Daytona Beach 5k race

 

I started out the month with a trip down to Daytona Beach for the USATF National convention.  I’ve gone to the convention at least a dozen times since 1993 and in recent years Paul Kirsch, Richard Bolt, and Jason Bryant have joined me and mayhem ensued.  This year we had a lot of fun in between meetings with the Mountain/Ultra/Trail (MUT) committee.

 

Paul and I kicked off the weekend with a visit to the highest point in Volusia County (120’).  We followed directions from the County High Point website (http://www.cohp.org/) and they were spot-on. We parked and knocked on the door of the house located at the high point. The owner was gracious and friendly. I had maps in hand and explained our goal. She noted "It's been a while since I've seen any of you guys". She told us to enjoy ourselves. That was pretty cool!  We took a couple of pictures and hit the road.

The next couple of days we found some interesting locations to run, I always try to find a good park or forest and even a fire tower or two if I can, which makes the run all the more interesting.  We crammed in some miles and on Saturday morning we also got to race.

The Convention hosts had a 5km race on the beach at Daytona.  I hadn’t been there since Spring Break in college and only vaguely recall a lot of drinking and a lot of long hot runs.  Race days was reasonably cool (high 50’s) at 6am when we headed out for a warm-up.  We did 3 miles then I switched into racing flats and headed out for another mile with some strides.  I felt pretty good and was hoping to run a fast time.

The tide was coming in so we were losing the best packed sand as time went on.  Just over 100 lined up and we took off into the wind for the first half-mile.  Earlier Jason had asked what I hoped to run and I had told him I was aiming for 5:30’s.  Richard mentioned “sixes” which I though was hokum.  I took it out and found myself in the lead at the ½ mile (2:43).  At the turn two guys went by and Jason and I tucked in.  We now had a tail-wind and it felt like we were moving.  We hit the mile in 5:21 and the two guys gapped me a bit as Jason fell back.  Both of the guys looked strong and were chatting the entire time, obviously this wasn’t a fast pace for them.  I kept them close through 2 miles (10:36) but right at the two mile mark they took off.  Just after two miles I had a spasm in my calf.  That was the first time it had done that in over a year.  I immediately backed off the pace and tried to not “toe-off”.  I was still hoping to break 17:00 but the combination of the calf and the strong head-wind worked against me.

Little did I know Richard was reeling me in as the leaders put 30 seconds on me.  Richard passed Jason around two miles and nearly got me at the line.  The two leaders ran in together and later I found that respectively they had run 13:25 for 5k and 2:13 for the marathon earlier this year.  I wonder if they even broke a sweat running 5:20 pace?  The top woman was also an elite runner, 51 year-old Doreen MCoubrie ran a 2:50 marathon last year and had qualified for the Olympic trials at age 48.

Here are the top ten plus some people I know…

 

Pl         Time     Name                City/St             Age      Gend    AG Pl

1          16:39    Patrick Rizzo        Boulder CO         29         M          1

2          16:40    Brandon Bethke  Lake Forest CA    25         M          2

3          17:10    Dave Dunham     Bradford MA       48         M          1

4          17:12    Richard Bolt        Mtn View CA      42         M          2

5          17:23    Jason Bryant       Elkin NC             40         M          3

6          17:48    Philip Dunn         San Diego CA      41         M          4

7          17:59    Unknown           unk                   M          3

8          18:19    Randy Reina        Helotes TX         52         M          1

9          18:37    Jim Garcia           Westford MA      54         M          2

10         18:46    Doreen McCoubrie Malvern PA       51         F           1

 

17         20:04    Paul Kirsch          Madison NH        46         M          6

29         21:24    Stephen Peckiconis Roslindale MA  53         M          9

30         21:31    Joe Jurczyk         Brecksville OH     48         M          9

48         23:46    Andy Carr           Alpharetta GA     49         M          11

60         25:36    Ellen Miller          Vail CO               53         F           4

 

I’m glad I raced but the calf spasm set me back a bit, I tentatively ran 10 on the beach the following day and slowly (very slowly) eased back to quicker running.

1,000th Blog post

I thougth I'd do something special for my 1,000th post so here it is...

From Cranmore a  couple of years ago...

Sleepy Hollow Mountain race

Earlier this year I was having a lot of trouble deciding if I wanted to do ANY mountain running in 2012.  After hurting my calf at Mt Washington last year (and re-injuring it multiple times) I wasn’t sure if I wanted to chance getting injured again.  Somewhere along the line I changed my mind and did a 540 (a 360 then a 180) and decided that not only did I want to mountain race this year, but I want to attempt to do the entire USATF New England Mountain Series along with the National Championships (Mt Washington).  This weekend was the kick-off to the season here in New England.

I headed up on Saturday and Eric (Morse) and I grabbed Murdoch (his dog) and headed over to Huntington Vermont for another look at the course. 

Guess who is on the dog run!

The course was very well marked and we had no trouble navigating it.  We took it nice and easy and I just tried to picture how the race might play out.  The first climb looked fast (too fast for me) and the first descent looked to be the only one that was “tricky” with some of the steepest and roughest downhill.  The second climb was the longest and steadiest and the downhill looked to be smokin’ fast.  The final climb was tough!  My goal would be to move up and hopefully run that final up/down fast enough to pass some people.

We headed back on race morning and it was already hopping!  Great crowd!  Always fun to see all the familiar faces from the series.  I was mildly surprised to see teammates Jim Johnson and Kevin Tilton (I thought both would not be at the race).  Then I saw Michael Quintal, Tim Mahoney, Ross Krause, and Martin Tighe.  Wow, the CMS Mountain running team was out in full-force.

We headed out onto the last 1.5 miles of the course and everyone got a chance to see that last 1.5 during our 3 mile warm-up.  I switched into my Inov-8 shoes and headed out for another mile and some strides.  I felt pretty good, but a bit nervous.  The good field and worries about my calf had me on edge.  Of course that all disappeared as we took off up the hill.  I moved into the top 15 and felt like I was moving pretty quickly.  It takes me a few minutes to find a rhythm and as the field strung out in front of me I found my pace and settled in.  I only passed one guy on the climb (the very early leader) and hit the top of the 300 foot climb in 14^th place.

Chasing down the 6 guys in front of me at 2 miles

There was a group just a few seconds ahead of me that included Eli Enman and teammates Michael Quintal and Tim Mahoney.  I wanted to keep them in sight on the tricky descent and worked my way down the 500 foot drop (as they slowly pulled away).  The group of 6 guys was 10 seconds ahead when I passed the 2 mile mark.  I felt really good when we started to climb again and kept looking ahead.  I reeled in the group early in the climb but Mike had pulled ahead and for the first time I saw teammate Tim Van Orden up ahead.  I knew both of them had much better leg speed than me, so I’d need to really work the climb.

By the top of the 500 foot climb I’d caught Mike and TiVO and gapped them a little.  The short little single-track section had TiVO catching back up and then he really opened it up when we got on the wide trail.  I knew this would be a spot where I could air it out as the grade wasn’t too steep and the footing was quite good.  I worked as hard as I could and surprised TiVO (and myself) by staying with him on the 300 foot drop.  We came through four miles in the meadow where the finish was stride-for-stride.

My goal now was to get in front of Tim before the single-track climb and hopefully pull away during the next 300 feet of climbing.  I went by him just before the single-track and tried to work the uphill.  I gapped him but was surprised when I heard Mike catching up.  He had a strong final climb and I moved out of his way as we crested the final big climb.  We had a little single-track left and then we were back on the wide trail for the final mile to the finish.  On a little uphill I threw caution to the wind and put all I had into gapping him.  Then it was some very fast downhill running with 300 feet of drop until just before the finish.  I hoped to break away, but could still hear MQ back there (the wet ground splashing was a great give-away to how close he was).  I chugged up the final hill and then “went to the arms” to hold him off as we charged into the finish in 7^th and 8^th with TiVO a little bit back.

I was very happy with the race, I’m not very good at up/down courses and I felt I gave a good effort over this course.  It doesn’t help my lack of confidence for Wachusett (there will be some VERY lousy footing on that course), but I’ll keep my #1 goal in mind: Don’t get hurt!

Mile      Split      Climb/Drop

1          7:16      +340

2          6:05      -500

3          9:06      +500

4          6:17      -330

5          8:13      -100 & +300

6          5:32      -300 & +100

Results

1	39:19	Joshua Ferenc	Saxons River	VT	M	30
2	40:24	Kevin Tilton	NORTH CONWAY	NH	M	30
3	41:08	Jim Johnson	Madison	NH	M	35
4	41:33	Ross Krause	Easthampton	MA	M	32
5	41:44	Todd Callaghan	Beverly	MA	M	42
6	42:10	Patrick Johnson	Anchroage	AK	M	23
7	42:33	Dave Dunham	Bradford	MA	M	48
8	42:38	Mike Quintal	North Andover	MA	M	34
9	42:46	Tim Van Orden	Bennington	VT	M	43
10	42:52	Eli Enman	Huntington	VT	M	35

USATF Convention - Part 3

The Convention (day 3)

On Saturday we started with an early morning run.  I had entered the

Market Street

mile race but the injury left me barely able to hobble through the warm-up with Paul and Richard.  They both had a solid run with Richard taking third place overall and second in the 40+ with a fine 4:56; Paul ran his first road race in “a long time” running 5:44. 

Post race posing

USATF NE president and treasurer

Later in the day we headed through (not) scenic East St. Louis and bagged a county high point in Illinois.  After the HP we headed over to a very nice crushed stone path on top of a levee.  It was actually pretty scenic and would have been great if not for my calf and the constant strong winds.

The Convention (day 4)

On Sunday morning we only had the closing session to attend, but Richard and Nancy had an early flight so we were back out on the bike path for a wake up run.  We had plenty of time for a large peppermint mocha at Starbucks (no they don’t come with a pink umbrella!) before heading to the final meeting.  After the meeting it was back to the bike path for a final tour of the water-front.  This time the weather had changed for the worse with temperatures dropping into the mid-40’s and the rain coming down pretty heavily.  For me that meant a long day of wearing wet shoes (I only brought one pair).  Even with the lousy calf and the less than ideal weather it was a blast going to the convention.  I ended up volunteering for a bunch of tasks for this year (despite saying I’d be cutting back) and had a super time hanging out with Richard, Paul, and Jason Bryant. 

 

USATF convention - part 2

The Convention (day 2)

On Friday we did an early morning run (sunrise) along the Mississippi River.  The River Trail was a trail in name only.  Mostly it was just the paved road with a painted lane for biking.  It was flat which was what I needed with my balky calf.  Richard noted that it was definitely “a working riverfront”.  The most scenic part of the run had to be the finish under the Gateway Arch and the historic courthouse. 

In between meetings we took a short drive out to the St Louis zoo and the large park that had some great paths around it.  We got some running in on crushed stone and some paved bike path.  My calf was not happy and I was icing it every spare moment.  After our run we drove to the St Louis city high point. The city is its own county so we had a city and county high point rolled into one.  It was located in a small park not too far from the zoo.  We spent all of 2 minutes at the HP taking a couple of pictures.  Then it was back for more meetings.

Richard at the county high point

Action Dave meets Olympic gold medalist Jon Drummond

USATF convention - part 1

The Convention (day 1)

I’ve been going to the USATF convention off and on since 1992 or so.  This year the convention was held on the traditional first weekend in December in St Louis Missouri.  As with any trip I go on, during the planning phase I worked on some unusual locations to visit.  For this trip I located a bunch of parks and trails and a few County High points to visit.

Paul in a rare moment on the computer :-)

The last couple of years Richard Bolt (now living in CA) and Paul Kirsch have joined me in whatever I came up with to visit.  Paul and I arrived on Thursday and headed out right from the airport to visit the St Louis County high point.  This was just a “drive up” and the trails in the area were a bit too hilly for me as I was nursing a tender calf/Achilles.  After “bagging” the 900’ high point (we climbed about 5’) we headed to the Chubb Trail which was located in a big park and had a flat section along a railroad and scenic river.

St Louis County High Point

Heh, heh, you said "Chubb" trail