I've been Pipestaved...and it hurt!

do not like racing at night!  That seems to be my mantra whenever I actually do a night race.  I guess for me “night” is anything after 5 PM which is usually when I’m winding down for the day.  Give me an 8 AM Fudgsicle series race and I’m more in my element.  Anyway, I chose to go back to the Pipestave 5k trail race for a number of reasons.  The main reason is that I’m trying to test myself and see how quickly I can recover from a night race to a weekend race.  I’m hoping I can turn things around quickly and will be able to do the USATF 5k champs (June 13) and Mt Washington (June 15).  Both are races I want to do well at, time will tell.

It was 70 degrees when I ran at lunch but when I got to West Newbury it had dropped to 50 degrees and was cloudy, great conditions for racing.  Jim Pawlicki and Christopher Smith joined me for a preview of the course.  The course featured two loops, one big and one small, a mix of open fields and single-track, and a heck of a lot of up and down hill running.  Mostly the footing is great with the exception being about 100m of downhill near the end of the first loop.  I felt pretty good on the warm-up and even okay doing another mile plus some strides. 

At the start Andy Scott (Merrimac) took it out and within a ¼ I was leading the chase pack.  I could hear Jim Pawlicki right behind me as we hit the first climb.  Andy got a few seconds ahead and was about 10 seconds up when Jim decided to fly by me.  My legs were a bit heavy and on the next climb my left calf (which is my “good” one) went into spasm a couple of times.  It didn’t seem major and I just shortened my stride a bit and it was okay.  The gap began to really grow and my legs just seemed heavier and heavier.  I looked at my watch at 14 minutes in and figured “3/4 mile to go” but had no kick.  I could hear David Long grunting and groaning behind me, I appreciated the inadvertent heads-up he was giving me.  That kept me going J

I ended up taking third place in a disappointing 18:41 which was 25 seconds slower than last year.  We race to test ourselves, and sometimes it just isn’t pretty…but we keep going back out there.  That is the important thing!

Warm-down with Jim, Doug D, Christopher Smith, and Andy Scott, some cookies and Gatorade then the late night trek was over.

3rd Annual Pipestave 5km trail race                                                                                         

Thursday May 2, 2013 6:30 PM                                                                                               

Place    Name                Time     Pace     Div/Tot            Div       Age      Sex       City

1          Andy Scott         17:59    5:48      1/13      M2029   22         M          Merrimac

2          James Pawlicki   18:22    5:56      1/21      M3039   38         M          Lynn

3          Dave Dunham     18:41    6:02      1/32      M4049   49         M          Bradford

4          David Long         18:45    6:03      2/21      M3039   39         M          Beverly

5          Michael Paulin    19:14    6:13      3/21      M3039   38         M          Beverly

6          Christphr Smith  19:18    6:14      2/32      M4049   47         M          Woburn

7          Jonah Hulbert     19:38    6:20      4/21      M3039   33         M          Unti 310

8          Justin Jones        20:09    6:30      2/13      M2029   25         M          Danvers

9          Jason Wertz       20:31    6:38      5/21      M3039   39         M          Ipswich

10         Eli Gallaudet       20:35    6:39      6/21      M3039   38         M          Andover

11         Doug Deangelis   20:41    6:41      3/32      M4049   46         M          Ipswich