Perry's birthday race

I had a couple of choices for races this weekend.  I really wanted to do indoor track but BU only had a 2 week series this year and I'd already missed week #1.  I picked the "Birthday race" in Concord as the price was good (whatever you wanted to donate) and the weather look to be manageable.

I arrived an hour before the start to give ample time to sign up and preview the course.  I'd run the certified 4 mile back in 2012 but wanted a reminder.  I knew it was hilly but hoped to crack 24 minutes.  The start/finish road was a layer of ice and snow.  Luckily that was only the first 100 meters and last 50 meters of the race but it meant some scary footing especially on the turn of and onto that road.  The first 1.3 miles climbed 220', about a 4% grade.  That was followed by a 1/2 mile drop of 100'.  At that point I turned of the main road for a short neighborhood loop.  This section from 1.8 to 2.4 was messy, there was a lot of snow and ice.  If you picked your path you were on road for about half of that stretch.  After that it was back on the main road for the remaining 100' of climb.  The 10mph wind was a tailwind at this point which was nice.  The top of the hill seemed a lot windier and colder.  The final 1.3 had the 220' of drop that brought me back to the start.

After the warm-up I changed into race flats and headed out for another mile.  I saw a few people I knew which was nice.  Exchanged greetings with Tom & Ellen Raffio and Dave Audet and of course birthday boy Perry Seagroves.

A smallish field lined up and I got a warning from Dylan Tuttle (who I'd raced earlier this year at the Epsom 4 mile) about one of the NHTI guys who was known to take it out hard.  He wasn't kidding.  Zoom that kid was out as I settled into a reasonable pace.  My watch beeped at 1/2 mile and the Dylan hopefully asked "1k?", he probably wasn't happy with my answer.  "half".  I hit the half in 313 which put me about 15 seconds behind the River Groves (NHTI's top XC runner with a penchant for going out very hard).  The climb got tougher in the 2nd half mile (83 to 74 feet) but I started to find my pace and noticed the Groves was not gaining any ground.  I hit the mile in 626 (313) and the kid was still about 15 seconds up but knowing I'd maintained as he slowed gave me hope.  I closed a bit more before we started the downhill and hit 1.5 miles in 939 a 313 split (with 55' of climb and 35' of drop).  He was now only 5 seconds ahead.  He shed his sweatshirt just before 2 miles and I thought he must be getting serious since I'm catching him.  I caught him at the 2 mile mark with a 248 split hitting two in 1227.

Suddenly the he just stopped!  I went by as hard as I could hoping he wouldn't jump right into my wake and ride along.  I couldn't hear him but thought he might be right there.  The climb in the icy neighborhood was tough but I knew once I got to 2.7 it'd be all downhill to the finish.  The next half mile was covered in 313 (with 63' of climb).  Then the top of the hill was in sight and I was working it.  The next half took me 255 (with 40' of climb and then 40' of drop) and that had me at 3 miles in 1835.  Dang, I knew I'd need to run a 524 final mile to break 24 (and meet my goal of breaking 6's).  That be the fastest mile I'd run this year.  Honestly I figured I could do around 530 so I was bummed but certainly didn't ease up.  The next half was a 235.  Yikes!  I didn't think I could get rolling that fast.  Now I was thinking I might actually have a shot at sub 24.  I was counting down landmarks, 600 to go at the turn, 400 to go at the funny mailbox, 200 to go when you can see the school.  I gave my best and was shocked to see the clock still well in the 23's when I turned the corner and carefully covered the final 50 meters.  My last 1/2 mile was 236 for a fastest mile in nearly 2 years of 511.6.

I was very pleased with a 2347 over this tough course and headed out for an easy mile warm-down.  I stopped inside afterwards (to give my raffle ticket to someone who was staying for the awards) and bumped into the Groves who asked about my 5k personal best.  I mentioned a 14:08 and he asked when I ran that, he didn't seem surprised when I told him "30 years ago".

I got in a very nice (although very bonky) additional 3 miles a bit later to close out the day.

Results:

Touch Of Grey 4 Mile

Concord, New Hampshire - December 16, 2017 (57 finishers, 7 finishers 50-59)

Pl         Time     Name                            Age      Sx        City, St             Pace     Team

1          23:48    DAVE DUNHAM                53         M          BRADFORD MA    5:57      CMS

2          24:48    RIVER GROVES                19         M          NORTHWOOD NH 6:12      NHTI

3          25:09    JASON SCHOELLER          19         M          PEMBROKE NH    6:18      NHTI

4          25:44    DYLAN TUTTLE                21         M          CONCORD NH     6:26     

5          26:19    ANDREW SHEPHERD        18         M          NEWURY NH       6:35      NHTI

6          26:52    DAVE AUDET                   52         M          CONCORD NH     6:43     

7          27:36    PHIL BROGAN                 32         M          CONCORD NH     6:54     

8          28:02    JONAS AVIZA                  61         M          CONCORD NH     7:01     

9          28:10    RYLEIGH LORIMER           22         F           CONCORD NH     7:03     

10         29:12    MEREDITH ABRAMSON     37         F           BOW NH             7:18     

15         32:23    PERRY SEAGROVES          64         M          CONCORD NH     8:06      

The last time I raced this one was 2012.  I was having trouble with my back but hoped this wouldn't make it worse.  No mile marks so I can't compare splits. I was 39 seconds slower this time around, Audet was 38 seconds slower, Perry had a rough day compared to 5 years ago...but hey, he is still out there grinding it out at age 65.

1 Joseph StPierre 19M 22:23
2 Dave Dunham 48m 23:09
3 John Brown 30M 24:19
4 Warren Bartlett 15M 24:25
5 Mark Richardson 19M 24:59
8 Dave Audet 47M 26:14
14 Perry Seagroves 60M 27:09