Double race day

I’ve done multi races in one day 58 times over the years but most of those were track doubles with a couple of shorter races.  The last time I did double was the ½ mile and mile at Dartmouth back in 2018 and the last time I did a ‘real’ double was two snowshoe races on the same day back in February of 2013.  I’ve been trying to do some unusual stuff this year and get out of my comfort zone and this really fit the bill.  The two races were both being held Saturday morning (8 a.m. & 9 a.m.) with the starting lines about ½ mile apart at NHTI and Delta Dental.  Delta Dental was also offering a special prize to anyone doing both, so it was GAME ON.

I got to NHTI at 7 a.m. for the Journey to Sight which would be a three loop cross-country race over the Seekamp trail.  I’d run that loop (and variations of it) many times.  I did a warm-up loop to check out the conditions and ensure the course was well marked.  It was indeed very well marked, but it would probably be a bit slow given the surface and how wet the grass was.  With it being a first year race I was hoping I might have a shot at a win, but you just never know who will turn up.  I was also hoping to run somewhere around 6:20 pace to save a little something for the next race.  I got out behind one guy who sprinted for the first 100 meters, by ¼ mile I’d passed him but could hear footsteps right behind me.  That kept me moving a bit faster than I wanted and I hit the end of lap one in 6:13.  The youngster behind me moved into the lead and put 5 seconds on me right away.  A second lap o 6:09 did nothing to eat into the gap.  I ended up increasing the pace still thinking maybe I’d have a shot at him, but he absolutely buried me on the last lap despite me running my fastest of the day (6:00) and I ended up in a distant 2^nd place in 18:22 (winning time 17:55).  It was another 3 minutes until third place crossed!  I was already on my way out of there!

 

I zipped over to Delta Dental for the Over the River & Through the Woods.  This would be a mix of roads (2 miles) and trail (1+ miles) and featured crossing the Merrimack River on the Route 93 bike path.  It isn’t a particularly fast course and would be especially “slow” this year as the advertised distance of 5km was a bit off (I got 3.26 miles but others got 3.28-3.3).  I headed out for an easy 2 miles that counted as both a warm-down from race 1 and a warm-up for race 2.  Not surprisingly I felt lousy.  My goal for this race was to hang onto Ernie Brake (top 60+ runner in the CARS series) for as long as possible.  I thought that 6:10 pace was possible (I’d run 6-flats last year but didn’t have another race in my legs at the start).  I settled behind Ernie as we headed out and through the “root canal” tunnel then up and over Route 93.  I counted a dozen guys ahead of me as we dropped down onto the bike path.  Ernie pulled away a bit but I kept him in sight as I moved into the top 10 at the mile (5:52).  Ernie looked strong as he was picking off guys, I moved into 8^th place just as we hit the woods.  At 1.5 miles I’d closed the gap on Ernie and he said “I can hear you back there” which made me chuckle.  A bit after that he motioned for me to pass and I took him up on it getting by him and then passing one other guy to move up into 6^th with a second mile of 6:06.  It was a long way to the next guy and my hope now was to just hold my position.  The climb back over the River hurt and then the climb back up over Route 93 hurt even more.  I clocked a sub-6 (5:58) despite feeling beat and then closed for a 19:30 which works out to 5:59 pace, well under my goal.  I finished the morning with a nice 2 mile warm-down with Sam Wood.