5 Years Ago: August 2020 – I had a lot of fun this month, taking on some challenges, running with friends, heading up to the mountains, racing, and even doing some biking. I started the month of August with a RACE! The folks at Train 180 & Sub5 racing put on a 5km trail race at Mine Falls. It was great to hear that racing was back, although the format would be a bit different (pandemic). There would be heats of 10 runners going every 3 minutes. I signed up for the earliest heat (7am) and Dan Verrington chose to do the same. I felt pretty lousy warming up which is either a good sign or a very bad sign. Ten of us moved up to the line and at 7am we were off and racing. Dan was looking to run around 7:00 pace or under so I was out in front with Mike Slinskey’s soft footfalls right behind me. I felt pretty comfortable through the first ½ mile and heard Mike fall back as we slowly gained 30’ leading up to the mile. At 1.7 miles I crossed back over the canal and back onto dirt and used that turn to see where Mike was. I was pretty sure I had him at this point and focused on not falling apart in the final mile. I crossed the line in 18:17.3 to take first place in my heat. Mike rolled in a minute later and before Dan came through a youngster from the second heat flew in running a low 17 to take the fastest time of the day. Dan came in next meeting his goal of breaking 7’s.
Heat 1
1 Dave Dunham M56 18:17.3
2 Mike Slinskey M51 19:18.7
3 Dan Verrington M58 21:05
Heat 2
1 Matthew Catarius M19 17:14.0 (fastest time of the day)
2 David Catarius M51 18:38.7 (3rd fastest time and 2nd 50+ time)
The final weekend of the month saw me back at the NH 10 mile (Auburn NH) where I ran my final race in 2019 before sitting out with a stress fracture. Race morning was just about ideal for racing with temps around 60 and a light rain. We’d be lined up (socially distanced) based on our projected finish time with the fastest going first and everyone following at 10 second intervals. Not quite racing in the traditional sense but as close as we can get to real racing right now. Jeff Walker was my main rival in the 50+ age group and he’d be starting 20 seconds ahead of me. Alyssa Anderson (former GLRR & CMS teammate Tom Anderson’s wife) would be starting 10 seconds in front of me. I was hoping to catch Alyssa in the first 3 or 4 miles and work with her as we were both aiming for a 1:04. Alyssa caught Jeff and they were both about 25 seconds ahead at 2 miles. A little before 5 miles we did the out & back section of road which was a great time to see exactly where the competition was. At nine miles I’d closed to about 10 seconds behind Jeff. My last mile was 6:10 which brought me in with a 1:03:26. I talked to Jeff for a moment and later found out I’d beat him by 4 seconds! This was my first age group win at a ROAD New England championship!
50+ pl Name Age City St Time
1 Dave Dunham 56 Bradford MA 1:03:26.0
2 Jeff Walker 56 Westerly RI 1:03:30.1
3 Mark Crane 53 Nashua NH 1:06:35.7
4 Dan Somes 52 Centerville MA 1:07:33.8
5 Paul Donovan 55 Hollis NH 1:08:20.8
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