Over the River and through the Woods

I've been itching to get back to racing and finally got the opportunity.  My CARS series teammates (Scott Clark, Jim Angell, Darin Brown, Ernie Brake) were interested in racing so we discussed some of the different CARS courses and settled on the Over the River and through the Woods course.  This is a pretty flat course but slightly slow due to 1 mile of it being cross-country.

I arrive a little early to mark the XC part to ensure no one got lost.  At 7:15am we gathered up and went out on a preview of the course (Ernie was a no-show).  It was a bit muggy and warm, but not hot like it had been during the week.  We had an enjoyable warm-up catching up.  Last year we'd raced many times in the CARS series and the competition was always close.

We all changed into racing flats and did our final prep.  At 8am (with no fanfare) we took to the line and with a "runners set, go!" we were off.  My plan was to stick close to Scott at the start and try to drop him after the mile.  I found myself leading right from the start with Scott and Jim right behind me.  I hit the mile in 5:51 with the guys right on my heels.  I tried to relax and just before entering the woods I upped the tempo.  My hope was that they would fall back and I could break away on the trails.  I couldn't hear anyone as I hit the second mile with a 6:06 (11:57).  I definitely was feeling it as the little climb up over the Merrimack River took it's toll.  My fear was that Jim or Scott was close behind and if I faltered they'd come flying by.  I took a good long look at the 180 degree turn with about 600 yards to go and felt I'd be able to hold on.  It still hurt as I kicked with all I had.

I held on for a 16 second win over Jim with Scott another 14 seconds back and Darin taking it home exactly 1 minute back.  A solid effort by all.  Darin gave me a copy of his book as first place prize and then we headed back out to sweep the course and take down the markings I'd put out.  Again, it was nice to have some socializing time with the gang.  Next up:  The Luti 5 mile in a couple of weeks.

Over the River and Through the Woods Invitational senior 5k – June 27, 2020 8:00am

Pl            Time      Name                   Age        City,St                  Age Grade%        Age Grd Time     

1             18:42     Dave Dunham     M56       Bradford, MA     82.66%                 15:42

2             18:58     Jim Angell            M56       Hopkinton, NH   81.50%                 15:55

3             19:12     Scott Clark          M54       Gilmanton, NH   79.24%                 16:23

4             19:42     Darin Brown       M53       Madison, NH      76.63%                 16:56