Looking back - February 2021

 5 years ago - I lost my streak of 406 days of running when the oblique injury hit me mid-month.  I only missed four days but could only run short and easy.

 

I headed up to Bedford NH for the Super Bowl 4 mile, it was 19 degrees, cloudy, and calm when I headed out to run the course as a warm-up. I was pretty cold running another mile over to the start.  With two people starting every 10 seconds there wasn’t likely to be anyone to run with but seeing the guys in front and worrying about others catching up would be a good motivator.  I noticed that my right shoe had come untied.  Ugh!  I had double-knotted both shoes as always but should have re-tightened right before the start.   I was a little cautious on the downhills (nothing too steep) but otherwise the shoe pretty much stayed in place.  I struggled a bit on the final uphill but still managed a 5:55 mile (4m = 23:32) and kicked for home over the slightly long 4 mile course (most got 4.05 – 4.08).  I ended up taking first in the 50+ but was 37 seconds behind Casey Carroll who will be turning 50 SOON.

 

 

Place  Div     Div Pl  Name                      Age    Gender         Bib #  Time

1        MOPEN         1        Samuel Fazioli                   28      M        103          20:25

2        MOPEN         2        Evan Thornton-Sherman    16      M        102          20:53

3        MOPEN         3        Thomas Paquette    29      M        106     21:03

4        M35-39         1        Dan Chruniak          37      M        108     21:27

5        M30-34         1        Conor Sleith            34      M        115     21:40

6        M25-29         1        Andrew Schwingel   27      M        107     21:52

7        M25-29         2        Cameron Cook                   26      M        105          21:52

8        M25-29         3        Mark Rabasco                    26      M        111          22:13

9        M30-34         2        Jason Dedonato                34      M        112          22:26

10      M35-39         2        Nathaniel Olson                 37      M        117          22:28

11      M35-39         3        Corey Girard            38      M        119     22:53

12      M45-49         1        Casey Carroll           49      M        122     23:10

13      M25-29         4        Madhav Rajan                   29      M        118          23:12

14      M30-34         3        Kevin Sheehan                  31      M        113          23:20

15      M13-19         1        Matthew Reynolds   19      M        114     23:25

16      M30-34         4        Steven Vargo           32      M        124     23:26

17      M35-39         4        Dan Donato            39      M        123     23:34

18      M55-59         1        Dave Dunham                   56      M        127          23:47

19      M35-39         5        Brent Wilmot           39      M        126     24:04

20      FOPEN          1        Heather Stover                  34      F        140          24:06

25      M45-49         2        Mark Laprade                    48      M        131          25:01

 

 

Start                                                    Finish                              Untied laces

 

My hip, glute, calf issues all continued to worsen during the week.  I’d find out later that I had a strained oblique muscle.  That explained the lightning bolt of pain shooting through my hip.  I actually didn’t feel too bad when I arrived at Delta Dental for the Morrill Farm snowshoe race.  Traction was tough in the sugary snow and it would only get worse as the field chewed it up during the two loops of 1.8 miles. About 70 lined up with 50 finishing the two laps and 19 choosing to do one lap.  First time snowshoer’s Steve Brightman and Kevin Crowley shot out with John Carton in between them.  I got around a fast starting Ellen Raffio and was all alone in fourth place by ½ mile into the race.  It felt FAST.  I was hoping to finish in the top three as that would earn me a fleece blanket.  That hope faded a bit as the top three slowly pulled away.  My hip and calf started to hurt on the second loop and every slip and slide made it worse.  For a short time, I thought I might have a shot at third but Kevin ultimately finished 35 seconds ahead.  I got fourth place overall which was only good enough for third in the 50+ age group!  In all 11 of the top 15 were 50 or older.

State capitol dome in the background

    

Me, Carton, Brightman, and Boule – top four 50+                            Morrill farm plastic cow

The next day I was off to Hopkinton NH for the second race in the Hopkinton 5k series.  I was sore from the day before (and the accumulated soreness in my hip) but had signed up for the series and wanted to do all of the races.  I was hoping I could run between 6-6:20 pace and as I switched into racing flats, I saw that Mark Laprade was warming up.  The top couple of guys from the first race were back with Jim Angell (my CAR series teammate) and Eli Lemire (only 14 years old) ready to give me a race.  I I figured I’d go out carefully (the first 100 meters was snow covered) and then hopefully up the tempo.  I was a bit shocked when Mark went by me at about 1 minute into the race.  My hip was killing me, and it felt like a shot of electricity pulsing through my side.  Jim and Eli both caught me around ½ mile in.  That was not how I’d planned things to play out!  I was having trouble breathing deeply with the pain in my side but tried not to lose contact.  We were all VERY careful as the 200 meters before and after the turn were on a dirt road which was now a combination of snow/ice.  All four of us were together as we got back onto dry road and it was ‘game on’.  I had a decent last mile (6:00) but they just eased away.  Jim crossed the line first but none of us were sure who won since Eli had started five seconds after Jim.  The official results had Jim winning by 1.1 seconds.  Pretty exciting finish. 

Looking back - February 2016

 10 years ago – I only raced twice during February of 2016.  No complaints on either result. On 02/14/16 I raced teammate Jim Pawlicki at the Brooksby Snowshoe Classic.  I had originally entered in another race that was cancelled because it was too cold!  In all 38 of us took off but I’d only see Jim.  I led early and after the mile Jim made a move and dropped me.  I got back to him after 3 miles on a climb and we went back and forth until 100 meters to go when Jim found another gear and beat me by 4 seconds.  At minus 2 degrees at race start this was (at the time) the fourth coldest temperature I’d ever raced in.

1 James Pawlicki     M41    21:21

2 Dave Dunham                M51    21:25

3 Jeffery Hixon                  M41    24:05

4 Brett Rickenbach   M40    25:15

 

A week later (02/21/16) I retreated to the indoor track.  I was entered in the USATF NE indoor track championships and my hope was that the entire field wouldn’t lap me over the 5,000 meters.  I had run 17:26 a few weeks before and was hoping to improve on that.  Sixteen runners were entered and 14 were out of sight in the first 200 meter lap.  Dan Verrington was the closest but too far ahead for me to latch on.  He was 7 seconds ahead at the mile, he came back a bit in the last mile but still buried me.

1        Adam Pacheck         GBTC  14:47

2        Matt Hillard   Battle 14:51

3        Nate Jenkins CMS    14:55

12      Dan Verrington        CMS    16:59

13      Dave Dunham         CMS    17:06

 

Town Bagging

 I had scheduled Friday off as my car needed repair for a recall notice and it would require that the car be in the shop the whole day. Al B also had Friday off and offered to drive for some town high points. Game on!

We met up at 9 am and spent the next 7 hours visiting 12 town high points. Most were just drive ups but we did have a couple of short hikes. The best was a 1/2 mile snowshoe hike to the highest point in Holliston. In order:

Reading (drive up) back yard looked no higher than front and no one was home.

Lincoln - Drove up Reservoir access road, then hopped the fence (tough for me, I'm not very flexible).

Weston - Drive up, owner did not know he had the highest point but was happy to let us visit his back yar.

Westwood - Drive up, between two house, both having construction work done and no one home.

Wayland - Drive up, no one home tromped around the yard a bit.

Millis - Between two houses, owner knew he had the high point and had no problem letting us check it out.

Medway - Parked at the end of the circle and bushwacked to the town line. A bunch of deer in the woods.

Holliston - snowshoe hike on marked trails. "Summit" had a stone statue.

Norwood - Couldn't get in near the tennis courts and the water towers were fenced and had active construction. Bashed around a bit on the cemetery side.

Brookline - parked behind the Benevolent Association and checked out the very high fence. Squeezed in along the fence and the brick wall.

Newton - took the Waban path and found a hole in the lower fence, scrambled up the hill to the upper fence (nothing higher within).

Watertown - parked behind the building on the top of Meetinghouse hill (used to be Trinity school) golf course built around it. Walked over to the nearby high point.

Week Ending 02/22/26

 Some improvement to my hamstring as the week went on. Still not ready to fully return to running but hoping to start doubles next week and just keep the morning rides in place. Hit 50 miles for the week along with 5 hours on the EliptiGo (70 miles), 6 hours on the spin bike (117.5 miles), and 1:45 (20 miles) outside on the roads (Giant bike). Taking whatever my hamstring will allow...

Week - 89

Month - 176

Year - 571

Life - 167,571

On the road, a winter wonderland near Turtle Pond.

Looking back - February 2006

  

20 Years ago – I was coming off of a 1.5 degree calf strain during February of 2006.  I ended up missing 6 days and slowly eased back into running and racing.  I ran the Frosty’s Dash 5k snowshoe race (02/12/06) running easy on the uphills and quicker on the flats and downs.  I managed a 6th place finish in a field of 49 with the race being held during a blizzard that would end up dropping over 18 inches of snow.  The following weekend (02/18/06) I was feeling a lot better and tested myself at the Fudgesicle 5k series.  I ended up taking second place running 17:52 to Dan Verrington’s winning (and impressive) 16:45.  I finished the month (02/25/06) back at the Fudgesicle and Dan chose to run with me for the first half-mile before taking off for the win (17:14) and I again took 2nd place this time in 17:49.

Looking back - February 2001

 25 Years ago - February of 2001 was a busy month for me with 6 races. I ended up with five wins and a second place. The first weekend was a killer double, which was part of another Hockomock Swamp Rat series. I ran the Lynn Stew Chase on Saturday (02/03/01) taking second place (losing by one second on a kick) in 48:09. The next day (02/04/01) I dragged my tired and sore body up to Cape Elizabeth for another shot at the Mid-winter classic. This time I got a surprise win in 53:51 with Bob Winn shadowing me much of the way before taking second in 54:41. I was sick as a dog after the race. The effort definitely took a big toll. The following weekend I doubled again, this time two snowshoe races. On Saturday (02/10/01) I went up to Plattsburgh NY and raced in the first US Snowshoe championships. I took the win by just over 3:30 over Ben Nephew. The following day (02/11/01) I directed and raced over 5km of groomed ski trails at Windblown Ski area taking the win in 21:47. A week later (02/17/01) I took a victory at the Hawley Kiln race in very slow conditions covering the 7m course in 1:01:21 and noting that I “bonked really bad in the last mile”. The final race of the month (02/25/01) was another HSR series race, this time back in Amherst for the DH Jones 10m. The footing was awful with snow, ice and rain during the race. I managed a win in a “very slow” 55:04.

Looking back - Feb 1996

 30 Years ago - I only ran three races in February of 1996 but I made the best of it with two wins and a second place. I got buried at the Cape Elizabeth Mid-Winter Classic 10 mile as Rob Pierce ran a course record 51:10. I was happy with my race noting “I was alone from 2m on and it was exactly zero degrees out there”. I ran 51:56 and teammate Byrne Decker took third in 53:20. The following weekend I ran the Bradford Valentines race.  I started the morning with a 3 mile warm-up with Gary Gardner, Dan Verrington, Eric Beauchesne, and Steve Peterson.  Little did any of us know that this would be the top five finishers in the race.  Eric took it out for the first ½ mile then Gary, Dan, and I slowly pulled away with miles of 4:52 and 4:44.  Dan fell back before the two mile mark and I was able to lose Gary on the uphill third mile (5:01).  I closed with miles of 4:53 and 5:01 to take the win in 24:31. Gary (25:01) and Dan (25:10) took 2nd and 3rd with Eric (26:09) and Petey (27:14) rounding out the top five.  Only 12 people have ever run under 26 minutes at the Bradford Valentine’s race.  Although I lead the list, Dan has an impressive 4 times in the top 10 and three fast wins (he has a few other wins but not under 26 minutes).  David Hinga also has 3 times in the top 14, all of which were winning times, and Craig Fram has the masters course record (25:50) and another sub 26 (25:54) which was done as a 10 mile workout (we ran the second loop in 26:30 including the time from the finish line back to the start!).

 

My final race of the month was the Dartmouth Invitational indoor track meet. Craig Fram and I heard that a bunch of fast guys would be there trying to qualify for Nationals. It turned out we were the only two people entered in the 5,000. We decided to alternate 800m each until 2 miles then it was ‘anybody’s race’. I took the lead at 2 and beat Craig running a 14:52. Definitely an unusual race.