I was not feeling great after the busy Saturday but had a plan for Sunday. Earlier in the week I’d entered the Granite State 10 “smiler” race in Concord, NH. The race was sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental (hence the smiler name) and the Granite State running team. It was being held over a large portion of the course I’d run most Sundays with the GSRT group hosted by Sarah Prescott, so I had an advantage with my knowledge of the course. I headed out a little early to check out the Snow Pond road section of the course that I’d never seen. It had the toughest hill on this very hilly course (433’ of climb/descent).
I would be breaking the course down into 3 parts. Get to the hill at 5m, get to the top of the final hill at 7.5, get to the finish! My shin was very tender, not sure what I did to it, but I was struggling even walking. Not a good sign right before a race! I headed out for a 2 mile warm-up and found a $20 bill, maybe this was a good day after all?
I quickly switched into race gear and headed out for another mile. For whatever reason the field was very small (only 43 finishers), maybe all of the races that moved to the fall? Jim Angell, who I’d raced at the CARS series was on the line as was Sean Snow. As we lined up no one else moved up to the front line. Off we went, and I went into the lead with Sean right beside me and Jim tucked in behind. Jim had asked about my goal time and I thought 6:30 pace in the early uphill miles and then faster on the way back. I felt I might be as quick as 6:20’s early but wasn’t sure. We hit the mile (which had just about no climb) in 6:11. I felt pretty good and at 1.5 surged a little bit and even though the mile was a 6:22 the guys fell back. I tried to keep my effort even although the splits weren’t even as the terrain was quite rolling (and from 2-4 & 7-9 the road was torn up for future paving).
I reached the 5 mile mark in 31:17 feeling in control. Now it was time to push a bit. I worked the tough hill from 5 to 5.5, knowing I’d get a little reprieve until around 7 miles. I had no idea how far back the other guys were which kept me running scared. Finally I hit the top of the last climb and started working the final 5k (I’d end up running the last 5k in 18:30!). I passed the Sunday group at 8 miles and got high-fives from Sarah, Blake, and Blake’s dad and at 9 miles Jim M and Mick (also Sunday group, but working the race today) offered some encouragement.
I needed it, I was starting to feel tired, and the flat last mile actually felt like uphill since I’d run so much DOWN up until that point. I didn’t totally fall apart and managed to cross the line in first place in 61:35. Jim came in second about 2 minutes later and we cheer for Sean who took third. After a quick few pictures (and an impromptu award ceremony) Jim and I got in an easy 2 miles on the NHTI XC course. Then it was time to ICE. My shin was absolutely brutal!
2
1:03:43
6:23 Jim
Angell
57 Male
Contoocook, NH M5059
3
1:06:27
6:39 Sean
Snow
55
Male
M5059
4 1:09:49
6:59 Stephanie Snow
25
Female
F0129
5
1:11:57
7:12 Jonas
Aviza
65 Male
Concord, NH M6069
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