Looking Back - November 2020

I spent some vacation time spent bagging towns in Vermont and a few races along the way.  I really wanted to do some longer racing but there have been few chooses out there.  I was reluctant to enter the Manchester half marathon as the entry fee ($102!) was a bit out there.  I submitted a projected time of 1:24 which I felt might be a bit aggressive considering the hilly nature of the course.  With two runners starting every 10 seconds I figured I'd have people to work with.  I ended up seeded 30th in the half-marathon and 22 marathoners also were seeded ahead of me.  The biggest drawback to the time trial start is that you can't race head-to-head so you can be beaten by someone you never see (I lost by 1 second to someone who started WAY behind me).

I saw my prime competition Jeff Walker who I'd beaten by a scant couple of seconds at the 10 mile.  He'd be starting a minute plus behind me so hopefully I wouldn't be seeing him. My goal was to get through the first 5 mile section on the West side of the Merrimack River in control. This course has a LOT of tough long uphills with absolutely brutal SHORT downhills.  I kept thinking "get to the 5m mark and see how you feel".  The tough little hill heading up to downtown got me to 5 miles right at 32 minutes which had me right on goal pace.

At 3 miles           At 9 miles

Six to 8 miles had some tough ups and another steep downhill leading into Livingston park.  I probably pushed it a bit too hard and was really feeling it on this section.  I hit 10 miles in a step over 64 minutes so I was still on pace  I got past Derryfield and was relieved by the downhill on Mammoth road.  I had nothing left so I didn’t have much of a kick.  I was happy to see that I was .4 under my projected time with an official time of 1:23:59.6.  I waited at the end of the chute to see Jeff Walker come in.  He got me by 10 seconds! 

 

Results M50+

1 1:23:49.4   Jeff Walker   M56    Westerly RI

2 1:23:59.6   Dave Dunham         M56    Bradford MA

3 1:29:20.8   Sean Snow    M54    Dunbarton NH

4 1:30:00.8   John Stanzel M59    Manchester NH

5 1:32:59.1   Mark Hecox   M56    Salem NH

After the race I visited “the folks” and dad surprised me with five pair of gloves!  What a funny coincidence!

Next up was the Run to the fall 5k cross-country race at Coe Brown academy in Northwood NH. The race was postponed due to an outbreak in Northwood.  Scott Clark sent out an email asking the "gang" who was up for meeting for a run.  I suggested that we meet up and race the course with whoever from our little group might be interested.  I met up with Scott at 6:30am at Tim's house and was happy to see Senior runners Jay Smith and Mike Barry turn up as well.  We did an easy mile jog over to the course start and dumped our race flats before continuing on for a 2 mile course preview that covered the basics of the multi-loop course.  The footing was very good, but WOW the course was tough with 250' of climb/descent.  We gathered up at 7am with temps in the mid-20s as the sun was just starting to get above the horizon.  It felt pretty fast as we zipped across the field and headed into the woods.  Tim went to the front and Scott and I hung on.  Tim was moving well and although in sight for the most part, I knew he had the win.  It was good to have him out front as the carrot and that helped me gap Scott.  I managed to keep it together and hit the 3 mile mark as Tim was crossing the finish line.  I managed to hold on with a 19:29. Scott came in about 30 seconds later and I got some finish pictures of the guys before we headed off for another 2 miles for a warm-down.

The following week (11/21/20) I headed back to Manchester for the “Jingle Bell 5k”.  There have been very few chances to race this year, so I've tried to take advantage of any opportunities.  This was another event managed by Millennium racing and would feature the time trial start format.  I've been seeding myself at the fast end of what I thought I could do figuring it someone caught me that'd be incentive to try to go with them.

I arrived a little early to give myself plenty of time, got my number and headed out to run the course again.  I switched into racing gear and did another easy mile before heading to the start line.  I was seeded 5th so there was only a 40 second wait after the start and I was off.  From the half to the mile I reeled in the 4th seed and passed him as I hit the mile in 5:48 which was about where I'd hoped to be.  I hit 2 miles in 11:32, but had trouble reading my watch and thought it was 11:42.  I was hurting but tried to work the slight downhill.  I was disappointed when I looked at my watch and saw "18:14".  It wasn't until after I'd done the course again for a warm-down and looked at the results to find that my watch actually read "18:04"!  I was shocked to see my official time was 18:02.5.  Damn!  I'd just missed breaking 18.  This was my fastest (non-downhill) time at 5k since September of 2018.

Jingle Bell Run 5k

1 17:03.4 Sean McCauley   M28    Canterbury, NH

2 17:19.6 Kevin Crowley    M35    Concord, NH

3 17:21.5 Mark Evans        M45    Bedford, MA

4 18:02.5 Dave Dunham    M56    Bradford, MA

5 18:26.5 Heather Stover   F33     Rochester, NH

6 18:48.7 Mark Laprade     M48    Bedford, NH

 

Next up was one of my favorites, the Chelmsford (and friends) Alumni Cross-Country race.  This was my 10^th time running over the last 15 years which ranks this 13^th on my list of “most times raced”.   Keith O’Brien has a lot of fun putting this race on and I’ve enjoyed meeting up with friends/rivals over the years.  I headed over a little early in order to run the course as a warm-up.  Scott Grandfield (who I’d invited) joined me as we checked out the figure 8 course.  O’b lined us up for the socially distanced pre-race photo and we were off.  Scott shot out to the lead and I tried my best to hang close.  My goal was to run around 6-flat pace.  Tony Ly (Lowell Tech & GLRR) was right behind me as we looped the soccer fields.  A few times I had to call out “left” or “right” to Scott as he was indeed having trouble staying on course.   Tony went by me around the mile (5:53) which is always the quickest mile with it being flat or down.  I reached 2 miles in 12:14 but was feeling ragged. I kept it together for the final loop around the school and reached 3 miles in 18:20 and with a kick of everything I had I hit the line in 19:30 for 6:06 pace over the 3.2 mile course.  I was pleased with the effort if not quite the time I wanted.  Scott had a solid run finishing over 30 seconds ahead with Tony half-way between us.  In all 19 finished the race which is pretty typical numbers for this race.  The awards ceremony is always interesting as O’B gives away a lot of unusual items.  I picked up 4 rolls of toilet paper.  Others got cookies, chips, soap, discount steaks, and a box of paper-clips. 

 

Here are a couple pictures from my random travels in Vermont this month