Thursday, August 12, 2021

15 years ago - August 2006

15 Years ago (August 2006): I raced four times during this month and logged a solid 383 miles.  I kicked off the month (08/05/06) with my first ever triathlon.  The Race to the Face was a unique tri that featured a 6.5 mile bike (with a mile of rough trail), then a ½ mile swim across Echo Lake, and finally a 2.5 mile run up Cannon Mountain (2,280’ of climb!).  I got smoked on the first part of the bike ride but once the climb started, I made some headway.  I ended up with the 42nd fastest ride of the day, then on to the swim where I struggled mightily.  My 16 minute zig-zag through the lake was the 138th fastest (ouch).  I made up a LOT of ground on the climb taking 30:35 to run up Cannon and in the process passed about 100 people to take an overall 23rd place.  A week later (08/12/06) I ran the Dam trail race (Oxford, MA).  The 10.5 mile trail race had many turns and one poorly marked one cost the lead pack of 5 a few minutes as they went the wrong way (and eventually came back and eventually moved back into the lead).  I ended up 7th and tops in the 40+.

1 1:08:26          Greg Hammett

2 1:08:43          Aaron price

3 1:09:58          Bryan Johson

6 1:10:36          Rob Smith (outkicked me)

7 1:10:41          Dave Dunham

11 1:16:00        James Pawlicki (off course)

 

The following week (08/17/06) I did a rare weeknight race at the Westford Academy Series (3.6 miles).  Eric Beauchesne took the win in 19:20 with me a full minute behind.  I finished out the month at the USA 50km trail championships (Headlands, CA).  I ran the first 20 miles with the top three women and then ran out of gas.  The course turned out to be well over 31.1 miles with only the winner breaking 4 hours.  Ben Nephew (2nd – 4:00:32), Dan Verrington (5th – 4:14:59) and I teamed up to take home the team title.  Dan and I were also 1st and 2nd in the 40-45 age group.  We also did a run across the Grand Canyon a few days before the race!



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