Looking back August 2015

 10 Years Ago: August 2015 – I was coming off a lingering illness (sinus infection) and only raced twice during this month.  I started off with the USATF NE 5m championships (08/09/15) in Narragansett RI. My goal was sub-29:00.

Dan Verrington and I found our way into the fourth or fifth row at the start line around a few of our CMS teammates.  It seemed fast to me as I headed down the small hill in the first mile.  Dan hammered on by me after the first half mile.  I just felt like my tank was empty and could not get going.  I caught up to Dave Principe and we worked together.  My last mile was 5:52 and Principe got 5 seconds on me in the last 200 meters.  I had no kick left.  My official time was 29:01, and my chip time was the same.  So, apparently, I missed the start mat as everyone who started around me had either a 2 or 3 second differential.  I’m taking my watch time of 28:59!  Goal met.

50+ Results:

1          27:40    Douglas Martyn   55M      WRT

2          27:50    Chris Lawrence   51M      BAA

3          27:59    Tom Thurston     51M      GMAA

4          28:06    Wayne Levy       50M      BAA

5          28:16    Jason Cakouros  50M      HFC

6          28:19    Jim Miller           56M      GMAA

7          28:26    Titus Mutinda     50M      GBTC

8          28:32    John Sullivan      54M      GMAA

9          28:32    Michael Cooney  53M      WRT

10         28:38    Dan Verrington   53M      CMS

11         28:53    Henry Scollard    51M      WRT

12         28:54    Alejandro Heuck 51M      GSH

13         28:59    Dave Dunham    51M      CMS

                                                           

The next weekend I ran the Moose Relay (08/16/15). The race is held in the woods of Mine Falls (Nashua NH) where the trail is pretty firmly packed with excellent footing.  I signed on for two legs and opted to do two in a row rather than worry about tightening up in-between efforts.  I set my goal at 30 minutes or a bit over 6 minute pace.

 

My brother-in-law John was running leg 1 & 4 and predicted he’d run about 20 minutes, John came flying in right at 20 minutes and off I went. I headed out pretty hard and tried for find a good pace.  I came through my first loop in 14:45 and grabbed a couple of cups of water as I headed back out.

 

I may have pushed it a bit too hard, I kicked it in as hard as I could and handed off to John for the final leg.  My time for 4.8 miles was 29:36 (6:10 pace) and my lap splits were 14:45 and 14:51. Slowing only 6 seconds in the second lap was better than I’d hoped for.  John also had a good day running just a few seconds slower for his second lap and bringing us home in 70:03.  We took the victory in the 2-person relay and were only beaten by two 4-person teams.