By John Barbour
Appalachee Regional Park, Tallahassee FL -- December 10, 2016
The Appalachee Regional and Franklin Park cross country courses have one thing in common: both are fair courses. Beyond that they’re not a lot alike, but then, that’s the nature of cross country. Like Forrest Gump’s comparison of life to a box of chocolates, “You never know what you’re gonna get.”
The Greater Lowell contingent of Liane Pancoast, Ken Goodin, John Goodwin, EJ Hrynowski, Keith O’Brien, Denny LeBlanc and yours truly all landed in Jacksonville, about 160 Florida panhandle-miles short of Tallahassee. Why? Check the fare and flight schedules and you’ll know. (Katherine Kulig also flew the green-and-yellow but traveled separately.) With an afternoon of Jacksonville Ale-Trail-ing (inspired/ordered by EJ) including a stroll on the beach, and a night in a fleabag motel under our belts, it was off the next morning for the state capital.
Despite very nearly being run off the road by a drowsy bus driver the Chicken Assemblage arrived at the course in good time for an inspectional jog. Several other New England club runners were there; as we were getting ready to head back to the met HQ hotel a young woman spotted the case of bottled water in the back of our van and asked if we could spare a couple, since she and her husband had forgotten to bring any. “But of course” was the reply, without even realizing yet that the husband in question standing a few yards away was none other than American mile record holder Alan Webb who, once recognized, was more than willing to pose for photos with his GLRR fan-base. (Take a good look, we noted, at the body that has run one mile in 3:46.)
An overnight cold snap brought pre-dawn sub-freezing temperatures to course. With Liane set to run the Women’s Masters 6K at 8:00 am, arrival before sun-up was required. Fortunately a large heated tent was available and largely empty. The sun was just beginning to cast long shadows as the gun went off. The 6K course consisted of two loops: the first 600 meters were flat to downhill on wide, packed grass, then a left turn into a series of gradually rolling ups-and-down on the shaded, largely dirt back portion, hidden from spectator view. Finally, a three-stage rise known as “the wall” that brought runners back to the start. “The wall” is less than Franklin Park’s Bear Cage Hill, but then this is Florida, and Appalachee Regional the home course for Florida State U. and every high school for miles around. We can testify that the consistent rolls combined with this three-step rise served to take the starch, bit by bit, out of one’s legs. Despite being short on fitness, Liane Pancoast (57th, 27:45; 38th age-graded) improved from her Franklin Park 6K time almost a minute.
Next came the Men’s Masters and, because it seemed to work last year in San Francisco, the over-40 gents were split into two separate races – an 8K for runners aged 60 and over followed by the traditional 10K for men aged 40-59. (At this point I must lapse into the first-person because I don’t know how else to report on this race.) A year ago, I was in a tight race with Rick Becker of Club Northwest, well ahead of the rest of the field, until he pulled away by a few seconds in the last 800m. Rick wasn’t there this year, but Brian Pilcher from northern California was, having recently turned 60. In October Pilcher set US age records for 5K (16:36) and marathon (2:42 after a 1:16 first half). Most expected him to mop the floor with the rest of us. After 300 meters, though, it was Pilcher and yours truly, and I thought, “Okay, here we go again.”
Three loops for 8K; after loop one we were even, and I thought I might actually have a shot. Support from teammates, friends from the Atlanta TC, HFC Striders, and Genesee Valley Harriers was huge. Brian and I traded the lead for the next three miles, squinting into the rising sun on the start/finish stretch, working through the hills on the back side. With about 1K to go Brian made a move and got a few yards ahead; I worked to close it on the hill and into the finishing stretch. I’d gotten just within striking distance when suddenly (to me) there was the final 120m downhill stretch, and Brian’s leg turnover (hey he’s just a kid, two years younger) was simply more than I could match. (And yet I keep thinking, ‘What if I’d reacted just a second or two sooner?’) Brian ran 29:37 while I (that’s
John Barbour to you) was 29:41.
I couldn’t see their races but
Ken Goodin (33:40) was a very solid 20
th, with
John Goodwin (36:19) 44
th, both improving from Franklin Park.
Denny LeBlanc (79
th, 41:15) also improved his time from New Englands. This group placed a strong seventh of 16 teams with 54 points. Some solace for your correspondent was gained when the age-graded awards were announced, with Brian and me swapping positions. Afterwards he said, “I wouldn’t have minded if I’d finished second because it was a great race.” Such a gentleman.
A major down-side of splitting the Old Fellers into two races is that 60-plus men can no longer “score down” onto Senior and Masters teams, since not only are the races separated but they are at differing distances. Thus with
EJ Hrynowski and
Keith O’Brien the only runners for GLRR in the 40-59 10K, there would be no scoring team. The intrepid chicken spirit prevailed, though, as both ran excellent races. EJ’s 39:50 (143
rd) put him one spot in front of Danny Gonzales of the Bowerman TC who, as a member of the Aggie TC in 2002, played a major role in a titanic Masters team battle between Greater Lowell and then-powerful Aggies. A minute later came “Obie” (40:56, 158
th).
Finally, in the ultra-competitive Open women’s race, Katherine Kulig finished 174th in a good 25:37, again improving her time from New Englands.
Mark Reeder was on hand, though unable to run due to lingering injuries, to support GLRR as well as his beloved wife Shadi who ran as part of the Liberty AC’s Senior women’s team. Mark acted as team sage and consoler-in-chief as well as burgermeister/sommelier for the post-race festivities.
Photos courtesy of Liane Pancoast.
