Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Maynes at Mt. Washington






Thanks to Marist Running Alum Matt Maynes for sending along the following photos of him (and fellow Marist Running Alums Liza Grudzinski and Kirk Dornton) from the Mt. Washington Road Race. Here is his race report, sent via email ...

I thought the race went well.  I came into it in pretty good shape, was up in the 70s for mileage in April and May and a month early had won the Alumni Mile at a meet with a negative split 4:45 (2:29, 2:16) that felt very good.   I had done a lot of tempo runs at race pace on the treadmill with a 12% incline but nothing can really prepare you for this race besides doing it.

I went through the half around 39 minutes still feeling strong and in control but once we got above tree line I started to slow down.  Liza passed me somewhere during mile 6 looking really good.  I definitely slowed during the second half and was really feeling it but I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other.  It was nothing like when I blew up in the marathon last October and I knew that I was still doing ok and it was the nature of the race to being going this slow.  My watch had 1:24:32 at the finish, it took me about 8 seconds to cross the line and there was no timing mat at the start so my official gun time was 1:24:40.  The Men's race was U.S. Nationals for Mountain Running so the race was pretty stacked up front so I'm very happy with top 100 and my result.


Having never done a race like this I wasn't really sure what to expect and how to pace myself.  I don't think I went out to fast, my breathing was under control the whole race and I felt like I needed to run strong over the first half while I could and because I knew that positive splitting was the nature of the race.  Overall it was a great experience and I will be entering the lottery next year and I'm hoping I can convince some other Marist Alumni Racing Team members so we can enter a team!

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