December 2020

  

5 years ago (December 2020) Not a bad month, tied for 3^rd most miles in a month for 2020.  I got in a couple of races and even did a couple of workouts.  I’d been fortunate to stay relatively healthy this year.  I hadn’t missed a day of running since 01/06.  Finding races was a challenge! 

 

I started of the month with a return to Northwood for the “Run to Fall” which had been postponed (four times!).  I thought for sure it would be postponed again as we got heavy snow the day before.  Northwood ended up getting 4-6” of snow but Tim Cox and his crew of volunteers did a fantastic job clearing trees and packing down the course in order to make the course “run-able”.  I met up with Dan Verrington and we checked out the course as a warm-up. The fields were very slow and the woods was a bit faster with somewhat packed down snow.  We only saw one other guy out warming up on the course.  Next up were some tough decisions on what to race in.  I went with shorts, two tops, and gloves and Inov-8 trail shoes.  I tried to settle into a good pace and by ½ mile had passed Tim.  I tried to focus on the guys in front of me and kept in mind that this course is sneaky tough and if you go out too hard you really pay the price.  After the mile I couldn’t hear Dan behind me but didn’t want to look back which would let him know I was worried.  I had nothing left as we hit the track (deep snow) for the final 150 meters.  I ended up crossing the line in 21:57 which was 2:28 slower than I’d run three weeks ago (under much better conditions).  Dan came in two places later and 47 seconds behind me which gave me a slim victory in the age graded masters and got me $50. In all only about 1/3 of the people who originally entered turned up on, probably due to the multiple postponements and the tough conditions of the day.  Fantastic job by the volunteers and a lot of fun!

   

Slick trail running!                                                     DD & DV – the rivalry continues

 

Run To Fall 5k – Top 5 Age Graded Results  - December 6, 2020   5 Kilometers       Northwood, NH

Place Time    Pace  Name           Age/Sex City/state   Age %     

    1   21:57  7:04 Dave Dunham            56 M             Bradford MA              70.42 CMS

    2   22:44  7:19 Dan Verrington          58 M             Bradford MA              69.10 CMS

    3   24:45  7:58 Michael Barry   64 M   Northwood NH        66.72

    4   25:05  8:05 Amy Tkaczyk             46 F             Northwood NH           63.21

    5   22:54  7:23 Timothy Cox              47 M             Northwood NH           62.98    CMS

11  24:55  8:02 James Pawlicki             46 M             Lynn MA                    57.46    CMS

 

Run To Fall 5k – Top 15

Pl       Time   Pace   Name            Age    Gend  City/St No.

1        18:06  5:50   Luke Tkaczyk 17      M        Northwood, NH       4

2        18:44  6:02   Lars Hogne   17      M        Strafford, NH 9

3        19:12  6:11   Ryan Lafrance         23      M        Gilford, NH    3

12      21:57  7:04   Dave Dunham         56      M        Bradford, MA 23          CMS

14      22:44  7:19   Dan Verrington        58      M        Bradford, MA 21          CMS

15      22:54  7:23   Timothy Cox  47      M        Northwood, NH       18          CMS

23      24:55  8:02   James Pawlicki        46      M        Lynn, MA      49          CMS

 

It has been very difficult to find racing opportunities under current conditions so when events become available, I’ve jumped in.  Such was the case when USATF NE (Steve Vaitones) sent out word about a cross-country relay.  I was excited to get back to Franklin Park but the distance (1.3+ miles) was going to be a challenge.  That is super-short, and I find it takes me a couple of miles just to get up to speed.  The team aspect with 8 teams per start window (to stay under the 25 person capacity limit) meant we’d get to warm-up with our teammates and cheer on our rivals.  Dan Verrington and I teamed up with new CMS member (I’d recruited him) Scott Grandfield.  We got together and headed out for a couple of laps around the course to ensure we all knew where we were going.  It was a pretty simple loop that included the “Wilderness” section of the Park.  Dan and I have raced here many times over the last 35 years (and my first ever race against Dan was across the street in the golf course where cross-country races were held in the 1980’s).

Time was tight and I switched in Inov-8 trail shoes as Dan headed out for a few strides before the start.  I got in another mile before the relay started then did another half-mile with some strides.  I was pretty nervous about trying to run fast.  Five minutes after the start we could see the leader coming back onto the field for the final 1/3^rd of a mile around the border of the field.  The teams were pretty evenly spaced with each one about 10-15 seconds ahead of the next.  There were only four runners over age 50 in the race and college teammate Jason Cakorous ran an excellent 7:34 and Dan was close behind in 7:58. I took off about 15 seconds down on the BAA women’s team and had her in my sights.  I reached the mile in 5:47 and caught her just before that split.  I couldn’t see the next guy but gave it my best right to the line with a 7:55 split.  Scott took off and he closed on the guy in front of him but didn’t quite get him despite running an impressive 7:09 (9^th fastest time of the day and fastest 50+).  Our team took 7^th out of 15 teams.  Team manager Scott Mindel ran all three legs and finished in fifth place!

I’m on the left finishing as my teammate heads out for the final leg

Rank   Time   Race #         Team name

1        21:12  2        GBTC

2        21:40  1        HFC

3        21:48  1        Old Goat

4        21:56  2        Emerging Elites

5        22:12  1        Team Mindel

6        22:54  1        Tracksmith

7        23:02  1        CMS-50+

8        24:16  2        Emerging Elite women

9        24:27  1        BAA women

10      24:41  2        NE elite women

 

Dan Verrington and I have been racing against each other since November of 1980.  We’ve crossed paths nearly 316 times.  With injuries impacting both of us we had only raced each other 21 times in the last 5 years.  The breakdown has been fairly even with me beating Dan 176 times and him beating me 140 times.  Thirty of those races were won by one of us with the other taking second, and since we usually invited each other and carpooled we have no one to blame but ourselves for those losses.  I have won 14 races where Dan finished second and he took the overall win 16 times with me getting second. With Dan retired (from work) and moved to Vermont it may take him a long time to catch up to me on the head-to-head wins.