5 years ago – July 2021
I headed up to Vermont for a few days of “town bagging. On this trip I ended up running in 41 cities and towns over the course of four days. I was glad to do some relaxing running and camping.
Next up was the Luti race (54th annual Bill Luti 5 mile). Although the course isn’t super-fast (two tough hills) it is pretty decent and always has good competition to drag you along. I did a little track workout on Wednesday (with Eric Morse and Murdock pictured below) and ran my fastest non-downhill mile of the year (5:37.4). We did a 5:59 mile before that and I noted that it was my goal-pace for the 5 mile. It did not feel easy! It was great to see nearly 400 turn out for the race including a lot of good competition in the CARS team category and a lot of fast 50+ runners.
I got in the second row and took a quick look around. Joe Shairs was going to be the winner in the 50+, but I wasn’t sure who else was around for the 55-59. Doug D had just turned 55 and I’d seen a few other faster old men around. It really didn’t matter so much as I was more interested in getting myself a sub-30 and hoping that’d be enough to stay ahead of Ernie B and Jim A in the CARS age graded masters. I ended up behind the lead pack of women and hit the first ½ mile in 2:55 which was right where I wanted to be. I hadn’t seen any 50+ guys ahead of me except for Joe (5:25 at the mile!) so I was pleased with how things were going. I lost some ground on the climbs but still got to four miles only a couple of seconds over 24 minutes. The ladies had all pulled away by then and would put 20 seconds on me in the last mile. I tried to find another gear but had nothing I came up just short with a 30:01. I did take solace in winning the 55-59 age group and taking the Age Graded masters title just barely edging Ernie B again. This series is going to go right to the end!
Place Time Pace Name Age Sex City St Div Div Pl
1 24:11 4:51 Collin Leibold 28 M Concord MA MOPEN 1
2 24:39 4:56 Louis Serafini 29 M Cambridge MA MOPEN 2
3 24:42 4:57 Leakey Kipkosgei 24 M Springfield MA MOPEN 3
23 28:58 5:48 Joe Shairs 53 M Peabody MA M5054 1 CMS
26 29:33 5:55 Jennifer Mortimer 39 F Bedford NH FOPEN 1
27 29:39 5:56 Jaclyn Solimine 26 F Haverhill MA FOPEN 2
28 29:39 5:56 Erin Lane 40 F Hopkinton NH FOPEN 3
30 30:01 6:01 Dave Dunham 57 M Bradford MA M5559 1 Duct Tape & Spit
47 31:26 6:18 Doug Deangelis 55 M Newbury MA M5559 4 Duct Tape & Spit
56 32:08 6:26 Timothy Cox 48 M Northwood NH M4549 1 Duct Tape & Spit
66 32:54 6:35 Darin Brown 54 M Madison NH M5054 6 Duct Tape & Spit
104 36:08 7:14 James Pawlicki 46 M Lynn MA M4549 6 Duct Tape & Spit
I was not feeling good leading up to the Woodchuck 5k race (race #5 in the CARS). My adductor issues took a major turn for the worse during the week and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up in the crazy downhill start (first mile drops 150’). I’d end up needing surgery! I had a slim margin over Ernie Brake in the age graded masters standings so I’d be looking to top him. I met up with teammates Jim Pawlicki and Doug Deangelis and we headed out for a warm-up course preview. I’d forgotten how much of the course was dirt road. I was feeling very nervous, but my adductor wasn’t too bad.
The field of 168 had great conditions (50s, cloudy, and a little breeze) and ZOOM we were off. Doug went out hard (70 seconds at the first ¼ mile) and I was a few seconds behind him as the downhill gradient eased. As I closed on him Ernie Brake caught me, I knew I’d need to beat him by at least 30 seconds to get him in the age graded (he is 60 now). Ernie fell back a little as teammate Tim Cox caught me and we both went by Doug around the mile mark (5:25). I never looked at my watch again and just focused on working with Tim. We pushed the tough little hill and Ernie and Doug were no longer with us. Once we turned onto the final hill I got a gap on Tim and would extend it to 10 seconds by the finish. I hit the line in 18:18 and was happy to run 9 seconds faster than 2 years ago. Ernie had a great race coming in 14 seconds faster than 2 years ago (18:44) which got him the win in the age graded by 1 second! I took solace in a top 10 finish (9th) and a win in the 50+ age group.
Pl Time Pace Name Age Gend City St Team
1 16:33 5:19 Michael Mott 19 Male Alton NH
2 16:49 5:25 Warren Bartlett 23 Male Loudon NH MUGWUMPS
3 16:56 5:27 Edward Stowell 20 Male Sutton NH KEZAR LAKE RUNNING CLUB
9 18:18 5:53 Dave Dunham 57 Male Bradford MA DUCT TAPE AND SPIT
10 18:28 5:56 Timothy Cox 48 Male Northwood NH DUCT TAPE AND SPIT
12 18:44 6:02 Ernest Brake 60 Male North Sutton NH KEZAR LAKE RUNNING CLUB
14 18:58 6:06 Doug Deangelis 55 Male Newbury MA DUCT TAPE AND SPIT
18 19:08 6:09 Christin Doneski 50 Female Hopkinton NH
26 20:12 6:30 Darin Brown 54 Male Madison NH DUCT TAPE AND SPIT
33 20:54 6:43 James Pawlicki 46 Male Lynn MA DUCT TAPE AND SPIT
Age Graded results:
Place Time Agtime Agegrd% Name Sex Age Hometown
1 18:44 15:14 85.24 Ernest Brake M 59 North Sutton NH
2 18:18 15:15 85.15 Dave Dunham M 57 Bradford MA
3 19:42 15:46 82.41 James Smith M 62 Concord NH
5 18:58 16:03 80.86 Doug Deangelis M 54 Newbury MA
No comments:
Post a Comment