I had a bit of a rough week with getting back to running after a big week of biking. The heat and humidity didn't help. I have not felt good running since racing on the fourth of July. I'm hoping to turn it around. I could not miss racing this weekend as the CARS series rolled on with the 8th of 9 races. Your best six count and this would be my sixth race. I was hoping that based on my decent run at Angels (July 10) I could run faster than 2024 when I snuck under 20 minutes (barely) at 19:57.
The Woodchuck Classic was being held for the 30th time, this would be my 5th attempt at this tough course. The course drops 170' n the first mile with most of that in the first 1/2 mile. After that there is a tough little hill at 1.25 and then slightly uphill from 1.5 to 2.5. The real kicker is from 2.5 to 2.8 and if that isn't bad enough there is another steep 30 feet of climb right before the 3 mile mark. The course is also about 1/2 dirt road so all in all not a fast race.
I got to the race just in time to nab the last parking spot in the small lot near the start. After picking up my number and my big jug of maple syrup I headed out for a course preview/warm-up.
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| With Andy Sachat and Tom Raffio before warming up |
I was feeling pretty flat/tired but no worse than I'd felt at Angels. The weather was cooperating as it was around 70 degrees and much less humid than the last few days. Decent racing weather. I quickly changed into race gear and headed out for another mile. A quick drink of water (dry mouth kind of day with sun and a lot of Canadian wildfire smoke in the air. I headed over to the line and picked a spot on the front and all the way over on the right (figuring that would be a safe place to start). No start mat meant no chip differential and every second counts! Off we went and it was a mad dash. My knee was not happy with what I was doing. I counted 19 ahead of me as we hit the first turn 1/4 mile in. I slowly started catching people as my watch beeped at 1/2 mile (2:45) which was right on my time from last year. I was disappointed but kept looking ahead and aiming for the next person. I hit the mile in 5:48, which had me 5 seconds behind the split from 2024. I had caught a couple of fast starters and as we got to the first little climb at 1.25 I started to loosen up a bit. I could see Sam Wood up ahead and was hoping to give him a good race. My next 1/2 was 3:20 another couple of seconds slower than last year but I had caught another guy and was closing on more. Sam was 10 seconds up at the 180 degree turn at 1.5 and I caught 2 who were running together as we moved closer to Sam. I got him right before 2 miles (3:08 split - 12:16 total). I was doing the math and thought maybe I could still pull out a sub 19:50 with a strong finish and I was feeling better. Sam went back by me but I gapped him right before we turned for the big final climb. A half split of 3:13 had me still hopeful of bringing it home under 19:50. I lost a little bit of momentum and felt like I struggled on the last climb to 3 miles but I'd clawed back to a faster time than last year and cleared the finish in 19:50. I'd moved up to 12th place and even with a great run wouldn't have placed higher. I did take the 60+ and the age graded which should wrap up both of those for the series. The only thing left is whether I can stay in the top 5 overall (which earns some cash). The finale is the Tom Walton 5k/10k in 3 weeks.
CARS standings (overall) - Although I'm sitting in 3rd place. Sam Wood could move ahead by displacing his lowest score at the finale. Sean McCauley also just needs to finish in the finale and he'll move ahead of me. Andrew Strauss will also move ahead of me if he runs the finale. Finn Kovar would also likely beat me if he runs the last race. Finally, Graham Hayslip could also pass me depending on how he does at the Tom Walton race. So, I could finish anywhere from 3rd to 8th place depending on how things shake out.
Points Sea Nhti Canx Over Ccc Ange Luti Wood Name Sex Age Hometown ====== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ======================== === === ======================= 5930 0 1000 1000 948 990 992 0 1000 David Chorney M 37 Concord NH 5634 951 513 979 913 886 926 901 964 Nicholas Gosling M 42 Meredith NH 5251 0 848 929 875 873 855 0 871 Dave Dunham M 61 Bradford MA 5077 933 869 920 862 0 457 647 846 Sam Wood M 38 Laconia NH 4923 0 923 0 1000 1000 1000 1000 0 Sean McCauley M 33 Canterbury NH 4900 826 793 850 813 807 797 785 807 Benjamin Strauss M 54 New Boston NH 4725 774 773 846 802 0 775 755 0 Jack Gagne M 14 Chester NH 4613 968 0 956 0 871 895 0 923 Andrew Strauss M 21 Amherst NH 4567 795 767 778 738 747 0 0 742 Stephen Laboe M 33 Penacook NH 4537 775 751 0 759 742 738 729 772 Vincent Perelli M 61 Hopkinton NH 4498 740 709 781 760 738 730 692 749 Sky Sobel M 42 Contoocook NH 4476 764 722 762 0 749 748 731 0 David Gagne M 53 Chester NH 4408 880 0 0 0 895 882 855 896 Finn Kovar M 15 Contoocook NH 4387 941 860 0 0 869 874 843 0 Graham Hayslip M 33 Canterbury NH 4381 0 717 0 696 728 727 746 767 Richard Clymer M 64 Concord NH 4334 766 699 0 719 681 698 692 760 Jax Marshall M 14 Contoocook NH 4333 757 682 735 728 686 720 0 707 Bruce Dyke M 58 Chichester NH 4297 720 698 764 690 708 689 694 713 Parker Rizzo M 8 Londonderry NH 4251 760 704 0 713 685 676 680 709 Keith Donovan M 65 Pittsfield NH 4106 700 686 705 700 685 0 630 0 Jonathan Ballard M 42 Concord NH 4093 717 693 682 688 611 652 647 661 Tommy Wood M 7 Laconia NH 4080 0 685 727 731 713 0 671 553 Matthew Wineriter M 51 Canterbury NH 4021 696 0 698 681 654 0 635 657 Timothy Chrysostom M 58 Canterbury NH 4002 664 660 716 671 633 658 614 0 Jason Morin M 45 Auburn NH 3982 0 600 604 742 607 687 694 648 Joe Rizzo M 37 Londonderry NH 3918 719 649 641 625 643 0 641 0 Eric Mallett M 47 Windham NH 3902 662 631 0 641 654 663 651 0 Isaac Horn M 43 Hollis NH 3784 0 608 623 628 605 637 621 667 Christopher Baerman M 59 Laconia NH 3719 643 612 689 612 575 588 0 0 Carson Morin M 11 Auburn NH 3682 623 608 625 628 596 602 561 0 Ryan Morin M 47 Goffstown NH 3663 800 759 0 750 0 677 0 677 Nathaniel Fuller M 39 Holderness NH 3630 598 600 0 618 615 0 602 597 George McGrath M 62 Hopkinton NH 3623 630 617 0 594 594 564 575 613 Roger Miknaitis M 69 Concord NH 3595 605 598 596 574 587 587 576 622 Paul Horvath M 66 Somersworth NH 3501 615 579 587 584 0 0 564 572 Joseph Hochrein M 72 Webster NH 3475 694 621 352 590 0 604 0 614 Randolph Brown M 45 Manchester NH 3470 597 564 0 572 568 578 565 590 Patrick Fox M 48 Concord NH 3464 637 578 551 568 559 570 552 0 Jim Peters M 68 Derry NH 3415 603 573 559 591 0 0 524 565 Zack Brayfield M 41 Holderness NH 3403 361 431 581 572 563 558 552 577 Dominic Geffken M 61 Concord NH 3396 920 751 0 863 862 0 0 0 Jason Schoeller M 26 Suncook NH 3344 557 558 0 575 559 520 477 575 Gideon Sheetz M 9 Ellsworth NH 3312 0 552 569 592 518 530 0 551 Elliot Dater-Roberts M 20 Concord NH 3311 0 558 568 546 557 540 0 542 Howard Roemer M 63 Concord NH 3243 569 530 558 529 525 471 505 532 Bruce Johnstone M 66 Weare NH 3083 0 785 0 826 0 744 728 0 Elliott Morin M 12 Goffstown NH 3048 509 480 506 500 492 503 488 538 Brewster Bartlett M 76 Loudon NH 3047 633 624 623 0 0 0 580 587 Bill Ducasse M 49 Epsom NH 2961 790 771 0 0 0 740 660 0 Darin Brown M 58 Madison NH 2846 0 572 0 580 558 0 554 582 Gabriel Cohen M 47 Concord NH 2837 0 729 0 0 734 678 696 0 Brad Simpkins M 51 Hopkinton NH 2808 454 508 441 464 468 458 444 456 Rick Cibotti M 70 Concord NH 2646 702 654 0 676 0 0 614 0 Bill Fraser M 23 Concord NH 2630 645 650 0 410 0 427 498 0 Phil Petschek M 64 Chelmsford MA
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