This weekend I headed up to Concord for the Over the River and Through the Woods 5k which was race number four in the CARS. It was the 7th time I’d done the race in the last 8 years. It is kind of unique as you start out at Delta Dental, zip through the “Root Canal” (a tunnel) then up and over route 93. At ¼ mile there is a sharp 180 degree turn onto the bike path which gets very narrow as you cross over the Merrimack River. At 1.25 the course goes off-road with a little less than a mile of roots and mud before returning the way you came. It isn’t a particularly tough course but with the turns and cross-country part it isn’t very fast. I arrived a little over an hour before the start and got the lowdown from the Raffio’s. The course would be a little short as part of the XC section had to be cut due to flooding. I grabbed my number and then headed out for a warm-up.
The course was in decent shape, the woods weren’t that muddy but the reroute would cut off about 4/10ths of a mile (2.7 miles). Not a big deal but harder to compare times with previous runs on the course. Last year I had what I called “my worst race of the year” running 20:10. I was hoping to be under 20 minutes this year. I got a high-five from Amber as she was heading out for her warm-up. I switched into race flats and headed back out for another 1.3 miles (I like round numbers and this would help with a 2.7 race distance).
Nearly 250 lined up and Tom Raffio gave a quick speech and then Joe Kasper’s wife said a few words (the race was being held in Joe’s memory). Then we were off. I did not get out as quickly as I’d hoped but by the tunnel I was getting into a groove. I counted 10 ahead of me as I took the 180 onto the bike path. I was hoping to keep Sam Wood close and maybe even keep Mary Klene in sight. I passed a couple of people as my watch beeped for ½ mile (3:04). I moved around the 3rd place woman soon after and could see Mary up ahead as she passed Sam. By the mile, 6:10, I was closing a bit on Sam and had moved into 8th place. My goal for the woods section was to stay on my feet. It wasn’t too slick but watching my footing and also keeping Sam in sight was a little tricky. Right before we exited the woods I passed Sam, and he gave me a nice “Go Dave”. I caught another guy with 1 mile to go but could see that Mary was pulling away and I knew I wasn’t going to close the gap on her. The return on the bike path was very tight as people on their way out were headed towards us. Sam went back by me at 2 miles (12:42) and I could hear him talking to himself (out loud), something like “gotta push, go now”. I worked the downhill on the bike path and went back by him with ½ mile to go. I didn’t say anything since I was pretty much all-out. I felt like I had a strong finish coming up over the highway and pushed to the line in 17:10 for 6th place. I was pleased with running 6:19 pace which would have put me about 30 seconds faster than last year. Felt like I was headed in the right direction. I quickly grabbed a yummy donut before hitting the road for an excellent 2-hour ride.
1 15:02 Sean McCauley M33 Canterbury, NH
2 15:51 David Chorney M37 Concord, NH
3 16:15 Amber Ferreira F43 Concord, NH
4 16:26 Mary Klene F41 Manchester, NH
5 16:27 Nicholas Gosloing M42 Meredith, NH
6 17:10 Dave Dunham M61 Bradford, MA
7 17:24 Jason Schoeller M26 Suncook, NH
8 17:26 Sam Wood M38 Laconia, NH
9 17:29 Derek Perry M32 Concord, NH
10 17:47 Jasmine Syed F26 Canterbury, NH
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