Earlier this month I signed up for the “Hopkinton NH Winter Series 5k” a three week series of 5k’s over a five week period. This weekend was the kick-off event. Emphasis this week would be on the “Winter” part of the title as temps were around 15 degrees and the wind was a steady 15 mph with gusts in the 30’s. I was the second car to arrive at just a few minutes before 8am. I need a solid hour to properly warm up and today I’d especially need it. As with other races this year, this would be a time-trial start based on your predicted time. I had entered at 5:50 pace (18:06 5k) and was surprised to see that I had bib #1. There would be 5 seconds between each starter, so hopefully I’d be running the entire race on my own. With the out/back course I would however get to see my competition at the ½ way point.
I grabbed my bib and headed out at 8:10am for a course preview. Dang! It was cold out there when the wind was blowing, but not too bad out of the wind with the bright sunshine. Tom Raffio (who was integral in getting this series to happen) drove by and noted that I’d need to take it to Jim Angell if I wanted to win. Jim had bib #2 and we had some good battles in the 2019 CARS races. In 2020 Jim had also shown up for two of my “invitational” races. I beat him over 5k but he got me at the Luti race over 5 miles. We had done a couple of training runs late last year but I hadn’t raced him since July. I was happy that there would be competition but nervous about being out in front and getting tracked down. I had checked out the course on mapmyrun and knew the turn would be a little before the powerlines. I was a bit surprised when I got there, I found no indication that we’d turn. I turned anyway and retreated back to the start/finish. When I got back, I let the Millennium guys know that there was no turn marker (they were just timing and not really in charge of that, but they knew that there would be someone at the turn, so I was not worried). I headed to the car and changed into race gear, making some hard decisions about the correct number of layers to wear.
I headed out for another mile with some strides. I felt kind of flat, that can be either a good sign or bad sign and I never know which it will be. I was a little early finishing up so I did some light jogging for another half mile to stay warm. Then over to the line. I got a fairly crappy start as the guys were messing around with the clock then said to me to start on “zero” I wasn’t sure what that meant (they meant the next 10 second group that ended in zero). When they shouted go, I was not quite ready but took off then had to adjust my sunglasses and fix my gloves. My hands were freezing and would not get warm on this morning. Anyway, I could hear them announcing the next five or six starters before I was out of range and on my own. I felt uncomfortable and my form was all over the place, weird, I was telling my legs what to do by they weren’t listening. It was a very clumsy first half mile before I finally settled into a rhythm. I was glad I’d seen the course and knew what to expect. I hit the mile in 5:54 which was a little slower than I’d hoped. At 1.25 the road turned to dirt (and we had a tough couple of little hills), the road was slick with a icy spots. My watch beeped at 1.5 miles and I focused ahead looking for the person at the turn. I got to the spot I’d turned during my warm-up (1.55 miles) and no one was in sight. Hmmmm, maybe my watch is off a bit or maybe it’ll be a slightly long 5k was my thought. I figured I’d go another .1 and see what was what. I ended up going to 1.75 miles (10:28) and knew I was well beyond the correct turn (and I still didn’t see anyone up ahead). I decided to head back. Soon after Jim came into sight and I let him know that we were past the turn and he should turn. I told the next 4 or 5 guys the same thing then just worked on saving my breath. My hope was that others would spread the work. I also didn’t want to say anything after that point as the people I was passing weren’t quite to the turn around anyway. I pushed on through a 6:01 second mile which was okay considering the hills and the less than ideal footing. I tried to concentrate on working to the “mile to go” point, it was a bit easier as the wind was mostly at my back at this point. My third mile was 5:51 and I could imagine that Jim was closing on me so I did not let up. My last half-mile was my quickest at 2:46 (plus a few seconds that I was over being exactly 3.5). I crossed the line in 20:39.8 which was 5:52 pace for 3.52 miles. Jim cruised in 45 seconds later and third place was an additional 57 seconds back. I’d gotten my first win of the year! This gives me 43 years in a row with at least one win (1979-20201) I did not feel guilty as the guys who may have had a shot at me had run about the same distance as I did. I’ll take it! It was also a good indicator that I can go under 24 minutes for 4 miles, and I’ve got a 4 mile road race in two weeks.
In all 42 finished the race with people running anywhere from 3.1 miles to 4 miles. I plan on putting a cone out at the turn at the next race on Feb. 14. I finished the morning off with a long warm-down (6 miles) with the always entertaining GSRT group. Great fun!
Place
Time
Name
Gen
Age City,
St
Div Div Pl
Bib #
1
20:40 Dave
Dunham
M
56 Bradford,
MA MOPEN
1 1
2
21:25 Jim
Angell
M
56 Hopkinton,
NH MOPEN
2 2
3
22:22 Eli
Lemire
M
14 Weare,
NH MOPEN
3 3
4
23:44 Scott
Lemire
M
43 Weare,
NH M40-49
1 5
5
23:47 Michael Popham
M
39 Bedford,
NH M30-39
1 8
6
24:15 David
Audet
M
55 Concord,
NH M50-59
1 4
7
24:16 Sarah
Galligan
F
34 Concord,
NH FOPEN
1 13
8
24:25 Katy Magoon-Fredett
F
35 Hopkinton,
NH FOPEN
2 9
9
25:13 Ellen
Raffio
F
52 Bow,
NH
FOPEN 3
10
10
25:19 Beth
Connolly
F
38 Manchstr,
NH F30-39
1 12
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