Danny V - 60th birthday run

 Dan Verrington is about to turn 60!  I got as many as possible together to run with Dan, tell some stories and just have a pleasant morning.  Dan is retiring in 2 years and is spending weekends up in Vermont building a house!

We met up at Winnekenni and did a couple of loops for a pleasant 9 miles of running.

Snowflake shuffle 5k

 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 13^th with a 18-flat and Dan was 23^rd 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!

Pl          Time                 Name                Gen      Age       Place     Div       Bib#
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

Dan versus Dave

Dan Verrington and I have been racing against each other since November of 1980.  In the 40+ years of racing we’ve crossed paths nearly 300 times (297).  With injuries impacting both of us we had only raced each other 4 times in 2018 and just once in 2019.  The XC race this weekend was our first time in 2020.  I got the better of Dan this time but the breakdown has been fairly even with me beating Dan 165 times and him beating me 132 times.  Thirty of those races were won by one of us with the other taking second (and since we usually invited each other and carpooled we have no one to blame but ourselves for those losses.  I have won 14 races where Dan finished second and he took the overall win 16 times with me getting second.  Hopefully we’ll have many more close races!

Dan v Dave

I’ve kept track of the “Dan versus Dave” rivalry as Verrington and I have raced each other more times than anyone else we’ve raced.  It seems like we always invite the other along to races or we’ve been interested in many of the same races.  We have been pretty evenly matched over the years.  I started 2018 off with a “win” over Dan getting him by 39 seconds at the Frosty Four in Salem on New Year’s Day.  That was the 292^nd time we’ve raced each other and the breakdown is pretty even with me topping Dan 160 times and Dan finishing ahead of me 132 times.  Oddly 2017 was one of the few years in a long time that either one of us beat the other in every meeting.  I was 9-0 against Dan in 2017.  The last time I beat him in every race in a year was in 2013 but we only met once that year.  Dan beat me in almost every race we did for about a 10 year stretch from 2002-2012, including shutting me out going 10-0 in 2005 and 5-0 in 2004.

Dan Verrington arch rival!

Last weekend’s USATF NE track championships marked the 275^th time Dan Verrington and I have been in the same race.  I believe this makes him my biggest rival.  To date I’ve bested Dan 145 times and he has beaten me 130 times.  Over the last few years I’ve only been able to top him in Mountain races and a rare road race when he is not at 100%.  We’ve had a lot of close battles and 30 times one of us outright won the race while the other finished second.  That is kind of funny since typically we convince each other to go to any given race.  At the current rate Dan should pass me sometime in the next 5 years, right around our 300^th race.  Time will tell.

 

145	Dave	52.73%
130	Dan	47.27%
275	Total
Dan or	Date	Race	Distance			Dave or	Dave or
Dave?				Dan	Dave	Dan won	Dan 2nd
V	2/21/2016	USATF NE open	3.1	0:16:59	0:17:06	-	-
V	1/31/2016	USATF NE masters	3.1	0:17:13	0:17:26	-	-
V	9/20/2015	USATF NE 10k	6.2	0:36:08	0:36:38	-	-
V	9/6/2015	USATF NE 20k	12.4	1:15:32	1:16:36	-	-
V	8/9/2015	USATF NE 5m	5	0:28:41	0:29:01	-	-
D	7/5/2015	Loon Mtn	6.6	1:11:52	1:03:20	-	-
D	6/20/2015	Mt Washington	7.6	1:20:28	1:11:35	-	-
D	6/11/2015	USATF NE 5k	3.11	0:16:45	0:16:30	-	-
V	5/24/2015	USATF NE marathon	26.22

Dan and Eric - Dog racing on a hot and windy day

I watched Dan & Kutya race against Eric & Murdoch this weekend.  It was a blast!  Close race on a tough day.  Nice job by all.  Dan won by a bit over 3.1 miles of XC racing.

Londonderry to Methuen

I haven't done many runs over 10 miles this year, but was hoping for a long run last weekend.  Dan had recently put in 20+ on the Topsfield rail trail so I suggested a point-to-point on the Londonderry-Methuen rail trail.  I mapped it out quickly and found a good section that went from exit 5 in Londonderry to Railroad street in Methuen.  We threw the idea out to the group and I posted it on FB. Jim P was the only one who took us up on it and Krissy offered to drive us to the start (which saved us having to go back up after the run was over).  I'd done all of the trail in segments over the years (including a lot on the Go!) but it'd been a while since I'd been up in Londonderry.

We took off just before 8am at a relaxing clip and the miles just rolled by.  Two-plus hours later we were back at the Methuen depot with 17 miles behind us.  It was a most excellent morning!

Our route

Marsh in Derry

caboose at Windham Depot

Ice on the side of the trail

Short rest break

Dash to the state line

Bear Island - Meredith NH

Bear Island Fire Tower

I’m working on the list of all fire towers in New Hampshire. This includes not only all the standing towers but also the site of former towers. For the most part former sites have very little to show the history of the location. If you are lucky you might find the concrete footings from the tower. This weekend I headed (with Dan) to the Bear Island tower site which is now an active church.

Bear Island is a mostly privately owned island on Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith NH. The island has a large section of forest that is owned by the NH society of forest preservation and more importantly the church site is active in the summer months and visitors are allowed to use the church dock. The church was built around the fire tower which now makes up the steeple of this very scenic island. I got information from the church website that showed which weekends we could legally visit and this weekend worked into the schedule. The questions of the day were, could we find parking in Meredith and how long would it take us to paddle to the island?

Dan picked me up at 7am and we got the boats in the water by 9am. That gave us 30 minutes to cross the mile of water to the church dock and then make our way up to the top of the hill. The crossing was uneventful, despite this being only about the third time I’d ever been in a kayak. It was still pretty early in the day so we only had a few yahoos going 100 mph and giving us a good wake to ride. The view was pretty incredible with the Belknap range in the distance and the island and some very fancy homes up close.

The 5 minute walk to the church was over a very clearly designated trail. We got to the top as a couple of other groups also reached the church. I met a friendly dog and his owner happened to be the person opening up the church. We chatted a bit as she showed us around. I asked about visiting the tower (which was marked as closed) and she was concerned about "liability". An old timer from the island took up the conversation mentioning how he’d been in the tower as a kid and would really like to go up. She relented and we all got to climb up to the top. There wasn’t a view as the trees were too high now but it was a great bonus to get to climb up anyway. We were both surprised that lightning had not struck while we were in church!

We made a short side trip over to the entrance to the forest which was right next to the church and then headed back down for the paddle back. On the way back to the Cattle road landing we detoured a bit and went around Dolly Island and Penny Island on the western side of Bear Island. There were some beautiful houses and a few interesting rocks to navigate around. In all the round trip took us less than 1.5 hours which was nearly half the time it took us to drive there and back. I for one thought it was well worth it for this unusual adventure.

Info on the chapel:
http://stjohnsonthelake.org/



Our GPS track:

http://www.strava.com/activities/165412692



The Fire tower list:

http://www.48x12.com/nhfiretowers/nhfiretowers.html