Fitz races strong at XC event in Boston

Congrats to Marist Running Alum Ryan Fitzsimons, now running for Central Park Track Club, on his strong race at Sunday’s USATF New England Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park in Boston. Fitz covered the 6.2-mile course in 34:17.77 and got 71^st place in the competitive race field. Fitz ran a neg-split effort – 17:20/16:57. He was sixth on the CPTC team and was “pretty happy with the overall effort,’’ he said in an e-mail race report.

He added: “I'm still getting used to racing fast. It feels weird to not be in my half marathon comfort zone of 5:45s to 5:55s. I just need to trust myself now that I have the endurance to really press hard in those middle miles of these races so that I can really get these times down. Up next is Club XC Nationals at Lehigh in December which should be really, really fun! Another xc 10k and I'll be shooting to knock off about 30 seconds off this time which I think is totally doable as long as I keep getting in good work over the next couple weeks. I'm having a lot of fun getting back on the xc trails as they are my favorite!’’ 

(Thanks to Katie Messina for texting me the photo above)