Bradford Valentines race

Bradford Valentines race course

Results

Another week, another race. This weekend I'm just racing once (and going on a hike Sunday). I met up with Dan and we hit the road for a three mile warm-up. The temperature was okay, just above freezing, but the wind was tough. We switched into racing flats and did some strides during the 1/4 mile run from Dan's house to the starting line. I was surprised to see Nate Jenkins jogging around and right after that bumped into Andy McCarron. Usually the race gets one or two fast guys then falls off a bit. This year looked to be a decent field. I had done research and figured that my hoped for time (5:40 pace = 28:20) would put me somewhere around 10th place. I also saw that usually that would put me pretty much alone on the course.

We headed off with a slight tail wind and it looked like Nate was in no rush as he was joined by 9 other runners by 1/2 mile into the race. As predicted I was already alone in 10th place. At 3/4 of a mile the 6 km winner headed right and I moved up into 9th place. Dave and Mike gave some encouragement after I passed the mile (5:29 -tail wind and downhill). I saw Mark K a little later and he warned me about some ice on the turn. I was at about 10 seconds behind 8th place and could see Dan 30-40 seconds ahead in a battle for 6th/7th place. I hit 2 miles in 11:12 (5:43) and was feeling good about my chances of running 5:40's.

Then the wind and the hills hit as we caught the 6 km runners and started weaving through the crowd. I hit 3 in 17:10 (5:58) which was pretty darned slow. Yikes! I was hoping to run faster than that pace for the 10 mile next week. Ugh. The climb and wind continued and I hit 4 miles in 23:09 (5:59). Well 5:40's were out of the question but I dug in and kicked as best I could. I crossed the line in 9th place in 28:49 (5:39).

Dan and I decided to forget about running back to the house for gear and just headed out on the 6 km course (backwards) for a warm-down. We were joined by Andy for the last mile or so and wrapped up a solid 12 mile day.


5Mile Overall Results
Place No. First Name Last Name Ag S Div/Tot Town Finish Pace
===================== ======= =====
1 286 NATE JENKINS 29 M 1/29 M2029 LOWELL MA 25:22 5:05
2 820 FRANK CORRIGAN 24 M 2/29 M2029 PEPPERELL MA 25:37 5:08
3 241 ANDY MCCARRON 26 M 3/29 M2029 KEENE NH 26:28 5:18-CMS
4 101 ANDREW WOMMACK 25 M 4/29 M2029 JAMAICA PLAIN MA 26:33 5:19
5 191 JOSHUA GORDON 34 M 1/23 M3039 BOSTON MA 26:57 5:24
6 244 KEVIN GRAY 30 M 2/23 M3039 NORWOOD MA 27:29 5:30
7 111 DAN VERRINGTON 46 M 1/36 M4049 BRADFORD MA 27:32 5:31-CMS
8 280 BRENDAN LYNCH 31 M 3/23 M3039 BOSTON MA 28:19 5:40
9 199 DAVE DUNHAM 44 M 2/36 M4049 BRADFORD MA 28:49 5:46-CMS
10 169 TODD LAGIMONIER 43 M 3/36 M4049 KINGSTON NH 28:57 5:48