Next up on the racing a calendar (01/17/21) was the Snowflake Shuffle 5k in Bedford NH. This was another Millennium managed event and a big one at that with over 1,000 entrants. Dan Verrington and I carpooled up to Bedford and then headed out to preview the course. The wind was howling with steady breezes of 15-20 mph. The first half-mile was into the teeth of the wind and then it wasn’t so bad. There were a couple of little hills (one at the mile and another after 2 miles). I felt like we were moving pretty quickly and was a bit surprised that we ran 8:23s for the warm-up. It felt like sub-8’s. I’m never sure if that is a good sign or bad sign for what is to come.
We quickly changed into race gear and headed our separate ways; I went out for another mile with some strides. My calf was very tight. I’m guessing the Nike Vaporfly shoes may have something to do with that. I dropped off my jacket and did another half mile to stay warm before the start. It was 35 degrees but a bit chilly with the wind. I went with a technical t-shirt and gloves (Dan was a bit more conservative opting for a technical longsleeve under his singlet). I was seeded 13th with a 18-flat and Dan was 23rd at 18:40. I was happy to see that they were starting two runners at a time and with the luck of the draw I would be starting with Mark Laprade. Mark usually beats me but has been troubled with a calf issue since late last year so I’m a lot closer to him now. I jumped the gun a bit at the start, going between the countdown clock getting to zero and the announcer shouting “go”. That doesn’t matter too much as everything is chip timed and your official results are the time from the start mat to the finish mat.
Mark flew by me 100 meters in and I struggled to go with him. Suddenly at ¼ mile he pulled up and stopped on the side of the road. I’d find out after he was lightheaded and dizzy. He was able to jump back in and finish but any chance of tucking in behind him into the wind were gone. I focused ahead knowing once I got past the first turn the wind wouldn’t be bad. I was thinking how lucky the guys in front of me were as four of them had grouped up and were working together as we turned toward the mile. I checked how far they were ahead and the last guy in the group was only 5 seconds ahead as we started the downhill after the mile. I caught him during the next quarter mile and two other guys before we turned into the Pilgrim development at 1.7 miles. I kept looking for 2 miles and it seemed to take forever to arrive. I glanced at my watch and saw 11:24 (or was it 11:28?) and was happy to see that. I caught Casey Carroll (who’d beaten me by 18 seconds at the Millennium Mile) a little after the 2 mile mark. We worked the 30’ hill together and then I was surprised to lose him on the downhill. I turned onto route 101 and the wind was a gentle push which felt great (my last ½ mile was 2:43). I was worried the entire race that Dan was stalking me, so I gave all I had and was quite pleased with the result (17:38.9). I won the 50+ and beat all 40+ as well. Dan took second in the 50+ running 18:52. The course came out a little short with most getting 3.05 on GPS. That would still get me under 18 (about 17:56) so no complaints. Dan and I finished the day with another loop of the course. All in all it was a fun day!
1 15:05.8 Jarrod Ottman M 22 MOPEN 1 101
2 15:19.2 Evan Thornton M 16 MOPEN 2 102
3 16:05.6 Conor Sleith M 34 MOPEN 3 106
4 16:19.4 Mark Rabasco M 26 M25-29 1 104
5 16:20.8 Thom Paquette M 29 M25-29 2 105
6 16:21.4 Cameron Cook M 26 M25-29 3 103
7 16:49.0 Corey Girard M 38 M35-39 1 107
8 17:11.4 Ian Post M 16 M13-19 1 110
9 17:38.1 Brandn Langdn M 20 M20-24 1 118
10 17:38.9 Dave Dunham M 56 M55-59 1 113
13 18:08.7 Casey Carroll M 49 M45-49 1 112
14 18:12.0 Rachel Hurley F 20 FOPEN 1 132
16 18:21.7 Maddy Pfeifer F 26 FOPEN 2 122
19 18:35.6 Mark Laprade M 48 M45-49 2 114
24 18:42.2 Tyler Brannen M 48 M45-49 3 125
27 18:52.8 Dan Verrington M 58 M55-59 2 123
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