing, Mt Washington, here i come.

Photo by Corey McEntyre

Weekend Update

What a beautiful Saturday for a race! It is the 1st annual St. Patricks Day Race in Providence, RI. For a first time race, there were 2100 finishers, not a bad turnout. Race director Charlie Breagy had to be overjoyed. And seeing that this was a St Patty's Day race, what better than the winners being from Ireland. Mens winner, Mark Carroll ran unmolested for the whole race, coming in at an easy 14.25. Womens winner and first master, Trish Hillery(photo at right), also from Ireland, took the title in 18.21. 

Photography for the race was done by George Ross and Myself, you can see all our stuff on George's website here (if you want to go thru thousands of pics).

Post race was the annual parade, check out a few of my shots here.

The post race party was at RI-RA, those pints of Guinness sure tasted good.

There was a big marathon down in Washington DC on Saturday that a few of my Turtle teammates went to run. It was the Suntrust National Marathon that was won by Patrick Moulton(no, not a teammate) in 2:21.17. Tuesday Night Turtle Finishers were:

Bob Jackman   2:40.47 (PR)

Dave Principe  2:47.15

Michaela Driscoll  2:53.12  (pr)

Jackie Jackman  3:03.59 (pr) 

Sorry to say, Martin Tighe was not able to attempt his 1ook in Ireland this weekend due to a bout with pneumonia. Alot of training to no avail, but be assured, Martin will be back for another try sometime in the next few months.

Whats up with the 6 foot plus leprechaun with Mark Carroll and Jim Harvey? Thats Way Hedding, race director extraordinaire from SNERRO in Ct. Way puts on many road races in southern RI and Nearby Connecticut including Lil'Rhody Runaround, Block Island 15k, John Kelley Ocean Beach 11.6 Miler and the late, great Norwich Rose Arts Festival 10.6 Miler.

  

New Bedford Half Marathon

                                          Pictures from the New Bedford Half marathon are up 

                                                              @ scottmasonphoto.com

                         

Treadmills Suck!

I did a treadmill run tonite at the local gym, the purple palace, also known as Planet Fitness. First off, i am not a treadmill runner, in fact, i have scoffed at these machines for the first 30 years of running. My first TM run was last May because the weather was lousy and i thought i would give it a try. Strangely enough, i came down with a knee injury the day after the run and just figured that they were evil machines and would never use one again. Now that everything is healed and i am trying to get back into running shape and a snowstorm hit Monday, i decide to give it another try because i really wanted to run. The run was OK, i did a few miles and felt it was a decent workout, then did the same tonite. My question is, how do you actually put up with the boredom of running on a treadmill? There are 24 TM's at the gym and after work, they are all full, so how bad can it be? Well, on one side i have someone with a book propped up on the machine and on the other is a guy that stops every 5 minutes to adjust his ipod. I need something to keep me going, why can't i have the New England Patriots cheerleaders working out in front of me? I feel way out of place but press on at a slowish 7.30 pace, but feel guilty, like i am rubbing it in to all these casual workout people. I also wonder why i am the only one who is sweating during their workout, am i a freak? I used to do the elliptical machines, there would be someone in front of me on their cellphone for twenty minutes, why do these people even bother? You can't get a workout while yakking on a phone. I guess we all have our priorities. Back in the day, i would run in any weather, afterall, isn't that why they made goretex. Have i really gone that soft that i even thought about running on a treadmill? I did not care if it was snowing, pouring rain or even a thunder storm, I RAN OUTSIDE! I am becoming a wimp. We were talking tonite at the local watering hole and Turtle Prez Dave Principe put it best, it is a necessary evil. F that, if i am going to get back in shape, i have to run outdoors. For those of you who run treadmills, i give you all the credit in the world, but they are so boring to run on! Running in lousy conditions helps build an inner strength that you need for racing well. I can only hope that i get that feeling back again real soon. That is my rant, agree with it or not, don't matter to me :)

Speaking of treadmill running, we have my friend and teammate, Martin Tighe. Now we all know that Martin is somewhat of a freak when it comes to running, but how did he ever manage to run 85.83 miles on a treadmill in 12 hours? It is still the standing World Record even though there is one better time that hadn't been ratified yet. During the same run, he also set the current 50 mile WR of 6:06.19 and is 2nd for 100k in 7:39.31. We are talking about a treadmill run, that is sick!! Of course, this is a guy who would do treadmill runs in an ice cream cooler for hours at the local dairy in preparation for his North Pole Marathon attempt, which he won, of course. I don't doubt there is anything Martin can't accomplish. 

Three weeks from now, Martin will be running the UK 100k Championships in Galway, Ireland. Best of luck to you, Martin. I can see a top three performance happening.        

Mt Washington Lottery

Well, today is the first day to sign up for the Mt. Washington Road Race so i figured that it is a good a time as any. This morning at 8 am, i signed up for the lottery as a group leader, hoping that i get more of my Tuesday Night Turtle teammates to try and get in also. I know that Martin Tighe is in as he did the whole mountain series last year and we have a few runners who showed some interest in this endeavor. Personally, i have always wanted to do it, but something always got in the way (mostly injuries). It was always the same weekend as the Norwich Rose Arts Race in Connecticut, that was a favourite of mine. Hopefully i get in this year as i need a goal to help me get back into running shape and is there a better race to egg you on than this one. If i do not get in, i can always park my ass somewhere up on the mountain with my camera to get the pain on your faces as you approach the summit, but i would rather try to do it myself this year.

I always liked this photo on the cover of New Englang Running taken near the finish. Really wants to make you run the race, Don't ya think ;)

Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race

I took the 2 hour drive up to the Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race yesterday with teammate, Bob Jackman. I had decided not to run after running just 3 times since my lousy race at Sidehiller, due mainly to shooting a hockey tourney here in RI that took up 8 days of my time between taking photos and editing. I figured to take a few pictures and hang out with some of my NH freinds. Of course, it was also an opportunity to go to my favourite brewpub, Portsmouth Brewery, after the race. I found out two things about this race, it is tough to spectate at a night race and taking pictures is even harder. I only took a few shots that were ok, if not surreal with the little light you are afforded from just the headlamps on the runners. I tried using the flash for some, but really did not want to blind any of the runners out there.

After talking to Bob and Jim Johnson after the race, i found out they had run together for the first part of the race, putting some distance on the rest of the field. Then Bob's bad luck hit again, seems there was this guy walking his dog out near the course and this friendly pooch decided to knock Bob down by running into the back of his leg. So Bob falls and has his snowshoe partially knocked off and loses a few spots in that time. The ironic thing is that his entry fee check was made out to Cocheco Valley Humane Society , had the dog known this, maybe things would have turned out differently :) There is no truth to the rumor that DoubleJ payed off the dog owner to watch his back in the race. Now Jim has a huge lead and Steve Wolfe moved up to second and Bob finished in 5th place. It was real cool to watch the headlamp wearing runners weaving down the switchbacks near the finish in total darkness, just little specks of light through the trees. 

I was glad to hear Chris Dunn announcing that the series would be expanded next year so that you can score best 6 of 8 finishes which allows you to miss a race or two. I hope to make at least six of those races next year and if i can get my fitness level close to where it should be, i will do pretty good.  I look forward to it.

We hit the Portsmouth Brewery on the way home for a bite to eat and a 

couple beers. I had a 5c's IPA and a cask IPA, both very tasty for a beergeek like me. Of course, they aren't as good as my homebrewed Imperial IPA, but still damn good.

I though about going out to Amherst today to shoot some stuff at the GrandPrix, but the weather looked like it was going to suck. I will be at the next race in New Bedford. 

Smile at the camera when you come by.