Mill Cities Relay

 I signed on for my 15th Mill Cities Relay when I heard our same team from last year would be taking on the 27 miles from Nashua to Lawrene.  The group (Kevin Christie, Mark Blaisdell, Dave Lapierre, me, and Fil Faria) seemed excited to get back to it after winning the age 60 division last year. I had asked to be placed on the first leg as my knee and ankles were probably not up to the task of the long leg. Unfortunately as we got closer to race day both Kevin and Mark were dealing with injuries. I moved to the 9.8 mile fourth leg which I'd done 8 times since 1987.

Time to adjust my goals! Based on my recent racing (and training) I was looking at running about 5 minutes slower than I'd run last year.  I'm about 30 seconds a mile slower than I was last December (ouch).  I thought if I had a very good day I might be able to keep it closer to 15 seconds which would have me just slipping under 7 minute pace.  Goal set.

D-la and I met up a bit before 8am at the start of my leg and I drove him over to the start of his leg. We bumped into many familiar faces (Dan V, Emer, Tom H, many GLRR teammates).  I even bumped into Shawsheen Tech coach who was volunteering, we got to talking and he told me he had golfed with my dad randomly.  Small world. D-la and I did a 3m warm-up then with a few minutes to go before Dave's predicted start time I hit the road.

I quickly switched into race gear and did another mile to loosen up. I got to the line right at the predicted start time and then the waiting game began.  Unfortunately, Kevin pulled during his leg. He managed to finish but that put us more than 15 minutes behind schedule.  I did not know this at the time and had to be on the line and ready.  That meant about 20 minutes getting very cold standing on the line.

Finally D-la came into sight and he slapped the baton onto my wrist and I was off. I felt fairly comfortable starting but shocked at the 1/2 mile split on my watch (3:39), a lot slower than I'd hoped. I picked it up (or so I thought) and my 2nd 1/2 mile was also 3:39. I hoped I'd be faster than that but felt I was at the pace I could maintain.  The next mile was covered in 7:02, much closer to what I'd hoped. The next mile was sub-7 and that included one of the only hills in the race (up to University Ave). I'd been counting runners as I caught them to give me something to shoot for and on the way down the hill I was passed by the 2nd person to get me.  I tried to latch on but failed. The very messy snowy icy transition from the road to the Riverwalk was tricky.  I went very slowly and the guy who'd passed me went even slower.  I nearly got back to him.

The Riverwalk section was nice and just after 4 we exited it with a steep little hill, the last bump on this leg. The only aid station was right after that and I was surprised when the guy who'd passed me stopped for water.  I grabbed one on the fly and went by him.  He went back by me about 1/2 mile later (I didn't count that as a runner passing me since he'd already done so). I had another runner go by me between 5 and 6 but no more. I ended up passing 24 runners along the way (D-la passed 25 on his leg!). I kept it together over the final miles and checked my total time at 8 miles and saw I was very close to sub-7's. I closed okay and didn't have any issues (last year I had a hip muscle strain in the final mile).

I passed off to Fil and then carried on for another 1/4 mile to get a full ten miles. I was happy to see that I got in under 7s with a 1:09:56 for 10 miles.  Another MCR in the books!  Always a stressful race, especially as I get older and have to worry about getting hurt trying to compete.  I may limit my racing even more in 2026 as I don't want to miss out on training.  Training itself is fun!

D-la drove me back to my car and I headed north for a chilly (but fun) 1.5 hour bike ride for a "warm" down. A very fun day indeed!

Mill Cities - my history

This weekend I hope to make it through my 15^th Mill Cities Relay.  It is always a fun event, put on by local clubs for local clubs.  This will be my second year on the GLRR 60+ squad.

#	Date	Leg	Dist	Time	Pace	#of teams	Team	Notes
1	12/6/1987	4	9.6	0:48:05	5:01	30	GLRR	Very cold day, took it out in 14:40 for first 3m
2	12/4/1988	2	6.6	0:33:30	5:05	73	GLRR?	I think I was on the GLRR “B” team - 2:28:03 for 2nd behind GLRR A in 2:25:27
3	12/2/1990	4	9.6	0:48:23	5:02	77	WCRC	Mike Beeman’s Total Sports All-Star team, Mike B, Bob B, Petey, me, Artie - 3rd pl 2:32:14
4	12/6/1992	5	4.6	0:22:09	4:49	50	WCRC	Mike Beeman's Total Sports All-Star Team, Teammates included Scott Spence, Steve Peterson, Artie Demers, and the great Mike Beeman
5	12/4/1994	3	2.3	0:11:29	5:00	120	Dave’s	Dave Camire’s All-Star team (everyone named "Dave" = LaBrode, Camire, Tyler, Lapierre)
6	12/8/2002	4	9.3	0:54:10	5:49	122	Rogue Runners
7	12/5/2004	4	9.4	0:54:35	5:48	119	WCRC 40+	First time on a Masters team
8	12/3/2006	4	9.4	0:55:19	5:53	142	WCRC Mixed 40+
9	12/8/2013	2	4.75	0:28:58	6:06	199	GCS	48th place, 3:01:12, 12th Male Masters team
10	12/7/2014	4	9.5	0:55:40	5:52	210	GCS 50+	First time on a Senior team, 2nd to WRT 2:36 to 2:41
11	12/6/2015	5	4.75	0:27:31	5:48	229	GCS 50+	Winning Senior team! 19th overall 2:44:53
12	12/3/2017	4	9.6	0:57:29	5:59	217	WCRC Mixed 50+	We took 64th place overall in the relay and 6th in the mixed 50+ scoring, out of 16 teams.
13	12/4/2022	1	5.62	0:33:53	6:02	175	WCRC	Maybe my best run of the year!
14	12/8/2024	4	9.8	1:05:42	6:42	218	GLRR 60+	1st 60+ team by 10 minutes

 
 

Hamster Wheel Relay

 I was having trouble finding any races that interested me and had a few open weekends between the XC race in Vermont and the New England championships (11/17).  I stumbled onto the Hamster Wheel ultra race and was intrigued by the concept.  There were races at 6, 12, 24, and 30 hours and relay options for each of those time limits. I thought a three man 6 hour relay would be fun and put the word out to my running friends to see if I could muster up some interest.  David Harper was the only one who took me up on it, so we signed up for the 6 hour relay.  The plan was to run it, not race it!  I wanted to have a good mileage day and have some fun running with 300 odd (very odd) people.  The course was mostly on the New Boston Rail Trail along the Piscataquod river.  It was basically an out and back on this smooth dirt trail and a little loop around the 4-H fairgrounds that included a tough little 200 meter long hill at a 6% grade.

My hope was to run around 8 minute miles for an average pace with the first lap a little slower and each lap a bit faster.  That would mean I’d be doing 16 or 20 miles and if we were a little faster maybe 24 miles.  David had a similar plan but would also be doing one of the laps aiming for the Strava course record (26:55 – 6:43 pace).  It was in the low 40s, cloudy, and surprisingly breezy when DH took off at 9:30 am.  We would be seeing a lot of people out there as over 300 were entered either individually or on a relay of various times.  There was a festive atmosphere in the “village” with tents everywhere and some very well stocked aid stations set up by various clubs.  DH and I had found a nice grassy area with a clear view of the start/finish, and you could even see the top of the hill (so if you kept your attention up you could see your teammate with about 2 minutes to go).  I set up a camp chair and a bag with 6 changes of clothes and 4 pair of shoes to choose from.  If nothing else, I hoped to be comfortable.

 

David came rambling back after a 30-flat opening loop and off I went.  It was interesting seeing all the people out there and how they would be dealing with a long (very long) day out on the trail.  Mostly people were good about staying single-file or at least no more than 2 across as people were strung out al along the trail (races had started at 15 minute intervals to spread things out).  About a mile in a 6 hour guy (Aaron Stevens) went rolling by me, he would be the only one to pass me during any of my relay legs. I got through my opening leg in 31:23 which was a bit faster than the 8’s (or even higher) that I’d planned, but it felt pretty easy, and I was just getting warmed up.  David’s next two loops were faster and faster and mine were also a bit faster (739s and 721s).  I was feeling good and starting to recognize various faces along the way.  I realized by the second lap that Aaron was running the 6-hour solo and based on how far he was ahead of me he was running about 7:30 pace which is impressive.  David warned me that his fourth lap would be fast, and he wasn’t kidding as he beat the course record by two seconds with an impressive 26:53.  This would also be my fastest lap as I snuck under 29 minutes with a 28:57.  Boy, that little bump of a hill really hurt on that lap!  David did a recovery lap and I bounced back with surprisingly comfortable 29:40 (7:25 pace) lap.  I wasn’t sure if David wanted to do a 6^th lap, but he was there and ready when I finished and said something to the effect of “we have to get to 48 miles”.  I was watching the clock and feeling a bit tired.  It had been hard to really eat anything as less than 30 minutes break left little time for digestion.  Basically, I would just change into a dry shirt and rotate to a different pair of shoes then bundle up to stay warm until it was time to get going again.  I was a little worried that we would go over the 6 hour time limit by just a little depending on how slowly that sixth lap was.  David came in at 31 minutes which left me a little under 35 minutes to complete a lap before time ran out.  I kept a close eye on my watch as I was just under 8 minute pace on the way out (slightly downhill and a bit of a tailwind).  I was feeling the impact of my longest mileage day in the last 5 years.  I managed to keep it together and hit 8 minute pace on the nose to get us in with about 2.5 minutes to spare.

 

We ended up taking the win in the 6 hour relay with the next team 12 miles behind.  Aaron Stevens ran an excellent solo victory in the 6 hour finishing 2.5 minutes ahead of us and 8 miles ahead of his nearest competitor.  This was a fun way to get some miles in and the six hours went by amazingly fast.  Maybe next year we’ll get a couple of more guys and try the 12 hour?

 

Total food and drink I had:

1 luna bar

4 snack sized Hershey’s

16 oz water

12 oz code red

 

David H                               DD         

Loop      Pace                     Loop      Pace

30:01     7:30                      31:23     7:51

28:12     7:03                      30:34     7:39

27:27     6:52                      29:23     7:21

26:53     6:43                      28:57     7:14

31:51     7:58                      29:40     7:25

31:06     7:46                      31:59     8:00

2:55:30 Total                     3:01:56 Total

7:19       Avg pace                             7:35       Avg pace

 

Results:

6 Hour Relay

1.            Dave Dunham     48.00     12           5:57:44.01                         

2.            Erica Disclos        36.00     9             5:52:55.45                         

3.            Bernie Mizula     32.00     8             5:37:38.33          

 

Other relays:

12 hour – 72 miles, 24 hour – 92 miles (they stopped at 15 hours!), 30 hour – 116 miles

 

Individuals

6 Hours

1.            Aaron Stevens    48.00     12           5:54:18.41                         

2.            Thomas Oshea   40.00     10           5:55:01.31          

3.            Byron Lane         36.00     9             5:25:31.69          

 

12 Hours

1.            Erik Boyko           64.00     16           10:50:21.11                      

2.            Bill Elliott             64.00     16           11:22:25.96                      

3.            Carey Wertz        64.00     16           11:29:15.00

 

24 Hours

1.            Alexander Burke 112.00 28           23:43:06.83                      

2.            Keith Nadeau     108.00   27           22:52:04.70                      

3.            Elsa Cipriani        100.00   25           22:08:18.94       

 

30 Hours

1.            Michael Presti    128.00   32           29:20:44.28                      

2.            Andy Daggett     124.00   31           29:58:06.66                      

3.            Timothy Scott     120.00   30           28:09:08.27