Atkinson 5k

I wanted to race this week and since I'd be traveling over the long weekend I settled on a Thursday night race in Atkinson NH.  I don't particularly like night races, they seem way more difficult to get mentally prepared for, but this one was close by and had a $10 entry fee.

I did my normal 3 mile warm-up, cahnged into racing flats and idd another mile with strides.  Then it was off to the line joining 350 others for the mad dash over the downhill first 400m.  Dave Quintal took it out hard with the lead pack of Pat Fullerton, Kevin Alliette, Casey Carroll and Andie Colon.  I found myself off the back and alone in the first half mile.

Dave stopped to tie his shoe and I wnet by him but could hear him right behind me as I hit the mile in 5:24.  The course was basically uphill from 400m 'til 1.5 miles then you could really work the donwhills.  I could see Colon falling off of the others and I slowly worked my way up to him as I gapped DQ hitting 2 miles in 5:32 (10:56).  I caught Colon with about 1/2 mile to go working the downhill for all it was worth.  We turned the corner for the final uphill 400m and he took off like a shot.  I was already all-out and couldn't accellerate.  I ended up taking 5th place in 16:34 with DQ 6 seconds back (it would have been a good fight for 2nd 40+ if not for his shoelace malfunction).  The course was a bit short of 5k, maybe 15 seconds (?), but I'll take it...a solid effort.

   1 PAT FULLERTON   M2029 BRADFORD        15:04  4:50
    2 KEVIN ALLIETTE  M3039                              15:39  5:01
    3 CASEY CARROLL M4049                              16:07  5:10
    4 ANDIE COLON      M3039                              16:24  5:16
    5 Dave Dunham           M4049 Bradford                16:34  5:19    
    6 DAVID QUINTAL  M4049                               16:40  5:21    
    7 KEN BEAULIEU     M4049                               18:03  5:47
    8 EJ CONOR              M1519                               18:29  5:56
    9 Matthew Garceau     M4049 Salem                      18:38  5:59
   10 Bob Fairhurst           M5059 Plaistow                   18:42  6:00

Next race: Wason Pond 5k trail race in Chester on Sept. 10.