Monday, March 18, 2024

100 Hats Race

 I'd run the 100 hats race two years ago and really enjoyed this road mile.  Last year I was injured the week before the race and sadly missed it.  This year I was struggling a bit with a few minor (??) issues and wasn't sure I'd make the race.  On Wednesday I decided to test things out with a little workout.  My goal was to run 4x440 with 440 rest and try to run under 90 seconds for each.  The workout went well and none of my parts fell off, so I was fairly confident I could make it through the mile race.

I cut out of work a little early to get to Concord by 3 p.m. which would give me just enough time to warm-up.  I'd done my normal morning run and lunch run and felt decent despite getting a migraine the night before.  I'd been thinking about this race since December when I'd signed up so I was fairly jazzed up all day.  At number pick-up I thought Suzy Seagrove (RD) was a bit standoffish asking me my name and how to spell it.  I played along, thinking "maybe she just doesn't remember me".  Right after that someone greeted her with an enthusiastic "Hi Suzy" to which she replied..."Suzy is my sister".  Too funny!

I loosened up with a 3 mile warm-up and felt absolutely miserable.  I was queasy from the migraine and my knee (torn meniscus) was really unhappy with me on this damp day.  I worried that my goal of sub-5:50 was slipping away.  If I was over 6 I'd be bummed.  If all went great I might be under 5:45.  Two years ago I'd run 5:38 and taken third place.

100 of us lined up (100 hats is named for the 100 hats that Suzy knits and are given away after you finish, you get to choose based on when you get back into the gym).  I stayed way to the right side as the course takes a sharp left turn maybe 20 yards in.  I did not want to get trampled.  I got a bad start and felt like I was running in quicksand as I took the first turn in 10th place.  Some younger kids were sprinting out and a couple of contenders were out in front as well.  Each quarter mile was marked with a "Hello Kitty" doll.  I had moved up to 5th place by the quarter in 83.9.  There was a 20' "bump" to negotiate at about 600 yards and I caught a guy before the bump and was passed going over it.  By the half mile (87.9/2:51.8) I'd moved back into 5th and two of the four guys were not far ahead.  From the 1/2 mile mark you can see the 3/4 mark which is either encouraging or very discouraging.  The lead kid who had gone out like a rocket was caught right at the 3/4 mark and I rambled through about 20 seconds later having moved up to third place.  I'd hit 3/4 in 4:17.9 (86.1) and thought I had a great shot at meeting my goal.  The slight climb in the final quarter was tough but I moved into 2nd with 200 to go and ran scared to the finish.  I ended up holding my place and just missing a sub 5:45 with a 5:45.5 (rounded up to 5:46 for road racing). I got a llama hat a gnome duck, and a McDonalds gift card "with enough to buy a Shamrock Shake".

I finished out the 15 mile day with a short warm-down and 1.5 hours on the bike.  Great way to end the work week!

 Splits (marked by "Hello Kitty") 83.9, 87.9 (2:51.8), 86.1 (4:17.9), 87.6 = 5:45.5











Sunday, March 17, 2024

Looking back - March 2004

 

20 Years ago – March 2004: I ran 300 miles with no days off but was still recovering from hamstring tear at the attachment. I only raced twice during the month.  The first was a late season snowshoe race on the Merrimack River trail.  I won the 3.3-mile dash in 21:43.  A week later I turned 40 and celebrated by getting my ass kicked at the Merrimack River trail 10 mile.  I ended up finishing in sixth place overall in 1:06:19, CMS teammate Paul Low ran an excellent 58:23 to win the race.

 

1 58:23 Paul Low            30        

2 1:00:19 Ben Nephew         28        

3 1:01:50 Chris Mahoney      26

4 1:02:53 Michael Cohen       25

5 1:03:35 Richard Bolt          33        

6 1:05:42 Matthew Curran    46

7 1:05:51 Paul Young           38

8 1:06:20 Dave Dunham       40

9 1:07:59 Ken Clark              41

10 1:08:15 Abedon Pichardo 35

11 1:09:36 Donald Fay         30

12 1:09:51 Rob Smith           36

13 1:10:36 Bob Kearns         33

14 1:11:08 Kelli Lusk            34

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Looking back - March 1999

 

25 Years ago – March 1999: I ran 439 miles with no days off, but I was hampered by calf issues and a badly sprained ankle.  My only race of the month was the Melrose Police chase ½ marathon which was the USATF NE championships.  The race had nearly 1,600 finishers on a cloudy 40-degree day.  Times were a bit slow over the rolling course with a winning time of 1:07:21. I ended up a disappointing 5th place but was only 9 seconds out of the win.  I remember the entire pack of about a dozen guys sticking together through 10 miles.  It really didn’t string out until the last mile or so.  The finish on the Melrose middle school track was crazy.  The four guys in front of me were in lock-step entering the track.  Dwyer & Snow from the CMS “track team” battled with Hammer (BRC) and Darley (GBTC) right to the line.  Dan Verrington was the final scoring member of CMS crossing the line in 11th place in 1:09:09.  The top 11 within 48 seconds!  Craig Fram was the top master’s runner in 1:07:47.

 

    1   1:07:21   5:09 Jack Dwyer                24 M Brighton MA                CMS

    2   1:07:21   5:09 Peter Hammer           33 M Waban MA                  BRC

    3   1:07:23   5:09 Rusty Snow                29 M WATERTOWN MA         CMS

    4   1:07:26   5:09 Jesse Darley               26 M SOMERVILLE MA          GBTC

    5   1:07:30   5:09 Dave Dunham            34 M BRADFORD MA            CMS

    6   1:07:33   5:10 Chris Magill                26 M ALBION RI                   BAA

    7   1:07:41   5:10 Jason Cullinane           29 M SOMERVILLE MA          CMS

    8   1:07:47   5:11 Craig Fram                 40 M PLAISTOW NH             WHIRL

    9   1:08:00   5:12 Jim Dandeneau          31 M TAUNON MA                BAA

   10  1:08:01   5:12 David Marcus              28 M SOMERVILLE MA          BAA

   11  1:08:09   5:12 Dan Verrington           36 M BRADFORD MA           CMS

Friday, March 15, 2024

Looking back - March 1994

 

30 Years ago – March 1994: I ran 316 miles with no days off, but a groin and back injury were still bothering me, so I did stay away from the racing scene.  My only race during the month was the Total Sports 5k in Londonderry NH.  Mike Beeman (of Mike Beeman’s Total Sports) put on the race.  Teammate, training partner, and friend, Byrne Decker and I tied for the win in a field of 56 runners.  We ran 16:09.


Miss you Big Mike!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

March 1989

 

35 Years ago – March 1989: I ran 431 miles with no days off.  I only raced one time that month as I was in training for my first marathon and doing a lot of hard workouts.  The only race I did was the USATF (then NEAC) New England 30k championships in Boylston.  My plan was to run through the half-marathon in 5:10 pace then ease up for the last 5 miles.  My training was based on attempting the marathon at 5:10 pace so this would be more like a hard workout than a race.  The Stu’s course is tough, and, on this day, I had CMS ace Scott Bagley to deal with.  We rolled through 10k in 31:39, and then our second 10k was 31:37.  We hit the ½ marathon in 66:45 and I eased up.  Bagley took off with team leader Don Drewniak yelling to him that I was falling apart.  I remember thinking that was funny, because I felt great.  Bagley ended up winning and I took second place in 1:37:54. Bagley’s time is the fastest run over the certified course with my time the second fastest.  In 1989 the average income per year was $27,450 and a gallon of gas cost 97 cents!

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Workout

 Got in my workout this morn.  50 degrees and just a slight breeze.  2m warm-up (715/706) into 4x440 with 440 rest.  Hoped to be under 90 for them but terrain might make a difference (all on the 5m loop I have). 83.5 (slightly downhill), 89.3 (mostly up), 85.2 (mostly flat) and 87.7 (a little up at the start).  Finished with 1m warm-down (659).  Total of 34:18 for 5m.  Felt okay, time will tell if everything feels okay post-run.  Hoping to run under 5:50 at the mile.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Week Ending 03/10/24

 A week of tweaks.  Did something to my left knee avoiding a dog bite on Monday and on Saturday my left knee/hamstring/calf were giving me grief.  The hamstring tear seems to crop up now and then.  I think maybe compensation for the other leg is causing the issue.  Hoping I can ease up a bit and run through it.

On a happier note, I went to the NCAA D1 track nationals at New Balance.  Big group - Doug & Manny D., Dave-la, Danny V., Greg, Joe, and Jim P.  Also hung out with the NH crew (Scott C, Ernie, Tim C, Jay S) and got in a nice run around the Charles river.  Definitely a worthwhile trek.

Week - 82

Month - 114

Year - 817

Life - 159,598










Sunday, March 3, 2024

Week Ending 03,03,24

 Very tiring week with late nights Tues - Thurs (with VITA and a night race).  I dropped my mileage a bit in deference to the prior month of weeks hovering around 90 miles.  My theoretical cap is 80, so I'm still running a bit more than "normal".  The race was a bit less than hoped for but I'm hopeful as I'm feeling halfway decent at the end of the week.  My final run of the week included a last 3 miles of 21:05...which is pretty darned fast for me.  Last effort of the week was a fantastic 2 hour ride with temps nearly 3 times what they were last Sunday!

Week - 85

Month (March) - 32

Year - 785

Life - 159,516






Saturday, March 2, 2024

February numbers

 

Some numbers from February:

Ran the depot to state line 44 times

International space station sighted 1 time

Nate sighted 0 times

Single runs – 3 days

Double runs – 7 days

Triple runs – 19 days

Total runs = 74

363 miles or 12.5 miles per day (but only 4.9 miles per run)

 

This month ranked as my fourth best Feb with a leap day:

 

Year

Miles

Rank

1980

44

12

1984

181

11

1988

372

2

1992

480

1

1996

370

3

2000

220

9

2004

241

8

2008

289

7

2012

362

5

2016

310

6

2020

193

10

2024

363

4

Friday, March 1, 2024

New Balance night at the track

I convinced Verrington to join me for a romp 25 times around the track in Brighton for the New Balance “Night at the Track”.  I probably would not have done it without a partner in crime since night races are not my favorite.  One of the factors working in favor of doing this race was that I’d never raced on February 29.  I only have four other days that I haven’t raced on! 

 

I seeded myself at 19:00 which got me listed as 13th of 19 in the final heat of the meet.  This would be a quickly run mini-meet kicking off at 6 p.m. which meant my race wouldn’t start until about 9 p.m. which is a solid 2 hours beyond my normal sleep time.  I kept pretty much to my normal routine with a 6 mile run in the morning and a 3 mile run at lunch (both at a moderate pace).  I did not run after work instead opting to nap for about an hour before Dan picked me up at 5 p.m. and we were at the track by 6:30.  That gave us plenty of time to chat with familiar faces. It was great to briefly catch up with Fernando Braz and talk to Don Fay and David Westenberg who would both be in our heat.

 

Once the first heat of the 5,000 started Dan and I went upstairs to the warm-up track and did an easy 2 miles to loosen up (and in my case wake up).  After that I put on my Nike fast shoes and did another mile around the track.  I felt a bit tired and very unsure of myself.  I lined up in the second row at the start figuring it’d be just as easy to start in the back from that position.  I was hoping to roll along with 45 second laps and see if I could manage around 6 minutes per 1,600 meters (a little short of a mile).  My last 5,000 on the track was about a year ago and I’d just barely ducked under 19 (17:57).  I settled in the back and hit the first lap in almost exactly 45.  I passed a few people as the laps went by and hit the 1600 in 6:03 and then had my worst 3 laps of the race running right around 47 seconds per lap.  I felt awful.  After that I rebounded and hit 3200 in 12:15 (6:12).  I had a good back and forth with one of the other runners that kept us both working.  My last mile was better (6:08) and I kicked for home to duck under 19:10 with a 11th place 19:07.3.  Dan and I mustered together a mile warm-down and called it a night.  No more night races please!

 

1          17:41.3             Steven Young               M29      GBTC

2          18:06.2             Madelyn Germain          W18     Norfolk

3          18:07.3             Matthew Pilon               M15      Unatt

4          18:07.6             Kieran Newcomb           M30      Valor TC

5          18:11.1             Don Fay                        M50      GLRR

6          18:19.5             David Westenberg         M66      GLRR

7          18:19.8             Jessica Minty                W39     Battle Rd TC

8          18:46.8             Margaret Bowles           W18     Unatt

9          18:58.2             Ralph Mead                   M57      GMAA

10        19:01.1             Kylie Bemis                   W34     Unatt

11        19:07.3             Dave Dunham               M59      CMS

12        19:16.0             Chloe Pangonis             W29     GBTC

13        19:30.2             Jenna Castro                 W31     GBTC

14        19:51.8             Rebecca Patel               W20     Unatt

15        19:58.3             William Savoie              M18      Marianapolis Prep

16        20:12.3             Daniel Verrington          M61      CMS

17        20:20.2             Nate Palter                   M21      Norwich TC

18        20:26.1             Ellen Malloy                  W25     Tracksmith

19        21:18.1             Grace Mazza                 W24     Unatt

 

If I just look at my Kilometer splits I ran a fairly even race, with a faster first and last K.

 

200 meter splits

Km splits

Rolling time

45.798

45.798

45.592

44.645

44.947

03:45.8

03:45.8

44.787

45.300

45.518

46.940

47.477

03:52.2

07:37.9

46.943

46.188

46.367

46.560

45.568

03:51.3

11:29.3

46.667

45.970

45.856

46.216

46.544

03:51.1

15:20.4

46.544

45.546

46.090

46.546

45.448

03:46.9

19:07.3

Green = best 5

Red = worst 5


Thursday, February 29, 2024

Leap day race

 Late night racing at the New Balance Track.  My first time racing on Feb. 29.

I’ve raced on nearly every day of the year.  Racing on the 29th of February has been especially difficult as it only happens every four years and it doesn’t often also fall on a weekend (which is when most races are held).

 

The other days I’ve never raced on:

April 4

November 16

December 18

December 24