My original plan for this weekend was to race at the NHTI 5k on Friday night and then see how I bounced back with the Red Shoe Barn 5 mile on Sunday. The idea being, if I’m going to attempt the Hollis 5k (USATF NE champs) and come back and race Mt Washington, it would be best to see how my body handles the two races in 36 hours. Anyway, I felt lousy on Friday and decided that I’d be better served with just taking it easy and head to Dover 
I made a brief detour on the way to the race and visited Garrison hill which has a cool viewing tower. It was sunny and clear but very windy on top of the tower. It wasn’t much less windy at ground level when I headed out on the course for my 3 mile warm-up. The only good was that the wind seemed to be “mostly” a cross wind with the exception being the final mile. That final mile also happens to be almost all down-hill so I thought that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. I was hoping for a time under 27:49 (which I’d run there two years ago) and I thought on a perfect day I might challenge my masters PR (27:22). This was not a perfect day. I changed into racing flats and headed out for another mile with some strides and went to the start line.
I met up with Nacho Hernando on the line (he asked me why I skipped Friday night’s race...which he won) and saw that Scott McGrath was present along with Nate Huppe. I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about Scott on Nate, they’d be well ahead of what I could run. I was hoping Nacho wasn’t too beat up from Friday and we’d be able to work together. Over 500 of us took off and Scott and Nate were gone by the first turn. Nacho was right with me and Ryan Aschbrenner went by about ½ mile in. I stuck right with Ryan and along with Nacho we were never more than a couple of strides apart. We hit the mile mark in 5:27. I had hoped to be in the 5:30-5:35 range and was very happy with the split, I had been a bit nervous that it felt like a little harder than I hoped (which I then attributed to us moving along at a good clip).
The second mile is the quickest with a modest drop and on this day a decent tail wind. We hit two in 10:40, or 5:13 for the second mile. Nacho made a bit of a move right after 2, but maybe he was just getting ahead for the water-stop? Anyway we reeled him back in as we turned the corner at 2.2 miles. This is when the wind became a factor, from this point on it would be either a cross or head-wind. No one tucked in and most of the time we were three across. On this certified course we took advantage of every tangent we could (surprisingly it didn’t look like either Scott or Nate were doing the same). Three miles was reached in 16:20 (5:40 split) and we stayed grouped through 4 miles in 21:58 (5:38 split).
I had hoped to make a move on the final uphill right after the 4 mile mark, but Nacho apparently thought the same and he gapped us on the short but tough climb. I regrouped and slightly pulled ahead of Ryan as I caught Nacho on the downhill. With about ½ mile to go we were dead-even and I was already in full kick. Ryan had closed the gap but was still a step behind. With 400 to go Nacho took a peek at his watch and BOOM he was off. I had no gear to go to and tried to keep rolling. I could see the clock and it started clicking numbers way faster than it should have! I crossed the line in 27:20.9 for fourth place and top master’s spot. Needless to say I was happy with the results and now I’m really looking for a fast time at the USATF masters 10km championships next weekend.
1 1/41 M2029 26:15 5:15 Scott McGrath 26 M 510 Andover
2 1/51 M3039 26:56 5:24 Nathan Huppe 33 M 446 Dover
3 1/9 M1519 27:17 5:28 Nacho Hernando 19 M 370 Manchester
4 1/30 M4549 27:21* 5:29 Dave Dunham 49 M 240 Bradford MA GCS
5 2/51 M3039 27:22 5:29 Ryan Aschbrenner 35 M 130 Nashua
6 2/41 M2029 28:06 5:38 Timothy Mallard 23 M 148 Pelham NH GCS
7 1/27 M4044 28:17 5:40 Fergus Cullen 40 M 479 Dover
8 3/41 M2029 28:52 5:47 Humza Jafferji 24 M 290 Pelham NH GCS
9 3/51 M3039 28:54 5:47 Jimmie Cochran III 38 M 63 Sandown NH GDTC
10 2/30 M4549 28:57 5:48 Patrick Connelly 49 M 365 Chester
11 1/27 M5054 29:01 5:49 Randy Macneill 51 M 420 Epping NH GCS
12 4/51 M3039 29:14 5:51 Bob Swarthout 32 M 374 Dover
13 4/41 M2029 29:16 5:52 Miles Brady 22 M 380 Durham
14 5/51 M3039 29:21 5:53 Jasmin Lepir 37 M 505 Portsmouth
15 6/51 M3039 29:29 5:54 Gregory Hagley 35 M 514 Lebanon
16 2/9 M1519 29:32 5:55 Logan Hatch 19 M 242 Rochester NH
17 2/27 M4044 29:36 5:56 Tyler Brannen 40 M 395 Nashua
18 5/41 M2029 29:37 5:56 Daniel Dion 27 M 373 Dover
19 3/27 M4044 29:43 5:57 Michael Fraysse 41 M 188 Derry NH GDTC
20 2/27 M5054 29:49 5:58 Charlie Bemis 50 M 372 Derry NH GDTC
21 1/75 F3039 29:50 5:58 Denise Sandahl 32 F 42 Rochester
22 3/30 M4549 29:51 5:59 Brian Oneil 46 M 539 Andover
23 4/27 M4044 29:51 5:59 Geoff Dunbar 42 M 376 Hanover
24 7/51 M3039 29:59 6:00 Justin Soucy 31 M 192 Hudson
25 4/30 M4549 30:03 6:01 Tom Varick 48 M 133 Litchfield NH GDTC
AGE GRADED MALE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS FOR TEAM MEMBERS
1 M4549 27:21 24:07 Dave Dunham 49 M 240 Bradford MA GCS
2 M5054 29:01 25:11 Randy Macneill 51 M 420 Epping NH GCS
3 M4549 28:57 25:31 Patrick Connelly 49 M 365 Chester
4 M5054 29:49 26:05 Charlie Bemis 50 M 372 Derry NH GDTC
5 M6064 33:54 26:33 Scott Abercrombie 63 M 220 Salem
6 M6569 35:33 26:35 Rick Stetson 68 M 187 Duixbury MA GCS
7 M3039 26:56 26:38 Nathan Huppe 33 M 446 Dover
8 M1519 27:17 26:42 Nacho Hernando 19 M 370 Manchester
9 M4549 30:03 26:42 Tom Varick 48 M 133 Litchfield NH GDTC
10 M6064 33:15 26:44 Perry Seagroves 60 M 366 Concord
2 comments:
Thank you for your post. For the size of this race we think should have had more people blogging about it.
Our post http://mainerunningphotos.com/dovernh/the-32nd-annual-reds-race-%E2%80%9Crace-for-a-better-community%E2%80%9D-2013/
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