Prospect Acres Ranch - 2 hour race

 I had nothing planned for this weekend and saw a flyer for the Prospect Acres Ranch Ultra. I’d done a couple of snowshoe races at Prospect Acres and wondered what the trails would be like without a blanket of snow. I was not thinking of doing an Ultra (anything longer than a marathon) but the 2 hour version with a 7 a.m. start fit very nicely into my schedule. I was planning on running 10 miles anyway and figured a few more miles would be okay. I also liked the idea of the multi-loop format. Everyone would be doing the 2+ mile loop as many times as possible in the chosen timeframe (2, 4 or 8 hours). I would not be “racing” it in that I was planning on running at training pace and not as fast as possible. 
Although I’m averaging over 12 miles per day so far this year, prior to this day I’d only run over 10 miles in a single run one time this year (back in March). In all, I’ve only done 14 runs over 8 miles this year which is less than twice per month average. So, I was a little nervous about my planned 6 loops (12.6 miles). I was also a little concerned about the footing as I’ve avoided rough footing in deference to my arthritic ankles. I’d taped them up but knew I’d be paying the price after the race. I arrived 30 minutes before the start as I wasn’t planning on doing any warm-up as my goal pace would be 9’s which is generally an easy pace for me. Of course 9’s on flat pavement is different from 9’s on grass, roots, ups, downs, and twisty trail. I took a few minutes to check out the last 200 meters of trail to get a general feel for what I was in for and then decided to put on trail shoes. I would need the better grip although the trail was dry, the grass fields were damp and there would be some slick roots to deal with. The only rocks on the trail were the big rock pile that we’d climb over at the end of each lap.
 
The race director gave a brief description of the course and how it was marked and reminded everyone to sign in at the end of each lap as that was how the scoring would be done (you would be timing and tracking yourself over the 2, 4, or 8 hours). About 20 of us took off at 7 a.m. with temperatures in the mid-60s, a bit of humidity, and cloudy skies. I moved into the lead after we circled the field and headed onto the single-track trail. The climbing went on for the first ¾ of a mile with most of it in a tough ¼ mile stretch that averaged 7% grade. After that I looped around the upper grass field and had a short stretch of mostly flat running. Even the flat stretches (which were few) had a lot of bumps to navigate. You really had to pay attention at all times to not take a bad step. There were a couple of quick downhills in the second mile. I took them cautiously and had the opportunity to recover a bit from climbing. With ½ mile to go there was a final climb at 4% grade and then a straight shot for the final ¼ mile back to the start/finish. I came through the line a little faster than my projected 9 minute pace and felt pretty good. Now I knew the course and would just be concentrating on not getting hurt and keeping the effort even. My next five laps would not vary by more than 11 seconds as I dialed in to a pace that felt good. The fifth lap seemed the hardest as I was getting beyond the length of time I’d usually be on my feet. As I lapped people they were very nice to give encouragement, although I felt funny doing the “sprint” event while they were all doing an Ultra. I think I ended up lapping almost everyone, and a couple of walkers multiple times. They were certainly hardcore to be out there for that amount of time!
 
I ended up finishing six laps (12.6 miles) in 1:51 (8:50 pace) and did another .4 mile to get 13 miles for the morning. Then it was off to Concord for a nice 2 hour bike ride. Great start to the weekend!
 
          Full lap          Pace   climb  short climb
1        18:38  8:52   2:46   1:48
2        18:18  8:43   2:34   1:46
3        18:09  8:39   2:34   1:47
4        18:09  8:39   2:34   1:45
5        18:18  8:43   2:34   1:48
6        18:07  8:38   2:34   1:46

Week ending 8/23/26

 Trying to figure out the migraine issues and why I keep getting heart palpitations. More tests this week and will see the doctor next week. Keep doing what I do. Miles and even a trail race this week.

Week 90

Month 283

Year 2,722

Life 169,722

CARS recap

 Capital Area Race Series – This was my 10^th time (I think) doing the CARS. I had not planned on doing it this year but a race I’d planned on doing fell through and it was the weekend of the first CARS race so I looked into doing it. Dental Dental CEO Tom Raffio offered me an entry which I thought was for the first race but was in fact for the entire series, so off I went. Once I’d got rolling in the series my goal was to defend the 60+ title and finish in the top 3 in age graded scoring. I ended up taking the win in the 60-64 age group and managed to hold on to third in the age graded with Bob Lemaire just 6.7 points behind me. I got 14^th overall in the series.

 

 

CARS 60 to 64

Name                     Age Hometown                Points Sea  Nhti Canx Over Ccc  Ange Luti Wood Tom    

Dave Dunham         62 Bradford MA                4714  798  773    0    790  747    0    752  777  824

Vincent Perelli                  62 Hopkinton NH              4362  721  688    0    745  710  712   698  710  764

David Lapierre                  62 Amherst NH                 4179  743  712  659   729  681    0    0      0     655

Michael Quinn                  62 Arlington MA                3707  598  594  508   621  595  624  595  604   665

Christopher Baerman         60 Laconia NH                  3634    0    0     521   653  572  610  589  588   622

Dominic Geffken               62 Concord NH                 3375  558  553  517   569  548  547  536  525   600

George McGrath               63 Hopkinton NH              3372  568  565    0     591  564  541  527  541   543

Bill Tidd                           63 Alton Bay NH              2167    0    0     709    0      0     734    0   724    0

 

Age Graded CARS

Name                     Sex Age   Hometown              Sea    Nhti   Canxc  Over   Ccc    Angel     Luti   Wood   Tom    Agtotal   

Dave Beaudoin         M    48   Manchester NH       84.98    0      71.23  81.22  84.07  81.15  82.93  82.54   83.31  499.05

Mike Veilleux            M    48   Weare NH              83.18  77.43  69.51  78.13  84.48  80.62    0      81.61   80.84  488.86

Dave Dunham          M    62   Bradford MA           81.3   79.63     0      76.61  79.11    0      79.06  80.29   80.12  479.51

Bob Lemaire            M    75   Wolfeboro NH         78.54  79.43  64.03  74.92  82.04  75.83  78.08  76.04   78.59  472.72

Nicholas Gosling       M    43   Bristol NH              80.82  49.7    68.77  70.82  81.37    0        0      79.35   81.62  462.75

Corey Girard            M    44   Pembroke NH         77.51  75.62  63.5   75.01  79.12  76.59    76.00 76.66   76.65  462.53

Richard Clymer         M    65   Concord NH           72.72  74.12  61.03  71.16  78.26  74.34  75.19  75.99   80.17  458.07

Benjamin Strauss     M    55   New Boston NH       70.92  72.44  59.39  70.98  74.94  69.36  73.28  73.73   77.42  442.79

Vincent Perelli          M    62   Hopkinton NH         73.42  70.89    0      72.22  75.18  70.58  73.42  73.31   74.25  441.80

Michael Martinez      M    46   Manchester NH       74.89  73.98   62.4   72.58  73.34  71.61  68.68    0       72.85  439.25

David Saarinen         M    55   Bedford NH              0      0        62.78  72.61  76.64  71.93  72.22   71.2    74.21  438.81

Darin Brown             M    59   Madison NH             0      72.96  62.53  70.94  73.36  73.19  72.83  72.35    0       435.63

Bruce Dyke               M    59   Chichester NH        66.21  67.58  58.1   68.67  72.07  68.56  68.97  69.11   73.03  420.41

Thomas Cook            M    40   Amherst NH           75.71  57.73  60.7     0        0      68.96  69.55  70.94   73.12  418.98

David Lapierre           M    62   Amherst NH           75.71  73.36  57.89  70.69  72.16    0       0        0       63.64  413.45

 

Male CARS Total Points

Points Sea  Nhti Canx Over Ccc  Ange Luti Wood Tom           Name                 Sex Age Hometown                  

  6000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000      Cody Symonds        M    29 Alexandria NH               1

  5600    0    0  961  949  911  934    0  928  917                 Eli Lemire               M    19 Weare NH                          2

  5577  937    0  911  942  892  920  891  898  969              Dave Beaudoin        M    48 Manchester NH                 3

  5554  893  888  925  937  902  921  891  898  971            Andrew Tuttle         M    30 Rochester NH               4

  5475  926  563  914  853  897    0    0  897  988               Nicholas Gosling     M    43 Bristol NH                        5

  5463  917  845  889  906  897  914    0  888  940              Mike Veilleux          M    48 Weare NH                          6

  5318  881  850  837  896  866  895  843  859  921            Corey Girard           M    44 Pembroke NH               7

  5189    0  825  867  891  855  874  819  856  846              James Busi             M    28 Pembroke NH               8

  5016  873  828    0    0  829  827  787  830  829               Liam Conery           M    24 Concord NH              9

  5002  839  820  810  854  790  825  744    0  854              Michael Martinez     M    46 Manchester NH                 10

  4961  887  669  825    0    0  830  796  820  803               Thomas Cook          M    40 Amherst NH              11

  4790  817  775  787    0  800  825  739  779  782              Rob Franger           M    30 Salem NH                          12

  4756  792    0    0  800  779  786  751  769  830               Matt Russell            M    27 Concord NH               13

  4714  798  773    0  790  747    0  752  777  824               Dave Dunham         M    62 Bradford MA               14

  4667  949  934  901    0    0  904    0    0  979                  David Chorney        M    38 Concord NH               15

  4555    0    0  758  796  768  770  731  732  725               David Saarinen        M    55 Bedford NH              16

  4533  739  746  717  778  752  743  742  757  757            Benjamin Strauss    M    55 New Boston NH              17  

  4397    0  727  730  751  711  758  712  719    0               Darin Brown           M    59 Madison NH               18     

  4390  696  711  784  786  663  713    0  700  616              Taylor LivingstoneM    14 Holderness NH               19

  4371  746  570  797  757  725  638  631  700  646            David Hartmann   M    17 Concord NH                        20

  4362  721  688    0  745  710  712  698  710  764              Vincent Perelli          M    62 Hopkinton NH         21     

  4320  811  785    0  800    0  800  667    0  457                 Sam Wood                 M    39 Laconia NH               22      

  4286  694  700  676  715  720  730  696  709  712            Richard Clymer           M    65 Concord NH               23       

  4285  710    0  681  730  700  690  671  705  750              Steve McGowan            M    53 Concord NH            24         

  4271  720  704  692  736  708  704  676  699    0              Scott Williams           M    41 Concord NH               25     

  4179  743  712  659  729  681    0    0    0  655                 David Lapierre           M    62 Amherst NH     26

Tom Walton 6 mile

 The finale for the CARS was the Tom Walton 6 mile. I had run six of the nine races so I didn’t need to run this one but could lose my place in the age graded if someone scored highly at this race. A higher score was a definite possibility as this course is very flat (except for the two times over the highway each lap). I was charged up for this race until I woke up sick on Thursday. Not sure what was up but felt bad enough that I did not do my morning run and took a half-day off work. I felt a little better as the day went on but the persistent headache and sluggishness persisted. My hope is this was a side effect from the new meds I’d been taking to prevent migraines. Off them now and getting some testing done to figure out what is up.

 

On to the race. I still felt “off” on Saturday but decided to give it a go. Last year I’d had a good race here breaking 39 minutes. Based on my racing this year I hoped to be around 40 minutes even with feeling lousy. The weather certainly cooperated with temps in the upper 60’s, with no wind and very low humidity. I got to Delta Dental a little before 7 a.m. and was surprised to see Dave La. He mentioned he needed one more race to get his sixth for the series. We picked up our numbers and got a quick picture with the Knight Riders team mascot. I headed out for a course preview, and it seemed warmer as there was zero shade. The course was well marked, but no mile markers and maybe just a self-serve water stop. No problem with the day being cool and with my watch beeping every half mile. I felt okay warming up and quickly switched into race shoes and got a picture with my sisters and brother in law. Rose and John were both doing the 6 mile in prep for a fall ½ marathon, and Denise was doing the 5k. We the multi-loop and out & back nature of the course I’d be seeing them a bunch of times. I headed out for another mile and headed for the line. I got a big hug from Tim Cox at the start, I hadn’t seen Tim at all this year, so it was nice to chat even for just a few seconds.

 

I lined up about 5 rows back and off we went. I was very cautious over the first half mile as the road was a bit crowded as things sorted out. The 5k would be doing one loop and my race would do a 180 turn at three miles and head back out for a second loop. I settled in and hit the mile in 6:39. That was right on for 40 minutes although I was not feeling good and watched as people just seemed to float away. With the out & back it was easy to get a count of how many were in front and at 1.5 miles I counted 35 ahead of me. Of course, many of those would be doing the 5k but there was no way of knowing who was doing which distance. There were a few guys ahead of me who I normally beat that were ahead of me, but I figured they were running the shorter race.
A second mile at 6:43 had me still on pace and I’d passed just 1 or 2 people so far. Another 6:43 had me at three miles in 20:05 and gave me a chance again to count places. This time only 10 were in front of me as many headed in for the 5k finish.

 

I started to feel a little better in the second lap and a 6:35 mile had me catching up to Chuck Wise, I could hear footsteps behind and knew that Matt Russel was still there (I’d passed him at 2.5 miles). I wanted a top 10 finish and was motivated having two guys right with me. A 6:39 fifth mile had me doing some quick math, I’d need to keep pressing to get in under 40 minutes. I also knew my 5m split was faster than I’d raced at the Bill Luit last month which was encouraging. I was feeling pretty good and working with both guys, I really wanted to push before the last ¼ mile as I figured both would probably manage a stronger kick than I could. My final mile was the fastest of the race (6:32) but I lost 16 and 6 seconds to the guys over the last ¼ despite not slowing. My “high end speed” is a thing of the long ago past…not that I was ever FAST. No complaints as I took 11^th place and tops in the 60+ with a 39:50 and a second loop that was 20 seconds faster than the first. That closes the books on the CARS for the year and I’m glad I took part. I’m not sure what I’ll do next, I’ve got nothing on the calendar but hope that something interesting comes up.

 

It looks like the entire crew had a good day with Rose taking 8^th in the 60+ and John also taking 8^th in the 60+ (both in the 6m) and Denise taking 10^th in the 60+ in the 5k. 

Pl       Time   Name           Sx      Age    City    St       Team

1        32:51 Sean McCauley        M       34      Canterbury NH        Granite State Endurance  

2        33:13 Nicholas Gosling     M       43      Bristol NH     Delta Dental

3        33:32 David Chorney        M       39      Concord NH  Granite State Endurance

4        33:48 Andrew Tuttle         M       31      Rochester NH         Bassett Hounds

5        33:53 Dave Beaudoin        M       48      Manchester NH       Knight Riders

6        34:55 Mike Veilleux M       48      Weare NH     Knight Riders

7        35:39 Corey Girard M       44      Pembroke NH         Knight Riders

8        38:26 Michael Martinez     M       47      Manchester NH       Knight Riders

9        39:34 Matt Russell  M       27      Concord NH 

10      39:44 Chuck Wise   M       51      Mltnborough NH     

11      39:50 Dave Dunham         M       62      Bradford MA  Delta Dental

12      41:33 Sarah Burdette        F        48      Concord NH  Delta Dental

13      42:59 Vincent Perelli         M       62      Hopkinton NH         Granite State Endurance

14      43:45 Steve McGowan      M       53      Concord NH  Granite State Endurance

15      44:50 Abbey Wood F        40      Laconia NH   Delta Dental

16      48:20 Ginny Hast    F        63      Bow NH                 Granite State Endurance

17      48:27 Peter Heslam M       59      Belmont NH  Delta Dental

18      48:59 Scott Sullivan M       28      Pittsfield NH 

19      49:02 Brylee Flood  F        15      Penacook NH Delta Dental

20      49:21 Michael Quinn         M       62      Arlington MA Somerville RR

21      49:58 Daniel Dambruoso M         47      Concord NH 

22      50:09 David Lapierre        M       62      Amherst NH  Millennium Running