Coming this weekend - Wachusett Mountain race

This will be the 22^nd annual Wachusett Mountain race, and 32^nd time the race has been held (it was held from 1978-1986, and then revived in 1992).  I’ll be racing it for the 17^th time.  I’ve had three wins (1995, 96, and 98), three 2^nd place finishes (1999-2001), and four 1^st place 40+ finishes (2004-2007).  I’m hoping to get through the race with both calf muscles intact.  Everything else will be gravy!  The new course features a 3 mile climb on the road to the summit then 3 more miles of almost all downhill with a mix of road, dirt road, and grass slope.  It looks like a lot of fun!

  

My results:

Date            Dist            Time    Place    Field        40+ Pl    Notes

05/27/95           4.30      24:37    1          163                   Out w Hodge thru 1m

05/25/96           4.30      24:31    1          208                   Sunny windy 60s

05/24/98           4.30      25:29    1          243                   60-70 degrees warm and windy

05/29/99           4.30      24:32    2          243                   70-80 and sunny, caught Bolt at 4.  Eric 2418 Rich 2434

05/27/00           4.30      25:17    2          260                   Eric gone at 1/2m 2432

05/26/01           4.30      25:01    2          209                   Eric gone at 1.5, 2430 60 degrees

05/25/02           4.30      24:59    3          305                   Eric 2420 Craig 2425

05/24/03           4.30      26:48    7          247                  

05/23/04           4.30      27:33    9          204       1         

05/28/05           4.30      28:19    10         197      1          Sunny 60's.  Paul L 25:30

05/27/06           4.30      28:01    4          275       1          4 guys went off course! Low 2507

05/26/07           4.30      28:19    7          328       1          Low 2544.  Warm and breezy. 

05/24/08           4.30      27:28    11         338      3          Out in 15th worked steadily up Fram 26:41

05/23/09           5.20      33:35    9          300       3         

05/30/10           5.10      36:03    29         324      5          Ran the first 2m w Paul K then ran very hard climbs

05/26/12           4.80      31:42    8           226      3          Some scary trail on descent, ran hard but also ran to not get hurt.

 

Bedford Rotary 12k

The Bedford Rotary 12k has always been a great fitness test and this year I would be testing myself for the 10^th time over this unusual distance (7.45 miles).  I was hoping to take a shot at my masters PR (41:45) as this would probably be my last chance at a 12k since it is a rarely run distance.

I met up with Nacho Hernando before the race and we ran out and back over the last 1.5 miles of course for a warm-up.  Nacho has outkicked me in each of the three races we’ve met up in; I was hoping the longer distance would work in my favor.  The field would not be as strong as the last couple of years due to Bedford not being part of the USATF NE grand prix.  The last couple of times I’d just cracked the top 40.  This year I was expecting to be much closer to the front of the pack.  I felt pretty good warming up and switched into racing flats and went out for another mile with some strides.

There was a decent turnout of New Hampshire teams since the race was part of the NH grand prix.  Ethan Crain was back after not racing in about 6 months, once he shakes off the rust he’ll be one of the top masters in New England.  Eric Ashe from the BAA took off at the start and ran his own race, putting about 20 seconds a mile on the chase group.  I can’t say what the other guys were thinking but I was running my own race hoping to get a good time and maybe sneak out a second place finish.

At the mile (5:30) Nacho, Kevin McMahon and I were running in a group.  The split was just a little behind what I’d hoped for but it felt pretty quick.  Both of the guys were putting in surges at various times and I’d drop back a second or two behind them and then regroup.  Not much changed as we hit 2 miles in 10:56 (5:26) and 3 in 16:42 (5:46).  My goal was to hit 3 in 16:40 so I was close to what I’d hoped for.

Nacho made a move on the hill leading up to 4 miles which we hit in 22:25 (5:43) which put me right on pace to tie my PR.  He gapped me a bit on the climb but I also pulled ahead of McMahon.  I regrouped and pulled even with Nacho and we continued to break away.  We passed 5 miles in 28:05 (5:40), which was 5 seconds too slow, but I felt like I was all-out.  During the next mile I was able to get in front of Nacho a couple of times but he always got back.  We hit 6 miles in 33:40 (5:35), we’d picked it up but it was still another mile that was 5 seconds too slow.  I knew I’d need to get 10 seconds on Nacho in the 7^th mile in order to hold off his finishing kick.  I also knew that I was hanging on for dear life.  We hit 7 stride for stride in 39:25 (5:45) and any chance of a PR was gone.  Nacho made his move with 400 to go and torched me by 8 seconds during the final stretch on the track.

I was able to just duck under 42 minutes with a 41:59 and third place overall, missing my masters PR by 14 seconds.  I gave all I had on this day and it just wasn’t quite enough to get the result I’d hoped for.  I did get to double-dip, picking up $25 for third place and another $50 for top master.   Time to switch gears and hit the Mountain running series!

    1   39:04   5:15 Eric Ashe              24M  Brighton MA      BAA           

    2   41:51   5:37 Nacho Hernando   19M  Manchester NH      NHTI

    3   41:59   5:38 Dave Dunham       49M  Bradford MA         CMS/GCS

    4   42:25   5:42 Kevin McMahon     20M  Derry NH                  

    5   42:37   5:43 Ethan Crain           40M  Nashua NH           GCS 

    6   42:38   5:43 Jotham Burnett      33M  Canaan NH          UVRC

    7   42:48   5:45 Anthony Walsh       29M Boston MA            GBTC

    8   42:59   5:46 Bo Wang               26M  Boston MA                 

    9   43:12   5:48 Jon Korhonen         30M Somerville MA             

   10  45:05   6:03 Patrick Connelly      49M Chester NH            GDTC

Week Ending 05-19-13

Felt tired and sore all week, probably should avoid multiple weeks over 100 (at least in a row).  Dropped down to 95 miles this week, did a short speed workout and a race.  May drop a bit more next week and race twice to test things out before Mt Washington.

M - Lunch 7 in 49:14
       PM out/back Winnekenni 8 in 59:10

T - Lunch 7 in 48:23
      PM Winni 6 in 44:00

W - Lunch 7 in 45:46 with 8x200 with 200 rest
       PM Winni 6 in 44:15

Th - Lunch 7 in 52:15
       PM Winni 6 in 46:13

F -  4am Industrial park 6 in 45:16
       Lunch 6 in 47:41

Sat - 3 warm-up in 24:30, another mile with strides, 7.4 mile race in 41:59, 1.5 warm-down
         Later nice relaxing 3 in 30:10

Sun - 3 on the bike path in Chelmsford, into 5 more with Petey & Dave La total 71:13
         Later 4 miles on the River in 30:56

Totals
Week = 95
Month = 286
Year = 1,924
Life = 120,696

Bedford 12k - my history

This weekend I’ll be taking on the Bedford Rotary 12k for the 10^th time in the last 19 years.  Six times I raced it as part of the USATF NE grand prix series.  This year it isn’t part of the series but it is one of the races in the New Hampshire grand prix.  I’m hoping my calf will be okay and I can take a shot at my masters PR (41:45)

12km results:

Date                 Time     Place    Notes

05/21/94           36:59    1          Pulled away in the last ½ mile

05/21/95           40:22    1          Ran the 5k first, then came back for the 12k

05/22/99           37:24    2          Back and forth with Eric Morse, lost by 10 seconds

05/20/00           38:13    5         

05/19/01           37:44    3          Dave Hinga stopped twice during the race, and still won!

05/18/02           40:32    5          Rain and snow!  Ran the 5k after the 12k

05/19/07           41:55    39         Masters PR

05/16/09           41:45    46         Masters PR

05/19/12           41:45    39         Tied my Masters PR

5km results:

05/21/95           15:08    2

05/18/02           16:42    5

Completion maps - State high points

Here are Eric and my completion maps.  Since I'm doing a bunch of ones Eric doesn't have I'm tracking how many I've done multiple times.

Streak

There are only two days that I've never missed since I started running.  I just got both of them again this year to keep my 35 year "streak" alive.  I've been fortunate to have avoided injury, at least injuries that would force me to take a day off.  Here are my totals for May 9 & May 12 for each year.

 

 

Year	9-May	12-May
1979	5	4
1980	4	4
1981	5	8
1982	6	3
1983	12	8
1984	10	10
1985	10	10
1986	6	8
1987	8	10
1988	13	12
1989	12	10
1990	13	16
1991	13	15
1992	19	13
1993	5	6
1994	13	13
1995	13	9
1996	13	10
1997	3	3
1998	11	10
1999	10	11
2000	15	15
2001	15	16
2002	18	16
2003	8	5
2004	13	12
2005	8	8
2006	11	10
2007	14	11
2008	12	12
2009	15	12
2010	4	7
2011	9	13
2012	14	12
2013	17	18
Max	19	18
Min	3	3

May 15, 1988

Here is what I was up to 25 years ago...