I don’t have many long “streaks” which are consecutive days running. So many injuries put me on the sidelines. Over nearly 50 years of running I’ve only logged 26 streaks longer than 150 days and only 17 streaks longer than 6 months (180 days). The streak I lost this time was at 244 days and ranked 11th. On to the next streak!
A different kind of streak...
Not the week I’d hoped for. Started off with great hope to do a fast workout on Wednesday but ended up taking my first day off (2) since August of last year. Ugh! Monday I had a quicker lunch run (3 in 730s) and felt good. Solid run Tuesday morning and a 718 pace for 3 at lunch, again feeling good. Went out for an afternoon 4m and after an 823 opening easy mile my right calf started to knot up. I eased up but by the end of the run I was limping. “Mild” strain of the calf so took Wednesday and Thursday off (well, no running…instead I hit the bike and ElliptiGO. I started back to running on Friday morning and it wasn’t too bad, so I was able to run over the weekend (8m each day).
Totals for the week, run 7:17, Go 2:30 (35 miles), Spin 4:00 (76.5 miles), Bike outside 2:46 (35.95 miles)
Running odometer:
Week – 50
Month – 86
Year – 1,518
Life – 168,518
5 Years ago:
I started to feel good enough to consider racing after getting injured in February. I decided to give the Cinco De Miles 5k a shot. I’d done this Millennium managed race back in 2019 and recalled that the course was reasonably flat…for Bedford NH. I met up with teammate Jim Pawlicki and we headed out for a warm-up/course preview. Not many out on the course as the 1,500 runners would be spread out with start times from 9am to 11:30am (due to COVID restrictions). Two runners would start every 10 seconds. I seeded myself at 18:40 which is exactly 6:00 pace. Jim and I got in a nice warm-up then I put on my race gear and did another mile to stay loose.
I was seeded 18th, so my start was only 1:20 after the first starter. I went out controlled and was surprised that the guy who started with me was gone in the first 50 meters of the race (he definitely did not seed himself correctly as he ran over 36 minutes!). I hit the mile in 5:53 and was feeling pretty good. I slowly reeled in one of the guys in front of me and my second mile was a 6:04 so I was still thinking I could sneak under 6’s with a good finish. I forgot how the “little” 30’ rise from 2.4 to 2.6 really hurt. I kind of ran out of steam and just managed to get in under 6’s with an 18:36.0. I ended up finishing 15th and took first in the 55 (and first over 50)
The following weekend I headed to Manchester for the Anthem Life 10 mile. Based on my 5k and my tempo run ½ marathon I was thinking I could run around 1:03. Due to the nature of rail trails the course would be a steady climb of 10-30 feet per mile for 5 miles then we’d turn and retrace our steps with a nice steady downhill. I hoped to run under 6:30 pace for the first half and hopefully come back quite a bit faster. The seeding for this race was a bit unusual as they only asked if you could run under 70 minutes (and then 10 minute spacing) so everyone in the sub-70 group was randomly given a start time. I ended up with cone #2. I headed out onto Commercial street and tracked down the early leader by ¼ mile into the race. g it today and never really saw my watch splits. I checked the watch at the 1 mile mark and was 6:49. Ugh! At the 2 mile mark I had a split of 5:13. So at that point I knew the mile was wrong and was now wondering if maybe 2 miles was correct and I was running just over 6 minute pace. A 6:04 next mile had me convinced I was in fact running low 6’s and that was very encouraging. Right around that point I was passed by a guy who started 30 seconds or so behind me and he was MOVING. I managed to hit the turn in 30:40 which was a huge surprise. It’d be all downhill from there! I had miles of 6:02, 6:01, and 6:03. After 8 miles I was starting to feel the distance. I held it together for the most part and only slowed about 10 seconds a mile over the last 2 and managed a second half of 30:18 to stop the clock in 60:58 which was good enough for second place overall.
Finally, the long anticipated Capital Area Race Series (CARS) kicked off! The series was shelved in 2020 (although I did run a couple of the races as boot-leg DIY events). The schedule was a bit shuffled this year and the first race was the Canterbury Shaker Village 5k XC. I was still feeling the impact of my second COVID shot on Thursday. The course was much drier than years past and had just a couple of minor tweaks from how it had been run in the past. This would be another race with runners heading off in time-trial format. This time a runner would go every 5 seconds. I was the seventh runner to start and could see the six guys in front of me as we traversed the edges of the cow pasture in the first ½ mile. After that I couldn’t see anyone and was on my own for a while. I shuffled into the finish pretty beat and disappointed at how slow my time was. I kept my eye on the clock and teammate Scott Clark came storming in 16 seconds after I finished. I’d started 20 seconds ahead of him so he got me by four seconds to take the 50+ title. I did get the consolation prize as the top age-graded masters finisher.
1 Drew Tuttle 17:44
2 Ed Stowell 18:07
3 Ben Neff 18:13
4 Colton ham 18:45
5 Jotham Burnett 18:49 40+
6 Michael Eddy 19:32
7 Warren Bartlett 19:36
8 Scott Clark 19:53 50+
9 Dave Dunham 19:57 50+
10 Ernie Brake 20:23 50+
11 Jim Angell 20:24 50+
16 Christin Doneski 21:36 first female & 50+
18 Doug Deangelis 21:44 50+
28 Jim Pawlicki 22:44 40+
The following weekend I got back to real live racing in Massachusetts! The “Covid comeback 5k” billed itself as the first race in Massachusetts in 2021. It was going to get close to 90 degrees on Sunday and like most everyone else I was not prepared for hot weather running this early in the season.
They had us line up pretty much wherever we wanted in rows of three with about 30 runners per starting wave. I was in the second row and headed out pretty quickly but by 200 meters into the race found myself alone in 13th place as the lead group strung out and it was a long way back to the next person. My goal based on the course was to run about 5:50 for the first two miles which were flat or downhill. Then a 6:20 mile on the very tough 3rd one would get me home at 6:00 pace. I hit the mile in 5:49 and began catching people. I hit 2 miles in 11:32 which was a pleasant surprise as I moved into the top 10. Then we hit the tough ¼ mile on Canterbury road which climbed 100’. The 8% grade was definitely a punch in the gut. I caught another guy on the climb and got into 8th place with ½ mile to go. I didn’t have much of a kick and lost back a spot in the final ¼ mile.
No complaints from me as I broke 6:00 pace (5:54’s) and finished in the top 10.
2 Carl Hartford M36 16:44
3 Colin McGinn M19 17:12
4 Nick Moore M22 17:47
5 Jarret Harrigan M28 17:49
6 Peter Siess M28 17:53
7 Jonathan Fascetti M18 18:10
8 Connor Gorman M34 18:15
9 Dave Dunham M57 18:19
10 Patrick McGucken M17 18:47
Age Graded
1 Dave Dunham M57 84.4% 15:12
2 Steve Dowsett M33 79.6% 16:08
3 Carl Harford M36 78.5% 16:22
4 Linda Jennings F68 75.9% 19:23
