Luti 5 mile

 This has truly been an usual year for me as far as racing goes. Already past the halfway mark and I'd only raced five times. Mostly due to a few injuries along the way and just not feeling well. This week I felt a little better getting over the lingering impact of a July 4 migraine. This was the longest post-migraine hangover I'd ever had and I was feeling the impact "full body". I felt good enough this week to do a little test on Monday with 2 x 880 (314 and 304) and recovered well from that. My ankle and foot were still bothering me but maybe not as bad as it had been since mid-May. I got an MRI on Friday and had a good night sleep (for me) leading up to the CARS race #6 - The Bill Luti 5 mile.

I got to the race at 7am and had a few minutes to catch up with Mick, Tom R, Darrin, Ernst, and Tom A (who would be biking the course while his wife raced). I headed out for a 3 mile warm-up checking out the final 1.5 miles of the race. I'd done this race five times and also have run the course a few other times but it is always good to get out there and get a reminder. I was a little surprised when I saw the "6 mile" mark! It was a relief when I saw that they were using it to properly place a directional arrow. The course was still going to be 5 miles.

I quickly changed into race flats and did another mile heading over to the start line. I felt ready to race but my foot was really bothering me. Always something! I got into the second row as there was a lot of space on the start line and people seemed reluctant to go up to the line. Sam and Tommy Wood were right there, so I figured Sam would not be someone to key off on this day. There were a couple of other very young kids near the front, but the course was quite wide so I wasn't concerned about any tripping. 250 of us took off in nearly ideal conditions for late July with cloudy skies and temps in the mid-60s.

My goal was 34 minutes or better and I thought a good race would be 33:30. This was 2 minutes slower than I'd run last year at the USATF 5 mile, but current race results indicated I was that much slower. The course had a very tough hill from 1 - 1.5 miles and also from 3.2 to 3.7 miles. I got a good start and was a bit concerned that I wasn't going fast enough as about 50 were in front of me. At the 1/2 mile I was 317, so right where I wanted to be. I looked ahead and aimed for a couple of the "Knight Rider" team guys. I was already moving up in the field and caught them by the mile (318/635). We worked together on the steady uphill and passed a few despite slowing to 346. I pulled away from the guys and focused on the next group in front of me. A 315 half-mile on the down and flat and the only guy to catch me in the race went by (I'd go back by him in the next mile). Tom A gave me some encouragement as I rolled along. I felt I worked well over this next fast mile (316/307) but didn't really close on anyone. I kept wondering why no one was cutting the tangents. The course is certified, so why would you run one step further than needed? I caught 3 guys on the climb from 3.2 to 3.7 and was happy to finally see the four mile mark knowing the last mile was mostly flat. The 4th mile was split in 327 and 321. I knew I'd have a shot at my stretch goal with a strong finish. I was still focused ahead and working on catching whoever was in front of me. The last little bump with a half mile to go hurt (split 312) but I kept it together and finished with a final 314 split crossing the line in 33:26.

I got some water and watched a few friends finishing before heading out for a mile warm-down with Darrin and followed that with a pleasant 4 more miles to close out the day.

July 2021

 5 years ago – July 2021

I headed up to Vermont for a few days of “town bagging. On this trip I ended up running in 41 cities and towns over the course of four days.  I was glad to do some relaxing running and camping.

 

 

     

Next up was the Luti race (54^th annual Bill Luti 5 mile).  Although the course isn’t super-fast (two tough hills) it is pretty decent and always has good competition to drag you along.  I did a little track workout on Wednesday (with Eric Morse and Murdock pictured below) and ran my fastest non-downhill mile of the year (5:37.4).  We did a 5:59 mile before that and I noted that it was my goal-pace for the 5 mile.  It did not feel easy! It was great to see nearly 400 turn out for the race including a lot of good competition in the CARS team category and a lot of fast 50+ runners.

 

I got in the second row and took a quick look around.  Joe Shairs was going to be the winner in the 50+, but I wasn’t sure who else was around for the 55-59.  Doug D had just turned 55 and I’d seen a few other faster old men around.  It really didn’t matter so much as I was more interested in getting myself a sub-30 and hoping that’d be enough to stay ahead of Ernie B and Jim A in the CARS age graded masters.  I ended up behind the lead pack of women and hit the first ½ mile in 2:55 which was right where I wanted to be.  I hadn’t seen any 50+ guys ahead of me except for Joe (5:25 at the mile!) so I was pleased with how things were going.  I lost some ground on the climbs but still got to four miles only a couple of seconds over 24 minutes.  The ladies had all pulled away by then and would put 20 seconds on me in the last mile.  I tried to find another gear but had nothing I came up just short with a 30:01.  I did take solace in winning the 55-59 age group and taking the Age Graded masters title just barely edging Ernie B again.  This series is going to go right to the end!

 

Place Time  Pace  Name          Age    Sex    City              St       Div     Div Pl

1        24:11  4:51   Collin Leibold 28      M        Concord                  MA          MOPEN         1

2        24:39  4:56   Louis Serafini 29      M        Cambridge    MA      MOPEN          2

3        24:42  4:57   Leakey Kipkosgei     24      M        Springfield    MA          MOPEN         3

 

23      28:58  5:48   Joe Shairs     53      M        Peabody                  MA          M5054 1 CMS

26      29:33  5:55   Jennifer Mortimer    39      F        Bedford                   NH          FOPEN          1

27      29:39  5:56   Jaclyn Solimine       26      F        Haverhill                 MA          FOPEN          2

28      29:39  5:56   Erin Lane      40      F        Hopkinton     NH      FOPEN          3

30      30:01  6:01   Dave Dunham         57      M        Bradford                  MA          M5559 1 Duct Tape & Spit

47      31:26  6:18   Doug Deangelis       55      M        Newbury                 MA          M5559 4 Duct Tape & Spit

56      32:08  6:26   Timothy Cox  48      M        Northwood    NH      M4549 1 Duct Tape & Spit

66      32:54  6:35   Darin Brown  54      M        Madison                  NH          M5054 6 Duct Tape & Spit

104     36:08  7:14   James Pawlicki        46      M        Lynn             MA          M4549 6 Duct Tape & Spit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not feeling good leading up to the Woodchuck 5k race (race #5 in the CARS).  My adductor issues took a major turn for the worse during the week and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up in the crazy downhill start (first mile drops 150’). I’d end up needing surgery! I had a slim margin over Ernie Brake in the age graded masters standings so I’d be looking to top him.  I met up with teammates Jim Pawlicki and Doug Deangelis and we headed out for a warm-up course preview. I’d forgotten how much of the course was dirt road. I was feeling very nervous, but my adductor wasn’t too bad.

 

The field of 168 had great conditions (50s, cloudy, and a little breeze) and ZOOM we were off.  Doug went out hard (70 seconds at the first ¼ mile) and I was a few seconds behind him as the downhill gradient eased.  As I closed on him Ernie Brake caught me, I knew I’d need to beat him by at least 30 seconds to get him in the age graded (he is 60 now).  Ernie fell back a little as teammate Tim Cox caught me and we both went by Doug around the mile mark (5:25).  I never looked at my watch again and just focused on working with Tim.  We pushed the tough little hill and Ernie and Doug were no longer with us.  Once we turned onto the final hill I got a gap on Tim and would extend it to 10 seconds by the finish.  I hit the line in 18:18 and was happy to run 9 seconds faster than 2 years ago.  Ernie had a great race coming in 14 seconds faster than 2 years ago (18:44) which got him the win in the age graded by 1 second!  I took solace in a top 10 finish (9th) and a win in the 50+ age group. 

 

Pl       Time   Pace   Name            Age    Gend  City St Team 

1        16:33  5:19   Michael Mott 19      Male   Alton NH      

2        16:49  5:25   Warren Bartlett       23      Male   Loudon NH          MUGWUMPS

3        16:56  5:27   Edward Stowell       20      Male   Sutton NH     KEZAR LAKE RUNNING CLUB

9        18:18  5:53   Dave Dunham         57      Male   Bradford MA  DUCT TAPE AND SPIT

10      18:28  5:56   Timothy Cox  48      Male   Northwood NH        DUCT TAPE AND SPIT

12      18:44  6:02   Ernest Brake 60      Male   North Sutton NH      KEZAR LAKE RUNNING CLUB

14      18:58  6:06   Doug Deangelis       55      Male   Newbury MA  DUCT TAPE AND SPIT

18      19:08  6:09   Christin Doneski      50      Female         Hopkinton NH         

26      20:12  6:30   Darin Brown  54      Male   Madison NH  DUCT TAPE AND SPIT

33      20:54  6:43   James Pawlicki        46      Male   Lynn MA                 DUCT TAPE AND SPIT

 

Age Graded results:

Place Time    Agtime  Agegrd% Name                     Sex Age Hometown                  

    1   18:44   15:14   85.24 Ernest Brake             M    59 North Sutton NH        

    2   18:18   15:15   85.15 Dave Dunham              M    57 Bradford MA            

    3   19:42   15:46   82.41 James Smith              M    62 Concord NH             

    5   18:58   16:03   80.86 Doug Deangelis           M    54 Newbury MA        

July 2016

 July 2016 (10 years ago):  I started the month with the USA Mountain running championships at Loon.  I got out well and

 

Erik Vandendries and I would yo-yo much of the race.  I’d close on him on the downhill and he’d pull away on the up.  We reached the gondola with 10 seconds between us. I put 30+ seconds on Erik (although I didn’t know it at the time) and hit the final 1 kilometer of tough climb in the lead of the 50+ age group.  I ran as hard as I could crossing the line in 1:00:13 and collapsing to the ground after.  Erik came in a few seconds later and Jeff Hunt rounded out the top three in the 50+.  CMS swept the medals!!!

 

Teams

          Open (6 teams, 5 score)             

1        CMS    4:51:03                                      

2        Acidotic         5:10:50                                      

                                                           

          40+ (8 teams, 3 score)                         

1        CMS    2:56:10                                      

2        Acidotic         3:14:12                                      

                                                           

          50+ (7 teams, 3 score)                         

1        CMS    3:01:55                                      

2        Acidotic         3:41:01                                      

 

Top 15 50-54                                     

1        1:00:13         Dave Dunham         MA      CMS   

2        1:00:37         Erik Vandendries     MA      CMS   

3        1:01:03         Jeff Hunt       MA      CMS   

6        1:04:48         Dan Verrington        MA      CMS   

8        1:05:32         Ed Sheldon   NH      CMS   

15      1:14:09         David Lapierre         MA      CMS   

                                                           

                    Overall                                     

1        0:49:11         Joseph          Gray   CO      Club NW      

2        0:50:17         Brett   Hales  UT               

3        0:50:36         Matt    Daniels         CO      Hudson        

 

Next up was the Cranmore Hill Climb –This was the 11^th time racing at Cranmore and every year has featured a different course.  It was foggy and only about 60 degrees when I arrived in North Conway. 

 

Nearly 200 of us took off in the drizzle and fog of a not typical July morning.  I had teammates Erik Vandenries and Ed Sheldon in my sight a few steps ahead.  The second time up the killer quarter mile (I did it in 5-flat) I was working it a LOT harder than the first lap.  Nothing much changed on the second descent. I managed to stay on my feet and hold position to take 6^th place in 57:37 (5.85 miles with 2,400’ of climb/descent).  This was probably the best Cranmore course I’ve ever run.  By best I mean it had just about everything you could want in an up/down Mountain race.  Also, as I crossed the line they were playing Social Distortion (99 to life) and the next song was the Cure (Fascination street), no race is going to top that!

 

Top 5 50+

50+    Pl       Time   Name            Age    City    State  Team

1        6        57:37  Dave Dunham         52      Bradford, MA CMS

2        12      1:00:37         Brian Ruhm   51      Nashua, NH   GCS

3        14      1:00:52         Ed Sheldon   51      Hooksett, NH CMS

4        18      1:01:48         Erik Vandendries     51      Chestnut Hill,CMS

5        20      1:04:01         Rick Chalmers         54      S Portland, ME          Dirigo

 

Overall

Place  Time   Name                      Age    City, State     Team

1        53:06  Matthew Veiga                  29      Lynn, MA      CMS

2        53:55  Tim Van Orden                  48      Bennington, VT       CMS

3        54:20  Andy MacGibbon                20      Goffstown, NH        

4        56:02  Christopher Chromczak      31      Delmar, NY  

5        57:10  Patrick Caron           19                MA     

6        57:37  Dave Dunham                   52      Bradford, MA CMS

7        58:39  Craig Nale               32      S Portland, ME        

8        58:51  Steve Brightman                47      Providence, RI        

9        59:23  Patrick Conway                  39      Anchorage, AK       

                                                        10      59:43  Jim Boule                49      Campton, NH aR

 

 

My final race of the month was the Lynn Woods Cross-Country Series.  It had been four years since I last raced at Lynn Woods.  I really needed to get some leg turnover as most of my racing over the last 2 months had been Mountain running. I did my warm-up checking out the 2.3 course and was surprised at how tough it was.   I took the lead right away and could hear footsteps right behind me. The guys behind me stayed right on me during the single-track.  We hit Dungeion road and two kids from Marblehead blew by, along with fellow “senior” runner Jason Barnes.  After passing the Stone Tower and hitting the 130’ drop I pulled ahead of Barnes but didn’t close on the leader.  I was happy with the effort although the pace was “slow”, it was a shock to my system for sure! 

 

Lynn Woods Summer Cross Country                 Lynn, MA July  27,2016 6:40 PM  2.3 Cornell to Stone Tower Trail       138 Finishers

   Pl    Name                    S Ag   City, St                  Time    Pace 

    1 Oliver Jacob               M 17 Marblehead, MA        15:12  6:37

    2 Dave Dunham  M 52 Bradford, MA            15:21  6:41

    3 Jason Barnes              M 53 Salem, MA                15:27  6:43

    4 Ian Strothers    M 16 Marblehead, MA        15:32  6:45

    5 Tony Mwangi   M 17 Lynn, MA                  17:20  7:32