My hip, glute, calf issues all continued to worsen during the week. I’d find out later that I had a strained oblique muscle. That explained the lightning bolt of pain shooting through my hip. I actually didn’t feel too bad when I arrived at Delta Dental for the Morrill Farm snowshoe race. I hit the road for part of my warm-up and then switched into snowshoes and went out on the course for another 15 minutes of running around. I hadn’t run in snowshoes in four years and it was just as tough as I remembered. Traction was tough in the sugary snow and it would only get worse as the field chewed it up during the two loops of 1.8 miles. About 70 lined up with 50 finishing the two laps and 19 choosing to do one lap. First time snowshoer’s Steve Brightman and Kevin Crowley shot out with John Carton in between them. I got around a fast starting Ellen Raffio and was all alone in fourth place by ½ mile into the race. It felt FAST.
I was hoping to finish in the top three as that would earn me a fleece blanket. That hope faded a bit as the top three slowly pulled away. I felt pretty good on the packed down part of the course along the railroad tracks. Despite essentially being a loop around the farmers field it was a scenic course, you could even see the gold capped capital dome in the distance (if you lifted your head up to look, but I was keeping a keen eye on stepping in the tracks in front of me). We hit the end of the first lap with not change Brightman 13:48, Carton 13:50, Crowley 14:13, me 14:35, and Jim Boule 15:15. My hip and calf started to hurt on the second loop and every slip and slide made it worse. For a short time I thought I might have a shot at third but Kevin ultimately finished 35 seconds ahead. I got fourth place overall which was only good enough for third in the 50+ age group! In all 11 of the top 15 were 50 or older.
The next day I was off to Hopkinton NH for the second race in the Hopkinton 5k series. I was tired and sore from the day before but had signed up for the series and wanted to do all of the races. I showed up early and checked that the turn was marked (it wasn’t in week #1) and then went out for my warm-up. I was a bit surprised that I felt pretty good. My calf was tight, but my hip did not feel bad. I was hoping I could run between 6-6:20 pace and as I switched into racing flats I saw that Mark Laprade was warming up. Mark usually beats me but he has been having issues with dizziness when running hard and I’d gotten him that last couple of races. The top couple of guys from the first race were back with Jim Angell (my CAR series teammate) and Eli Lemire (only 14 years old) ready to give me a race. I did another mile and tried to up the pace a little and felt dead on my feet. Not much to do except line up and give it my best shot. I figured I’d go out carefully (the first 100 meters was snow covered) and then hopefully up the tempo. I told Mark that I hoped to run with him after he caught me (we’d start at 5 second intervals and I was seeded first). He kind of laughed and off I went. I was a bit shocked when Mark went by me at about 1 minute into the race. My hip was killing me and it felt like a shot of electricity pulsing through my side. Jim and Eli both caught me around ½ mile in. That was not how I’d planned things to play out! I was having trouble breathing deeply with the pain in my side but tried not to lose contact. At the mile Mark was out in front by at least 5 seconds and Eli/Jim were a few seconds ahead of me, I was a very slow 6:28 at the mile. My side pain went from terrible to annoying and I closed some ground on the uphills to the turn around. We were all VERY careful as the 200 meters before and after the turn were on a dirt road which was now a combination of snow/ice. All four of us were together as we got back onto dry road and it was ‘game on’. I knew I was giving up 15 seconds to the kid and 10 to Jim, so any chance of a win was probably out of my reach. That didn’t stop me from pushing the pace and Mark fell off as I fronted our group through 2 miles (a 6:20 mile with 20’ of climb and the lousy footing part, needless to say I was happier with this mile). Eli drew even with me and put in a surge of his own. Jim and I matched the move until 2.5 miles when Jim then dispatched both of us. I had a decent last mile (6:00) but they just eased away. Jim crossed the line first but none of us were sure who won since Eli had started five seconds after Jim. The official results had Jim winning by 1.1 seconds. Pretty exciting finish. I crossed the line with a time 25 seconds back and Mark pulled in 17 seconds behind me. Dave Audet (who also ran the snowshoe race the day before) took 5th overall and in another tough 50+ field was 3rd in the age group.
It looks like my plans to complete the series are out the window with the oblique strain.
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