Active long weekend

 I kicked off July with a long weekend of running, biking, hiking, and a little swimming. I missed doing the Chelmsford race, but my ankle/foot just did not feel up to racing. On Friday I headed out and got in a nice run on the Londonderry Rail Trail, then onward for a fantastic, rare Friday morning ride. 

A migraine hit which had me feeling off for the remainder of the weekend. I set up camp in Bear Brook and got in a nice swim to cool off. The water was bathtub-warm but still felt good to get out of the heat and humidity. 

After that I headed over to Epsom for a run up to the highest point. It was buggy and the footing was a bit rough over the 1.1 miles that climbed over 600’. The view was terrific, but the haze cut down on what I was able to see. It was a rough night with temps only getting down to 70 and high humidity. 

I got up a couple of times to see if I could catch the International Space Station, but low clouds kept it out of sight. 

I got in a very buggy run on the camp road and ended up with welts all over my back from deerflies feasting on me. I woke up with something wrong with my left ear which was not feeling right. I headed over to Concord for a nice Holiday group run and checked out the ceremony at the capital building.

 After that I headed over to Bow for a hike to the town high point. The unofficial trail to the summit became overgrown after 100 meters so I bushwacked straight to the top. The summit was covered in blueberries and featured a nice view that like the previous day, was obscured due to haze.

 After catching the fireworks, I decided to head for the hospital as I now had no hearing in one ear. I was worried it might be related to my migraine but also thought it could be water from the swim that I couldn’t get out. I ended up spending 6 hours in the waiting room overnight and another hour getting my ear taken care of (water and wax). It was a relief to get my hearing back, but I was exhausted from being up over 24 hours

. No time to rest as I headed over to the Northern Rail Trail for a nice 10 mile run in the much more refreshing conditions (68-74 degrees but lower humidity). I checked out the geocache near the Hannah Dustin statue and after that it was on to the always fun Sunday ride, closing out the weekend with a nice 2 hour ride in optimal conditions.

Week Ending 07/05/26

I took it relatively easy again this week listening to my foot issues. I also had a migraine that slowed me up and spent a night in the waiting room of the hospital getting my ear checked (I couldn't hear out of one ear). I may need a few days to recover from that.

I dealt with the heat this week, mostly by doing a ride in the afternoon rather than run but still had morning runs with 90+ degree temps.

Totals for the week include running 11:04 (76 miles), biking 7:31 (122.6 miles), and hiking to two town high points and a geocache.

Week - 76

Month (July) - 56

Year - 2,110

Life - 169,110

Month of June

 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.

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

Made it through a 10m run during a tough week

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 50^th to 60^th 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 38^th 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.

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             

 

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

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!

New York was a weeklong adventure riding with 300 others on the Erie Canal. Great fun, despite being super hot most of the trip.360 miles!

I guess you could argue that most of these don't fully traverse a state, but the ocean, a lake, and just nothing convenient to complete the mileage may have kept me from going from one border to another...but like I said "my game, my rules".

Be careful out there!