I was nervous all weekend leading into the Chelmsford 4th of July race (Carson Memorial). Funny how a 2-mile race can seem so much more daunting than a mountain climb or a marathon. Part of that is how everything is amplified due to the shortness of the race, mess up and there is little time to get back on track. I was also worried about getting knocked down like I did last time the race was held in 2019. On race morning I got up at 4 a.m. and was out the door at 4:30 for a 3-mile run to loosen up. I felt sluggish and tired, which is exactly how I expected to feel. It seemed like a long time until the race start at 9:30 a.m. I really enjoy this race which is a point-to-point course along the route of the parade. Typically, the course is packed with people waiting for the parade and offering encouragement to the runners. This would be my 13th time taking part going all the way back to 1983 when I got the first of my five wins at this race. I knew I would not be shooting for a win but was hoping for a “podium” finish in the 50-59 age group. As I approach the end of the age group it gets tougher and tougher to beat the young 50-year-olds! Heck, it is even tough when races have 5-year age groups. My other goal was to beat my time from 2019 of 11:21. Based on my 5:19 back in April I thought 11:10-11:20 would be in the ballpark. I did a little workout on Thursday but that did nothing for my confidence as I’d need to run a heck of a lot faster than I did then and that was only ¼ mile…not 2 miles.
I got to the race an hour before the start and picked up my number from Tom Hildreth. Tom had gotten me a free entry and gave me number 58 to match my age. He also drew a “DD” smiley face on the number which I didn’t notice until after the race. Too funny! I met up with Joe Shairs and Paul McGovern (Whirlaway) and we headed out onto the course for a 3 mile warm-up. The uphill to 1.5 seemed bigger than years past! In all it climbed 88’, never anything that you’d call a hill but sneaky up. Dave Lapierre caught us as we turned to head back to the start and we had a fun time chatting as we finished the warm-up. I quickly changed into race gear and headed out for another mile before heading to the line.
Nearly 1,300 lined up and were shuffled slowly forward from the fake start line to the second fake line and then finally to the actual start line. That is a very smart plan to help control things at the start. I made sure to stay on the left side of the line (last time I was on the right and everyone angles to the right after the start) and I did not let any little kids sneak in front of me (that is how I got tripped up last time). As always, it was a crazy fast start with little kids sprinting and then basically coming to a standstill. I kept out of trouble, with just one clipped heal as we went under the highway. As usual there was a lot of howling as we went under, pretty funny. I could see Joe a little ahead and thought he was taking it out under control. It is easy to go out too fast the first ¼ mile as it drop 13’. I was a step under 80 seconds at the ¼ which was right where I wanted to be. I counted about 25 guys ahead of me, which is surprising. In normal years I’d be around 50th at that point.
The field was definitely smaller (1283 finishers this year and 1800 in 2019) and not as fast up front. Joe slowly pulled away over the next ¼ mile that climbs 27’, I felt pretty good logging an 84.7 and moving up as we turned onto the main road (the only turn in the race). Mike Luebeck (GLRR) pulled along side and said something like “let’s go get them”. I couldn’t say anything or I might pass out from lack of oxygen but I certainly agreed and tried my best to hang with him as we closed a bit on Joe. The third quarter climbed another 10’ and this would be my slowest split of the day (86.2) but I had closed a bit on Joe and was feeling okay. I kept thinking “get to the mile and the climbing is done” or something like that. Another 16’ of climb and a split of 84.6 got me to the mile in 5:35.3…right on pace for an 11:10. It also got me to within a step or two of Joe. The 18’ of drop in the next ¼ had me increasing the tempo to a 82.5 and also got me past Joe which was a surprise. Now I was running scared as even Joe on a less than ideal day has a fierce kick. The mostly flat ¼ that followed (82.9) had me catching another guy as Mike started to really pull away. The pace was too hot for me and I even slowed a bit despite the downhill (17’), maybe seeing Chelmsford Center so FAR off in the distance didn’t help? A 83.2 split had me running alone, with just one guy that I might catch and a hope that no one would sprint by me at the end. The final uphill (16’) doesn’t sound like much but it really hurts at this point in the race. I was a bit surprised to get one more guy as the line came into sight. I crossed in a very surprising 11:02 for 13th overall and 1st in the 50-59, it took me a solid minute on my hands and knees to get my breath back enough to walk to where I’d stowed my shoes a couple of days before. Joe took 2nd in the 50+ eight seconds later. The faster second mile (5:35 to 5:26) was also a surprise. Hopefully that bodes well for the track 1,500 I’ll be doing later this month.
Splits
1:19.8
1:24.7
2:44.5
1:26.2
4:10.7
1:24.6
5:35.3 5:35.3
1:22.5
6:57.8
1:22.9
8:20.7
1:23.2
9:43.9
1:18.1 11:02.0 5:26.7
Results:
Place
Time
Name
Sex
Age
Pace Div
1
9:48 Abdel
Bouremdane
M
44
4:54 M4049
2
9:51 Nate Fondakowski
M
18
4:56 M1718
3
10:06 Unk Unk
0
5:03
4
10:12 Patrick
Morasse
M 37
5:06 M3039
5
10:20 Drew
Fottler
M
22 5:10
M1929
6
10:23 John
Paquet
M
27
5:12 M1929
7
10:37 Neal
Darmody
M 32
5:19 M3039
8
10:37 David
Perloff
M
29
5:19 M1929
9
10:39 Andrew
Downey
M 38
5:20 M3039
10
10:42 Drew
Madsen
M 19
5:21 M1929
11
10:57 Max
Gregoire
M 18
5:29 M1718
12
10:58 Michael
Luebeck
M 37
5:29 M3039
13
11:02 Dave
Dunham
M 58
5:31 M5059
14
11:03 Steve
Gendron
M 34
5:32 M3039
15
11:07 Ben
Trantanella
M 20
5:34 M1929
16
11:10 Joe
Shairs
M
54
5:35 M5059
Of note:
29
11:47 Paul
McGovern
M 62
5:54 M6069 Top 60-69
66
13:16 James
Pawlicki
M 47
6:38 M4049 7th 40-49 CMS
M50-59 results:
13
11:02 Dave Dunham
M
58 5:31
M5059 Bradford CMS
16
11:10 Joe
Shairs
M
54
5:35
M5059
CMS
26
11:41 Jonathan Morris
M
53 5:51
M5059 Methuen
36
12:05 Ryan
Hunt
M
50 6:03
M5059
38
12:07 Fil
Faria
M
57
6:04 M5059 Tewksbury
42
12:18 Dave Hannon
M
51
6:09 M5059
49
12:37 David Lapierre
M
58 6:19
M5059 Chelmsford CMS
57
12:54 Brett Swyggart
M
51 6:27
M5059 Westford
63
13:07 Eric Beauchesne
M 52
6:34 M5059 Chelmsford
74
13:27 Bob
Sullivan
M
55 6:44
M5059 Chelmsford – Race director
No comments:
Post a Comment