5 years ago I was trying to recover from a hip/glute/oblique injury which would eventually turn out to be a torn labrum. I originally signed up for the Cheap Marathon ($35) with the hope of breaking three hours. Unfortunately, the injury ended any plan of a spring marathon. I moved down to the half marathon. I still wasn’t ready to race but figured I’d seed myself at marathon pace (6:52’s) and do the half as a hard workout. With very few runs over 6 miles it’d be interesting to see if I had the stamina to keep an even pace through 13.1 miles.
Race morning was cloudy and cool (40s) and seemed just about perfect for racing. It was great seeing so many GLRR friends (and others) and I even had a few moments to catch up as I was seeded 64th in the 500 runner field. They were starting two runners every 10 seconds, so I’d have a chance to run with someone. I had the race broken down into four parts. Part 1 to the Windham Depot (mostly uphill for 2.9 miles) then part 2 to the turn after Roulston road (mostly downhill for 2.4 miles) then reversing those sections. After the Depot I started reeling in some fast starters and even ran with a guy from 3 to 5 miles. A bit after 5 the little 10 year-old kid from GLRR and his dad went hammering by! I decided to pick it up a bit and go with him. I ran my fastest mile of the day (6:27) and the kid was still pulling away, so I settled back down into my pace which was in the low to mid 6:40s. The kid and his dad were the only half-marathon runners to pass me. I didn’t fall apart but my last five felt like more work with miles of 6:43, 6:42, 6:37, 6:41, and 6:53. I ended up running 6:42 pace (1:27:53) so 10 seconds a mile faster than planned. In a bit of a surprise I won the 55-59 age group and took second in the 50+. The GLRR kid set a new American Record for 10 year old with a 1:23:20.
Place Div Div Pl Name City, St Bib # 2.9m 6.3m 9.7m Finish Time
32 M50-54 1 Jim Rhoades Lowell MA 749 19:06 40:49 1:02:54 1:23:30.1
42 M55-59 1 Dave Dunham Bradford, MA 764 19:18 42:14 1:05:14 1:27:53.1
52 M50-54 2 Ted Coyle Scituate MA 767 19:35 42:35 1:06:26 1:29:49.9
56 M50-54 3 Eric Beauchesne Chelmsfd, MA 750 19:20 43:01 1:07:40 1:30:41.4
62 M50-54 4 Tyler Perrin Litchfield, NH 787 19:55 43:25 1:07:46 1:31:19.7
67 M55-59 2 Boris Dzikovski Chelmsfd, MA 795 20:07 43:52 1:08:33 1:32:52.2
86 M50-54 5 Joe Loureiro Andover, MA 205 20:39 45:33 1:12:02 1:38:40.4
110 M55-59 3 David Audet Concord, NH 775 22:53 50:05 1:17:39 1:43:56.4
115 M50-54 6 Didier Weizman Dedham, MA 819 22:02 48:22 1:16:09 1:44:18.9
116 M55-59 4 Bill Newsham Brookline, NH 875 23:53 51:27 1:19:26
No comments:
Post a Comment