Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Girls inc race

Girl’s Inc. 5km

There were quite a few 5km’s to choose from this weekend, I ended up going up to Rochester for the Girl’s Inc. 5km.  I’d done this race 6 years ago and recalled that the course was flat and fast.  I also knew that they had kilometer marks on the course and I’m a huge fan of that (more information is a good thing).

I arrived pretty early and had a few minutes to catch up with Andy S who was doing race announcing.  Teammate and course record holder Bob Wiles rolled up soon after, so I had someone to warm-up with.  We checked out the course as a warm-up and it was just as I remembered, dead flat.  There was a breeze kicking up and by race time it was definitely noticeable.  I did another mile with strides and felt okay, but still a little sore from the track workout on Thursday.

Bob took off at the start and would run alone and unchallenged to a new course record.  I settled into third place and for most of the first mile I stayed tucked behind Jason Bigonia.  We hit the mile in 5:22, which was very close to what I was hoping for (my goal was to break 16:50 and stretch goal was to break 16:40).  Right after the mile we were blocked by a car at a stop light and I moved into the lead as I ran on the curb to get around the car.  I stayed in the lead through 2 miles (10:48/5:26) then Jason pulled ahead.  I knew I would need to make a move early if I wanted second place so I went around him with about ½ mile to go.  He flew by me with ¼ mile to go and I had nothing left to respond.  He gapped me by 4 seconds in the last 200m to take second.

I was pleased with the effort and the time, crossing in third place with a 16:44.  Bob and I headed out for a nice warm-down on the dirt rail trail and then I headed for Vermont to catch Eric and (his dog) Murdoch race.

Results:
10th Annual Girls Inc. of New Hampshire 5K
Saturday April 16, 2011 Rochester, NH   
    1 15:22 Bob Wiles                 33M     Kittery, ME       CMS
    2 16:40 Jason Bigonia           34M     Newcastle, ME
    3 16:44 Dave Dunham          47M       Bradford, MA   CMS 40+                                  
    4 18:28 Josh Smith               21M      Rochester, NH
    5 18:30 Tom Doherty            26M     Dover, NH 


Eric and Murdoch basking in the glow of victory


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