Did not break 300 miles for the month with 292, but did put in a bunch of time on the bike (35 hours). I had my most “single” run days of any month this year with 10. Rough going with my foot hurting every step of the way.
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Sunday, June 28, 2026
Week Ending 06/28/26
My foot woes continued so started on prednisone and dropped mileage WAY down to see what might help. May be walking a little better? Foot still very tender, trying to muddle through. Finished the week with a rare 10 mile run and back to back days with outside rides of 50k (which is a lot for me). Not much running for the week but logged 221 miles on the bike over 12:27.
Week - 51
Month - 272
Year - 2,034
Life - 169,034
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| Made it through a 10m run during a tough week |
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Capital City Classic 5k
Race number five in the Capital Area Race Series (CARS) was the “Capital City Classic” 5k this weekend. I’d been struggling with left foot pain for a month now and the cortisone shots I had did not seem to have any impact. I was on vacation this week and that timed out well to get in some additional biking as I’d dialed back my running a bit. I could not decide whether to pass on the race and finally decided on Saturday that I’d at least go and do a warm-up and then if it was terrible I could just jog through. With that plan in place I headed up to Concord for the early (8am) start. Dave La met up with me and we headed out for a course preview warm-up. It looked to be a nice enough day with temps in the low 70s, low humidity and a 5-10 mph breeze (down from 30mph the day before). My foot hurt but wasn’t terrible so I decided to give it a go.
I quickly switched into race shoes and headed out for another mile before arriving at the starting line as the final instructions were given. I got 10 rows back figuring somewhere from 50th to 60th place would be about right. I’d been in the top 20 at the previous CARS races this year but CCC always draws a faster crowd (and I wasn’t sure how fast I’d manage). Checking the results and calculating time to cross the starting line I would end up passing about 20 and 7 or 8 would pass me. So, my guess on seeding was pretty close.
I got out slowly as I was tentative about my foot and had not done anything “quick” in nearly a month. Darrin Brown told me afterwards that he was keying off of me but I didn’t catch him until 1km in. He asked me (in all seriousness) “did you miss the start”. Ouch! I hit the mile in 6:30 which was a pleasant surprise. I was working hard and passing people here and there. The second mile is steady uphill, nothing crazy, and although I moved up it was my slowest mile at 6:48. The real hill at 2.2 really hurt but we also had a slight tailwind at that point which was nice. I drifted to the right and wondered why people don’t cut tangents. Don’t run extra mileage! I had a few folks around to key off and got over the hill and tried to push the downhill. A couple of strong kickers flew by in the final ¼ mile even though I mustered a 6:32 final mile. I ended up 38th in 20:25, so no complaints. I’m getting slower every race (laugh). I took first in the 60+ which got me $25 to the local running store. Sixth place in the age-graded standings was a bit of a surprise as I’ve taken third at the other races. I’ll have my work cut out for me in the next few races to stay in the top three (which gets cash). Of course, with the way my foot is feeling I’m not sure if I’ll be able to race. Time will tell.
Post race I did the loop again with Darrin, getting a chance to catch up with him. We were teammates a few years back in the series (Duct Tape & Spit) and we are teammates again both running for Delta Dental. After that I got in a great 2 hour ride. Nice way to end my vacation week.
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| With race sponsor Tom Raffio |
Pl Time Pace Name Sex/Age City St Div Div/Tot
38 20:25 6:35 Dave Dunham M62 Bradford MA M6064 1
48 21:12 6:50 Richard Clymer M65 Concord NH M6569 1
49 21:16 6:51 Jeff Clark M61 Gilmanton NH M6064 2
53 21:29 6:55 Vincent Perelli M62 Hopkinton NH M6064 3
59 21:47 7:01 Michael Barry M69 Northwood NH M6569 2
65 22:23 7:13 David Lapierre M62 Amherst NH M6064 4
68 22:38 7:17 William McCann M63 Bow NH M6064 5
74 23:00 7:25 Anthony Belisle M63 Mirror Lake NH M6064 6
76 23:06 7:26 Keith Donovan M66 Pittsfield NH M6569 3
94 24:49 8:00 Rich Chipman M65 Concord NH M6569 4
103 25:03 8:04 John Tuttle M69 Alton NH M6569 5
114 25:39 8:16 Michael Quinn M62 Arlington MA M6064 7
128 26:40 8:35 Chris Baerman M60 Laconia NH M6064 8
130 26:46 8:37 Dan Hayes M66 Methuen MA M6569 6
134 27:03 8:43 George McGrath M63 Hopkinton NH M6064 9
135 27:04 8:43 Paul Horvath M67 Somerswrth NH M6569 7
138 27:15 8:46 Jim Glenn M62 Manchester NH M6064 10
140 27:30 8:51 Michael Aversa M63 Nw Durham NH M6064 11
146 27:48 8:57 Dom Geffken M62 Concord NH M6064 12
150 27:59 9:01 Dan Rinden M62 Hopkinton NH M6064 13
157 28:25 9:09 Tom Sullivan M66 Pelham NH M6569 8
182 30:35 9:51 Will Naser M62 New Boston NH M6064 14
187 31:20 10:05 Bruce Johnstone M67 Weare NH M6569 9
209 34:42 11:11 Phil Petschek M65 Chelmsford MA M6569 10
230 38:26 12:23 Steve Lynn M69 Rapid City SD M6569 11
237 40:02 12:53 Tom Raffio M69 Bow NH M6569 12
271 54:46 17:38 Adam Rosenthal M69 Concord NH M6569 13
MALE MASTERS AGE GRADED CARS RESULTS
Place Time Agtime Agegrd% Name Sex Age Hometown
1 17:01 15:10 84.48 Mike Veilleux M 48 Weare NH
2 17:06 15:14 84.07 Dave Beaudoin M 48 Manchester NH
3 22:49 15:38 82.04 Bob Lemaire M 75 Wolfeboro NH
4 17:00 15:45 81.37 Nicholas Gosling M 43 Bristol NH
5 17:37 16:12 79.12 Corey Girard M 44 Pembroke NH
6 20:25 16:12 79.11 Dave Dunham M 62 Bradford MA
7 21:12 16:22 78.26 Richard Clymer M 65 Concord NH
8 19:51 16:43 76.64 David Saarinen M 55 Bedford NH
9 21:29 17:03 75.18 Vincent Perelli M 62 Hopkinton NH
10 20:18 17:06 74.94 Benjamin Strauss M 55 New Boston NH
11 21:27 17:28 73.36 Darin Brown M 59 Madison NH
12 19:18 17:29 73.34 Michael Martinez M 46 Manchester NH
13 22:23 17:46 72.16 David Lapierre M 62 Amherst NH
Monday, June 22, 2026
Week Ending 06/21/26
I took my podiatrists advice and backed off from running for 10 days following the shot. Good timing with vacation and my planned bike across VT. Ended up with 10:47 biking over 142.7 miles along with 76 miles of running. I was on the fence about doing the CARS race and ended up doing it. Foot was not good but made it through. Final activity of the weekend was another fantastic ride. Great company and perfect temperature. Can’t beat that!
Week – 76
Month – 221
Year – 1,983
Life – 168,983
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Bike across the state
My game, my rules...
With the ride across VT on the Lamoille rail trail this week I've now biked across (in order) NH, MA, CT, RI, NY, and VT. I'll have to work out some cross-Maine ride. For the most part I've used existing rail trails to ride across a state. NH was really nice with an 80+ mile trek on the Cross-NH adventure trail that ran from the VT border to Bethel Maine.
CT was a fun adventure. Up at 3am. 530am train from Springfield to New Haven. Bike south to north mostly on the paved trail. About 55 miles on the canal trail and 16 (mostly at the end) on roads. Only stopped once when I thought I was lost and the other stops were for traffic lights.
MA was a combination of many different rail trails (paved and dirt) and a fair amount of road to get from Winsocket RI to Nashua NH. Great fun covering 73 miles with Scott S.
RI was a rare "out and back" mostly on the Washington Secondary Bike Path (38 miles). East Bay Path, India Point Park, Old Bridge Path and Trestle Trail. About 15 miles on road to connect and about 10 miles of really (REALLY) rough trail in Coventry to get to the border. That part, locally known as the Trestle Trail, is really torn up and either sand or railroad track ballast. Brutal. Washington Secondary path, especially the part in Coventry was great!
Be careful out there!
Lamoille Rail Trail - Day 2
Day 2 of the Lamoille ride would be easier (a relative term) with 2/3rds of the distance completed the previous day. I had 33 miles to go and unlike day 1, there would be no significant climbing. It was essentially all downhill from Jeffersonville to the finish in Swanton.
I did not sleep well, but that isn't too unusual for me. I was up at 5am and out the door by 515 for a run on the Cambridge Greenway and Lamoille Trail. My legs were definitely heavy from the long previous day. After the run I headed over to the gas station and got myself an XL coffee. I slammed the coffee and was on the bike by 655 am. It was 53 degrees and sunny so I put on gloves over my padded gloves and a long-sleeve and light windbreaker over my short sleeve biking top. I had 33 miles in front of me and was in no rush to plow through it. This section of the trail was especially scenic with many farms, bridges over streams, and just nice wooded trail. As the day before the surface was mostly very firm packed dirt. There were some sections with softer dirt (usually near farms) and there were a lot of small road crossings to keep engaged.
By 10 miles in I was sufficiently warmed up that I decided to take of the windbreaker. Of course, I didn't want to stop so I carefully pulled one sleeve off, then the other, then started pulling it over my head. I hadn't taken into account the bike helmet and snagged on it and was completely blind! I quickly applied the brakes and luckily did not crash. The 15 seconds I took to get untangled was the only stop I'd made over the two days of riding. The 33 miles featured mostly downhill but a lot less than yesterday with 400' of drop but a big chunk of it (200') was in the last 10 miles. I enjoyed spinning along with little soreness except a saddle sore on one side. The morning went by much quicker than expected and I managed to complete the ride in 2:15, about 15 minutes faster than I thought I'd do.
The trail ended at the very interesting depot which is now the Swanton Historical Society building. Well worth a visit! I took a short tour before heading back to the car. Another state crossing in the books!
Stats and maps:
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Weather changes
In prep for my long ride on the Lamoille trail I tracked the weather when it was 10 days out. I made my decision 3 days out. It was funny to watch the forecast change as it got closer. It turned out to be just about ideal conditions for a long bike ride.
06-06 
06-07 
06-08
06-09
06-10
06-11 
06-12
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