Fudgcicle 5k (Tewksbury Twosome)

I was having trouble with my posterior-tibial tendon all week but by the end of the week it felt good enough that I figured I'd be okay to give it a go at the final Fudgcicle race.  The weather was looking good so I was hoping to chip a few seconds off of my time from last week.

I met up with Dave La a little after 7am for a warm-up lap (Dave had already done one loop), we headed out and Joe L joined us for a preview of the course loop (Joe ran all eight of the races this year).  The sun was out and temps were in the 40's and there was a little breeze but this looked like a good morning to race.  I changed into race flats and did another easy mile.

I noticed a fast woman doing strides and noted to Dave that she looked to be the one to beat.  Right after that I saw Justin Daglish who has run the fastest time this year (17:22) so I expected him to win going away.  The fast lady (Ciara Camire) bolted at the start and I followed (as did 110 others).  I caught up with her at about 1/4 mile and moved into the lead just before we turned off of the first road (less than 1/2 mile in).  My watch beeped at the half (2:50) which was a couple of seconds faster than last week.  I reached the mile in 5:48 which was about 4 seconds faster than last week. 

I tried to push from 1 to 1.5 which is typically the fastest part of the course.  I couldn't hear Camire behind me but thought that Daglish may have gone out easy and would come flying by any second.  My next 1/2 mile was 2:47 which was 3 seconds faster than last week.  I hit 2 miles in 11:33 (2:48), the second mile was a 5:45 which was my fastest of the day and put me 10 seconds ahead of last week.

Soon after 2 miles I was surprised to see Daglish running in front of me.  He was running with his daughter and had opted for the earlier start.  He offered some words of encouragement as I went by.  I was pretty sure I had the win but I wanted to finish strong and take as much time off of last week.  A 5:56 got me to the 3 mile mark and the LONG last part took me another 45 seconds and got me to the line in first place in 18:16.

I was happy with the effort and the 19 seconds improvement over last week.  Camire took second and topped the women's field a little less than a minute after I crossed.  Dave La had his third week of solid improvement running just over 20 minutes despite a big week and an 8 mile warm-up (and he raced in heavy trainers).  Dave and I teamed up to win the 50+ category in the Twosome and we also had the fastest time of the day by nearly 3 minutes.  Not bad for 2 guys with a combined age of nearly 108 years.

Results (team)

1.  GLRR-50+                 
            18:16   20:05 =   38:21

         Dave Dunham, David Lapierre

Fast Guys                

            19:26   21:44 =   41:10
         Michael Luebeck, David Parziale

Misfits                  
            21:51   22:15 =   44:06
         John Feehrer, Tom Phair

A Sister and a Mister    
            20:23   24:00 =   44:23
         Craig Lampert, Kristy Bouchie
   
Von Trapp Family Singers 
            22:06   22:22 =   44:28
         Ken Obrien, Bethany Mayo

Early Birds              
            21:40   22:52 =   44:32
         Sharon O'Grady, Patrick Murray

Results (overall)

    1 Dave Dunham          259   1/23  53 M5059 Bradford   MA   18:16  5:53 
    2 Ciara Camire         236   1/4   29 F2029 Danvers    MA   19:14  6:12 
    3 Michael Luebeck       97   1/7   32 M3039 MAYNARD    MA   19:26  6:16 
    4 David Lapierre       245   2/23  53 M5059 Chelmsford MA   20:05  6:28 
    5 Craig Lampert         43   2/7   33 M3039 GEORGETOWN MA   20:23  6:34 
    6 Duje Jelaska         273   1/1   26 M2029                 20:28  6:36 
    7 Paul Coughlin        226                  Marlboroug MA   20:49  6:43 
    8 Joe Loureiro          65   3/23  50 M5059 ANDOVER    MA   21:07  6:48 
    9 Sharon O'Grady        26   1/9   45 F4049 SOUTH CHEL MA   21:40  6:59 
   10 David Parziale       227   1/14  45 M4049 Reading    MA   21:44  7:00