Aaron Klein

The BAA kicked off some pre-marathon races this morning as the Annual Elite and Scholastic Miles took center stage at the finish line on Boylston Street. The Scholastic mile is only open to High School milers that live in the eight cities and towns that the Boston Marathon travels through. BAA Coach Mike Pieroni and his staff put on a spectacular event for these High School kids. With the exception of the prize money, these runners are treated no different than the champions on Patriots' Day. They are surrounded by photographers and media from around the world, they have personalized bib numbers, custom Addidas uniforms, and they even get to raise their Silver Awards over their heads on the podium. All this in front of a packed set of finish line bleachers. It doesn't get any better than this for the high school runners.

Hingham’s Julie McConville found the limelight to her liking at Saturday night’s enormously popular MSTCA Twilight Cross Country Invitational. McConville shook Bishop Feehan’s Abbey McNulty by the mile mark in the small school division and it was a clear route to the finish over the fast, 3.1-mile Barnstable Fairgrounds layout. Her blazing 17:30.6 finish put her well ahead of Tyngsboro runner-up Kerri Keohane (18:06.03) and Renee Caps of Narragansett (18:18.04). McNulty finished fourth in 18:22.11 and Hopkinton’s Shelby Aarden rounded out a solid top five with an 18:34.13. The races were held under the lights on the fairground layout and attracted more than 2,700 harriers from Massachusetts  

Nathan Pierre-Louis of Waltham scorched a US#2 time of 1:21.88 to win the 600m at the Dual County League Indoor Meet #2.  He was helped, and pushed, by Brian Sommers of Acton-Boxborough who finished second with a US#16 time of 1:24.49.

There is something about racing at night that causes athletes to lose their feel for pace and forces them to run an abnormally fast first mile.  This scenario will force athletes out of their comfort zone early in the race, and will once again separate those pack running squads that thrive on their ability to work together.  The team that maintain their composure in the first mile, and practice patience until the half-way point, will most likely prevail.   

Having Edward Cheserek in the field forces some early decisions for the rest of the front pack.  Do they attempt to go with him?  Do they simply let him go and monitor the next major move from within the chase pack?  One thing is certain, you had better be confident in the strategy you choose and commit to it wholeheartedly.