Race Report: Hudson Elite Invite

SATURDAY
8:25 AM - BSC - Bike, 1:00:00.
Spin class.

SUNDAY
9:50 AM - Hudson/Marlboro - 10 miles, 1:12:00.
3 sets of drills afterward.

Unbeknownst to me, I was entered along with seven other unsuspecting souls in the inaugural running of the Hudson Elite Invitational Road Race this morning. It was quite the who's who amongst runners with Central Mass. ties when the figurative gun went off just before 10 AM, and less than twenty minutes into the affair I had established my spot in a pack that consisted of a 2:10 marathoner, an NCAA D1 cross country All-American, a World Military XC stud, the 2008 Bay State Marathon winner AND course record holder, the fastest red head to ever to rock a pair of black OxySox, a Mike Mahone Cross Country All-Star and last but certainly not least, the course-record holder of the challenging Clinton Tribute Road Race. This was faster company than I probably should have surrounded myself with for only my seventh week back in action, but I felt confident that I could hold my own so I just stuck my nose in there and let my legs do the work. There were a few elbows thrown and some smack was talked, and somewhere around the 60-minute mark the pack began to dissolve and chaos ensued. Hours later, I still can't say with any certainty who was declared the overall winner of this late-December scorcher, but if there happens to be an award for outleaning the red headed fella at the telephone pole that doubles as the unspoken finish line, then I'm in line for some hardware if the non-existent photo finish rules in my favor. Otherwise, I'm shit out of luck and probably won't be invited back next week. Still waiting to hear back from the race director for an official ruling. Someone let me know when they post the results on coolrunning.

Having trouble figuring out the true identities of this elite unit? First person not amongst those listed above to correctly identify all eight of the aforementioned participants wins a prize.**

**The "prize" and its distribution is at the full discretion of the author. Play at your own risk.