Jen's run 5k

I started of racing this month with a tough (hilly, twists & turns) 5k at Pinkerton Academy.  I had not run on the  track at Pinkerton since the Derry Track summer mile series back in the early 1990s.  Not much has changed.  The course was actually very nice taking in almost all of the campus.  I had scouted it out the week before but chose to do a warm-up on the course to ensure I knew where I was going.  I bumped into the course designer who was riding the course on his bike and checking in with the volunteers.  They had someone at every turn and I overheard him telling them that they should not only point but YELL which way to go.  Great job by him as sometimes volunteers really don’t know what to do.  The course was also well marked, it really needed to be as it had 32 turns!  After my warm-up I switched into race flats and did another mile.  The temps were perfect but it was pretty windy and worse was the cloud of green pollen that had me hacking (and had handprints on the hood of my car).  There were only a couple of others warming up and only about 60 in the race.  I thought I might have a shot at a win.  We headed out with a ¾ lap around the track and I was in the lead right away.  I could hear footsteps and knew I had company.  At about ½ mile we did a 180 around a cone and my competition was right on me and there was already a decent gap back to 3^rd place.  I felt decent but not “comfortable”, that’d become UNCOMFORTABLE very quickly.  The guy with me (Seth Seppala) made a move on the uphill to the water-stop and grabbed a cup.  I really felt the hill and lost a couple of steps.  I think he knew I was hurting and he immediately put 5 seconds on me.  I kept thinking I might be able to close the gap but by 2 miles it had grown to 10 seconds and I was not feeling good.  The last ½ mile was up the access road to the track (plus ¾ of a lap on the track), I was still in it but losing a little ground with every step. I was pleased to hit the line in 18:29, which got me to my number one of the day which was a sub-6 pace (5:58s).  Maybe I should have worn my carbon fiber shoes? If they really give 3% (doubtful) that would have put me under 18 minutes!

 

Pl Time             Name                                       City, State        Pace

1 18:12.8          Seth Seppala                 35M      Rindge NH        5:52

2 18:29.8          Dave Dunham               58M      Bradford MA      5:58

3 18:57.9          Michael Gendreau         35M      Manchester NH 6:07

4 19:02.3          Tiffany Seppala             34F       Rindge NH        6:08

5 19:14.6          Sookie Folsom               12F       Auburn NH        6:12

6 20:22.9          Jack Alizio                     16M      Chester NH       6:34

7 20:27.7          John McGarry                55M      Windham NH    6:36

8 21:02.1          Christie Farris                45F       Brentwood NH  6:47

9 22:31.4          Nick Alizio                     15M      Chester NH       7:15

10 22:36.2        Casey Watson               16M      Chester NH       7:17