SEA race

I was pretty pumped up for my first 5km road race of the year.  Since Jan 1 (when I ran a 4m road race), I've raced 12 times but all were snowshoe races where 8 or 9 (or sometimes 20) minute miles are not unusual.  The idea of sprinting around at 5:30 pace or better had me pretty nervous.

A bunch of the CMS guys turned out for the flat multi-loop course in Concord NH.  We headed out for a preview of the course.  I put on racing flats and went out for another mile of strides then hit the line.  I focused on Dan Verrington and Rod Viens as everyone took off.  There was a lot of elbows being thrown in the pack with the early turns in the course.  The best part of the loops would be that there wouldn't be many long stretches into the wind.

Dan and Rod pulled  ahead a bit from 400-1200m but by the mile I was just a step back.  The (short) mile was hit in 5:15.  Soon after I passed Dan as Rod started to pull away.  The second mile was a bit slower than I'd hoped (5:30) and I passed 2m in 10:45.  My goal was 5:15/10:40 so I was still close.  Rod continued to pull away as I worked with a younger guy to keep things rolling in the long stretch into the wind.

I passed 3m in 16:21 (5:36) which was about 10 seconds slower than I'd hoped.  I kicked as hard as I could (34 seconds for the last .1) but couldn't quite reel back in the younger kid who really upped the tempo over the last 400.  I finished in 16:55 with nothing left, that was all I had this early in the year.

We headed out for another 3 mile warm-down and had fun chatting about races we were planning to do.  Always fun to hang out with the guys.

Next up:  Not sure, maybe Red's 5m or maybe the George Davis 5,000...

Results:
 1   1/13   M3034   15:54   5:07 Greg Hammett           33 M   538 Chesterfield NH         CMS
    2   1/15   M1929   15:59   5:09 MacKenzie Kilpatrick   28 M   381 Concord NH             
    3   1/17   M3539   16:00   5:09 Justin Montgomery      35 M   539 Claremont NH           
    4   2/15   M1929   16:36   5:21 Jeff Goupil            23 M   541 Keene NH                CMS
    5   1/16   M4044   16:39   5:22 Rod Viens              43 M   214 Grantham NH            CMS-40+
    6   1/12   M1519   16:54   5:27 Graham Hayslip         19 M   575 Canterbury NH          
    7   1/23   M4549   16:55*  5:27 Dave Dunham            47 M   540 Bradford MA        CMS-40+
    8   2/23   M4549   17:18   5:35 Dan Verrington         48 M   367 Bradford MA           CMS-40+
    9   3/15   M1929   17:20   5:35 Ryan Lacasse           25 M   282 Bow NH                 
   10   3/23   M4549   17:27   5:37 Ernest Brake           49 M   382 North Sutton NH    CMS-40+