Before the freight train of this weekend’s Big News mows us all down, let s sniff the flowers by the railway tracks and think a bucolic thought or two…

The Mayor s Cup up in Boston last Sunday came with gorgeous sunny weather—temps in the 50s, soft breezes. Soft ground too. It rained all day Saturday (“Bring spikes!” shouted Coach Devon in an e-mail before we drove up). By late morning Sunday only a couple puddles were left and Bear Cage Hillwas dry as a bone. Take a look at Sue Pearsall’s pictures and see for yourself.

CPTC took second in the women s 5k championship race, right behind the new, improved Shoe4Africa team and well ahead of Greater Boston TC, New Balance Boston, and others. Kate Irvin and Katy Masselam led the pack, finishing 5th and 7th, followed by Katrina Bruckschwaiger, Lauren Esposito, Andrea Costella, Caryn Waterson Gehrke, and Kristel Adler. (In 2006 the team ran just as hard on a mean cold day, with Aileen Conlon and Katy M. out in front, but only took fourth behind Westchester, BAA, and the Central MD AC.)

CPTC women also took second place in the low-key-but-competitive Franklin Park 5k (Susan Pearsall, Melanie Murphy, Margot Sheehan).

No team for CPTC in the men s 8k, unfortunately…something to do with a long race on November 4th…but we had the beginnings of one with Quentin Reeve and Armando Oliveira, both maintaining a 5:20-5:30 pace throughout.

(Incidentally, here s a leftover tale from last year. Armando registered for the Franklin Park 5k in 2006 but decided not to run it. Somehow a bandit made it to the registration tables early Sunday morning, snatched Armando s bib and chip from the team packet…and then finished a good eight minutes behind what the real Mondo would have done. Laughs all around. The Mystery Jogger was never identified, and the conundrum continues.)

CPTC also won both men s and women s divisions in the Kurt Steiner 5k on Sunday the 21st in Van Cortlandt Park. Another fine day, marred only when the officials suddenly decided, at 11:25 am, to break the crowd up into separate men s and women’s heats. This notion didn’t sit at all well with the 300+ athletes lined up on the soccer field, watching the mercury rise (boinkboinkboink) toward 70F. So the officials dithered a few minutes more,hemmed and hawed…

They saw things our way in the end–one heat, let s go!–but didn t pull the trigger till 11:45.