I like the Loon mountain
race so much I (accidently) entered it twice! They had a special $15
entry fee back in January, so I entered. June rolled around and I decided
I wanted to do Loon and entered it again. D’oh!
I had a bad migraine on
Saturday morning and slept most of the day and into the night. I got up
early on Sunday and had a coffee. Caffeine is usually good during a
migraine but not so good post-migraine so I made sure to have some extra water
for the long drive to Loon. I picked up Dave La at the Rivah and we
covered the 110 miles on Route 93 in a quick 1:40. That gave us ample
time to get our numbers then mosey over to the mile mark to watch the women go
by. They started at 8am and we’d head out 75 minutes later. Dave
and I met up with teammates Pat Rich and Ed Sheldon and were joined by a couple
of non-CMS for a nice easy 3 mile warm-up. Conditions were great, about 70
degrees but very dry and comfortable. My goal for today was to see if I
could top the Senior (50+) age group. That would be a tough goal.
Jim Boule (aR) was running very well and had a super race at Cranmore. My
teammates would also be tough challenges. Erik Vandendries beat me by 2+
minutes at Mt Washington and can really motor on the uphill, his knee is still
wonky so his downhill running slows him a lot. Steve Brightman would most
likely be the guy to keep an eye on. He has speed, strength, and can
climb with the best (buried me in the last mile at Mt Washington). He
goes out pretty hard, so he’d have a target on his back during the race.
A record field gathered in
the lower dirt lot and there was a lot of hooting and hollerin’ as we took
off. I was very cautious after the debacle at Chelmsford and made sure
not to get tripped up. There would be plenty of time to race. At
about ¼ mile we got onto the cat-track and I gave a quick count of those ahead
of me. I got to 50 then gave up counting. Damn! Last year I
placed 38th and that race was a national championship. I know
I’ve slowed a lot, but I figured on a top 20 finish this year. I was
about 70th at that point but certainly not panicking. I was
where I should be, I could see Steve up ahead and Erik V and Ed Sheldon as
well. I passed Ed then Erik on the downhill heading into the mile.
Now the first steady climb brought a few guys back and I kept my head up
focusing on where Steve was. As we turned on to the XC portion of the
course he was about 15 seconds ahead.
My goal for the 2.5 miles
of XC was to not get hurt. There is always a fair amount of mud and it
gets narrow in spots. I was happy with the pace and the course conditions
were quite good. The 500 women who’d run through hadn’t really turned it
into the quagmire I’d feared. I stayed on my feet and slowly moved by a
few more guys. My mantra at this race is always “the race STARTS after
the XC part”. Once you exit the woods you’ve run more than half the
distance but probably only 1/3rd of the time. The really
climbing starts after the XC part. I hit the water stop and grabbed 2
cups, poured one over my head and then shared the other with Jim Boule who had
pulled up along side me right after the aid station. The grind started,
and I settled in behind Jim. We got a couple of guys on the cat-track
then I moved ahead of Jim on the downhill. The really tough grass climb
was in good shape the women had packed out two pretty good paths, so it was
actually a bit easier to pass than in other years. I finally got up to
and around Mike Narcisi who is running really well right now. I could see
that Steve was about 30 seconds ahead and showing no signs of slowing.
After the grass hill the very short downhill felt good and the 180 turn on the
cat-track is a great spot to check out who is stalking you. Jim was right
there but I didn’t see anyone else in the 50+ within striking distance. I
think this climb is worse than the Upper Walking Boss, it is all on exposed
cat-track and the footing can be crappy. I had a “bad patch” right away
when we started climbing, I should have chalked it up to how steep that part is
but had thoughts of “never again” running through my head. Jim hadn’t caught
back up to me yet and I was closing on some guys when I noticed that Steve was
walking. He does that a lot (even at Mt Washington) and it good at it but
this looked more like WALKING rather than power-walking (he was having calf
issues). This gave me some hope. I had looked at last year’s
results and knew that I’d run over a minute faster than Steve at the Upper
Walking Boss, so my goal was to have him within that range when I got
there. My hope now was that I could gap Jim as he was probably going to
run as fast if not faster than me on the UWB.
I finally got to the
gondola aid station and then tried to enjoy the long final downhill before the
signature climb. Steve was not pulling ahead on the down, but I had no
idea where Jim was behind me (and I wasn’t going to look). Some guy in a
Spartan singlet kept yelling “Boo Yah” at me whenever he passed me (or I passed
him back), it was very strange, but I didn’t say anything. What do you
say? Finally, the UWB timing mat loomed in sight and I checked my watch
to see how far Steve was ahead (15 seconds), then SLAM the climb started.
I felt that I was steady on the climb, it was slow running, but I ran the
entire length. This year was a little unusual as there were a lot of
women to pass which made things a bit trickier than usual. You really had
to time things carefully and pick your spots to pass. I was very happy to see
that they were using the two switch-backs this year. The last couple of
years we went straight up them which was a definite scramble. This time
we’d get a moderate grade and a couple of times to sneak a peek at who was
close behind. This comes at the perfect spot as you are about ¾ of the
way up. I took a long look back and didn’t see any of my fellow 50+ in
striking range. The last part was nice as there were a lot of people on
the course cheering. I got to the line then hit the ground for some
recovery. Jim came in very soon after me and Steve was right on his
tail. We ended up all within 31 seconds. Based on last year (and how
much I’d slowed) I figured on a low 1:03 for a time so 1:03:43 wasn’t way
out. Comparing others times from last year shows that many ran a couple
of minutes slower. I’m not sure why since the course was in good shape
and the weather was ideal.
Top 5
1
53:19 1
MOPEN Lee Berube
M28 Syracuse NY
Syracuse Track Club
2
55:15 2
MOPEN Adam Martin
M24 Craftsbury VT
Craftsbury Green
3
55:42 3
MOPEN Hubert Fortin
M22 Québec
QC La Clinique du Coureur
4
57:29 4
MOPEN Brandon Newbould M37 Nottingham NH
Whirlaway
5
57:54 1
M40-49 Justin Freeman M42
Campton NH Dirigo RC
23
1:02:41 3 M40-49
Todd Callaghan
M
49 Beverly
MA Central Mass Striders
27
1:03:23 6 M40-49
Patrick Rich
M
42 S Hamilton
MA Central Mass Striders
M50+
30
1:03:43 1 M50-59
Dave Dunham
M
55 Bradford
MA Central Mass Striders
32
1:04:15 2 M50-59
Jim Boule
M 52
Campton NH acidotic RACING
33
1:04:22 3 M50-59
Steve Brightman M
50 Providence
RI Central Mass Striders
44
1:06:42 4 M50-59
Jeff Walker
M 53
Falmouth ME Dirigo RC
45
1:06:54 5 M50-59
Erik Vandendries M
54 Chestnut Hill MA
Central Mass Striders
53
1:09:54 6 M50-59
Chris Smith
M 53
Woburn MA Somerville Road
Runners
54
1:09:55 7 M50-59
Brian Ruhm
M 54
Hollis NH
Gate City Striders
57
1:10:06 8 M50-59
Sean Snow
M 52
Dunbarton NH Team Zoot
63
1:10:51 9 M50-59 Ed
Sheldon
M 54
Hooksett NH Central Mass Striders
68
1:11:37 10 M50-59 Billy
Barone
M
54 Stamford
CT Soundrunners
140
1:20:05 22 M50-59 David
Lapierre
M
55 Chelmsford
MA Central Mass Striders
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