Bradford Valentine Race

On Saturday I took the long ride over the river to the other side of Haverhill for the Bradford Valentine Road Race. Heather and I were entered in the open couples competition. I would be running the 5 mile course while Heather would be running the 6k course. This would be the first road race for me since last fall and only after 6 weeks of running. So the goals for this one were to get in a hard effort, find out what kind of shape I was in, and have a good time!

After a nice 2.5 mile warm up with Heather, it was time to get on the racing flats and head for the starting line. Upon getting to the starting line I noticed that this race was going to be very competitive up front with the likes of Jim Johnson, Matt Germain, Josh Gordan, Dan Verrington, Dave Quintal and Bob Jackman in the field.

The race went out pretty quick, and as I expected Jim went to the lead followed by a pack of Josh, Matt, Bob, Dan, and myself. We hit the first mile in 5:13 and I knew this pace was going to be too quick for me. At the point Jim and Matt were off the front and pulling away and I was trying to keep in contact with Josh. Over the next mile I struggled to keep up with Josh and I began to suffer quite a bit. Soon Bob was right on me. We hit the second mile in 5:22. By this point I knew that I probably was not going to catch back up with Josh, so I decided to just stay with Bob and try to finish with him. The next two miles over rolling terrain really put the hurt on me I stayed with Bob the whole way the 3rd mile went buy in 5:47 and the 4th in 5:53. Some ugly splits! In the last mile I decided to see if I could race Bob into the hurting zone and drop him. I put in a few surges trying to break him, but I could not get away from him. around the final turn I threw in a very hard push with about 400m left and got a gap on him. At this point I knew I had him. I pushed a bit more till I saw his shadow disappear. With about 75 m left I relaxed knowing I had forth place. Big mistake!!!! Before I could even react Bob zoomed past and the race was over. I finished in 5th place in 27:36. The last mile covered in 5:19. Matt Germain won the race and is having a very strong start to 2010. Jim Johnson finished 2nd and Josh Gordan 3rd. In the couples competition Heather and I finished 2nd. Heather covered the 6k course in 23:13 good for 4th overall woman.

Overall I would have to say I was disappointed with my time and mental lapse in the finishing kick. I actually felt solid, but slow, like I could not get my legs to go any faster. I know with more miles and some workouts this will improve pretty quickly. Its early, and I would rather be running fast later this spring and into the summer. For now some more miles and the addition of some workouts will get me closer to where I want to be.

Results

All Photos by Jim Rhodes

Heather rocking into the finish!