I knew going in that this would be my last race and my last run for a while. With a bone bruise and some ligament issues in my right foot I was headed for a three week layoff. The plan was to get through the New England track 5,000 championships and the U.S. Mountain champs and then take the needed time off. I was limping a lot after the track but by mid-week I felt confident that I could make it to the starting line at Loon. Making it to the finish line was the only thing in question.
Dan and I headed up to Lincoln NH early so that we’d have time to watch the women start. Quite a few of the guys did the same and a few of us walked out to the mile to watch the women pass by. It was already pretty warm when they took off at 8 am, it’d be warmer when we started 90 minutes later. At least it wasn’t muggy like it had been earlier in the week.
We met up with a few teammates and headed out for an easy 20 minutes of running. I felt tired hot and really nervous. I like the Loon race because it is a lot like a European style mountain race. There are tough climbs with breaks and descents mixed in. This year two miles of cross-country style trail was added, which was muddy and rocky. This may be one of my favorite mountain races but it is not one that I’m particularly good at. I’d much prefer a long tough and most importantly STEADY climb. That is where I can get into a low gear and just keep grinding. Anyway, every course is different and you have to race them all if you want to be a Goat ™.
After the warm-up I changed into my new Inov-8 shoes (Thank you Paul!) and slipped on my rarely worn USA unitard. I jogged to the line and joined the biggest field ever for a USATF NE mountain series race (over 350 men and over 150 women). Based on past USA championships I guessed that I’d be somewhere between 25th and 50th place and run somewhere between 1 hour and 1:05. I also figured that a lot of people would go out hard over the (relatively) easy opening mile. I wasn’t wrong about the start! I was probably around 100th when we hit the first short climb. It wasn’t crowed and the trail is pretty wide so no worries. I slowly moved up and after a half-mile no one passed me in the race (that I didn’t later beat).
I broke the race into three parts. Part 1 – start to 1.5 miles with a goal to relax and try to focus on a few of the guys I’ve raced in the other mountain races. Part 2 – the new section of XC racing, with a goal of surviving and not getting hurt. Part 3 – back on to the course I know and start running down the fast starters. Part 1 went by pretty much as planned although one guy I had hoped to follow was Ross Krause and he was long gone having a great race way up ahead. I hit the second part with a couple of guys right behind me including Eric Narcisi who founded the new All-Terrain series (of which Loon was part). He passed me on the XC trails and easily put 30+ seconds on me. Four other guys went by which was fine by me, I took it very slowly in the mud making sure to not roll an ankle. I passed one guy during the XC (Mark Mayall) and was feeling pretty good.
Part 3 started with me not feeling so good. My ankle started to hurt a lot, it felt like a constant bee sting. I tried adjusting my stride but nothing seemed to help. I briefly thought about dropping out but knew that really wasn’t an option. Other than that I was feeling pretty good. The climbing was bringing guys back to me. Heck we were only half-way through the race and we had most of the climb still in front of us. I had a line of guys in front of me which is a great motivator. On the first long grassy (and steep) climb I caught a younger guy who looked over at me, looked up at the climb, looked back at me and said "fuck". I chuckled to myself, he was in for a LONG day, this wasn’t even the toughest climb!
The top 5
| 1 | Joseph Gray | M |
30
|
Colorado Springs CO |
45:52.3
|
| 2 | Patrick Smyth | M |
27
|
Salt Lake City UT |
46:39.1
|
| 3 | Eric Blake | M |
35
|
West Hartford CT |
52:37.5
|
| 4 | Zach Miller | M |
25
|
Manitou Springs CO |
52:44.1
|
| 5 | Joshua Eberly | M |
33
|
Gunnison CO |
53:30.0
|
CMS
| 12 | Nate Jenkins | M |
33
|
N Andover MA |
55:50.8
|
| 22 | Patrick Rich | M |
37
|
South Hamilton MA |
57:36.1
|
| 27 | Todd Callaghan | M |
44
|
Beverly MA |
58:36.8
|
| 31 | Jim Johnson | M |
37
|
Madison NH |
59:35.5
|
| 35 | Ross Krause | M |
34
|
Easthampton MA |
1:00:26.5
|
| 38 | Kevin Tilton | M |
32
|
North Conway NH |
1:01:38.2
|
| 46 | Dave Dunham | M |
50
|
Ward Hill MA |
1:02:55.5
|
| 48 | Matthew Veiga | M |
27
|
Lynn MA |
1:03:07.2
|
| 53 | James Pawlicki | M |
39
|
Lynn MA |
1:03:36.7
|
| 62 | Daniel Verrington | M |
52
|
Bradford MA |
1:06:35.2
|
| 66 | Sam Wood | M |
28
|
Laconia NH |
1:07:26.5
|
| 91 | Arthur Besse | M |
41
|
Templeton MA |
1:12:18.9
|
| 114 | Paul Bazanchuk | M |
59
|
Center Conway NH |
1:16:53.2
|
| 118 | John Pajer | M |
51
|
Leicester MA |
1:17:07.2
|
| 206 | David Lapierre | M |
50
|
Chelmsford MA |
1:29:47.3
|
| 208 | Robert Thomas | M |
54
|
Charlton MA |
1:29:56.5
|
| 308 | Walter Kuklinski | M |
65
|
Princeton MA |
1:57:21.9
|
| 338 | George Boudreau Jr | M |
45
|
Dudley MA |
2:31:42.7
|
50+ top 10
| 46 | Dave Dunham | M |
50
|
Ward Hill MA |
1:02:55.5
|
Central Mass Striders |
| 62 | Daniel Verrington | M |
52
|
Bradford MA |
1:06:35.2
|
Central Mass Striders |
| 67 | Paul Hammond | M |
54
|
Lexington MA |
1:07:30.8
|
Whirlaway Racing Team |
| 80 | E J Hrynowski | M |
51
|
Arlington MA |
1:10:56.2
|
Greater Lowell Road Runners |
| 100 | Chuck Hazzard | M |
53
|
Freeport ME |
1:15:09.6
|
Trail Monster Running |
| 114 | Paul Bazanchuk | M |
59
|
Center Conway NH |
1:16:53.2
|
Central Mass Striders |
| 118 | John Pajer | M |
51
|
Leicester MA |
1:17:07.2
|
Central Mass Striders |
| 124 | Marty Lechleider | M |
56
|
Beverly MA |
1:17:59.4
|
Whirlaway Racing Team |
| 129 | Ted Cowles | M |
55
|
West Granby CT |
1:19:02.7
|
Hartford Track Club |
| 141 | Chuck Mantos | M |
57
|
Somersworth NH |
1:21:06.4
|
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