NHTI Spring Ahead 3 Miler – I decided early in the week that this would be a good
weekend to get in my first “real” race of the year and test my fitness a bit.
The week was my 6th since coming back from the injury and I was
starting to feel a little more comfortable running on the roads. The previous
week I took a bad spill and my ankle/foot had been a bit swollen since. It
didn’t really hurt to run, so I kept on my schedule. My final day of Physical
Therapy was on Wednesday and I used the opportunity to run a couple of
“up-tempo” miles on the treadmill. The result was better than I’d hoped for
with miles of 5:52 and 5:43 (my fastest two miles of 2015). My ankle was still
swollen but not really much worse. I did some running on snowmobile trails on
both Friday and Saturday which in retrospect probably weren’t’ the smartest
things I’ve done. My foot was a bit tender on Sunday morning but I was able to
do an early morning 4 mile run and felt reasonably comfortable.
I headed up to Concord and got there with plenty of time to
preview the course. I’ve run at NHTI about a dozen times and may have never run
the same course twice. The warm-up went okay, just some minor soreness. I
switched into racing flats and went out for another mile with some strides. I
felt a bit tired and appropriately nervous for a 3 mile race. Right before the
start I asked Chris Mahoney what he thought Heather Mahoney would run and he
said around 6’s. My goal was sub-6 (if I was over 6’s I’d be bummed) with the
feeling that I could hit right around 5:50’s, anything under that would be a
very good day.
107 lined up in the quad and zipped out. I did not get out
well and it took me a bit to get into a groove. It felt very fast! I was in
12th when I checked my watch at ½ mile (2:48). Soon after that I
closed on and passed Heather. My next goal was to pull away from Tim Cox’s
nine-year-old son Aidan. He was running strong, especially for a kid who had to
take something like three strides to one of mine. I got by him before the mile
(5:42) and had moved myself up into 7th place. Nacho was way out
ahead running sub-5’s and Tim Cox had pulled ahead of the chase group. Two of
the guys had fallen off the chase and I set my sights on them. At 1.5 miles I
got two guys and moved into 5th place. Chris offered encouragement
as I went by then yelled at Heather “Don’t let Dunham get away”. Dang, she was
sticking tough and only a few seconds back.
I worked the only hill on the course, the overpass that
took us over route 93. Then everyone had to be cautious on the sharp turns in
the Delta Dental lot and through the tunnel which is aptly named the “Root
Canal”. Back up over the overpass and we were at 2 miles. My split was 5:50,
so I knew I had a good chance at meeting or exceeding my goal time. I went past
Chris again and could hear him yell for Heather who was now maybe a second or
two further back, I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to look.
With a half mile to go, I tried to kick but realized I was
already going as fast as I could. The two guys in front of me were still close
but out of reach and I hoped that I could hold off Heather. I crossed the line
in 17:05 (5:33 last shorter mile) which got me well under my goal of 5:50’s.
Heather was right behind me in 17:10, well under 6 minute pace! I went out for
a 1 mile warm-down and my ankle really flared up. It was quite sore and swollen
post-race. Hopefully I didn’t wreck it to badly and a day or two off will turn
it back around (fingers crossed).
This is a nice race with great post-race food, lots of
prizes, and an entry fee that is “whatever you want to donate”. Gotta love
it!
Concord, NH - March 8, 2015
Place Name Ag S City
St Time Pace
1 NACHO HERNANDO 22 M CONCORD NH
14:52 4:58
2 TIM COX 41 M NORTHWOOD
NH 16:31 5:31
3 SETH RICHARDSON 16 M WOLFEBORO FALLS NH
16:48 5:36
4 JOHN BROWN 32 M MUNSONVILLE
NH 16:52 5:38
5 DAVE DUNHAM 50 M BRADFORD
MA 17:05 5:42
6 HEATHER MAHONEY 32 F WESTFORD MA
17:10 5:44
7 KURT RICHARDSON 24 M CONCORD NH
17:18 5:46
8 JEFFERY ALLEN 13 M LITCHFIELD
NH 17:28 5:50
9 AIDAN COX 09 M NORTHWOOD
NH 17:37 5:53
10 ANDREW KWIATKOWSKI 22 M SOUTH HAMILTON MA
17:38 5:53
107 finishers
2 comments:
'...great post-race food....' - how would you know? I don't think I've ever seen you anywhere 'post-race'.
I had to walk through the building from the finish to get to my car for a warm-down. Perfect opportunity to grab some home-made cookies, brownies, and a couple of bagels :-)
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