NHTI Delta Dental 5k Road Race

On Friday April 23rd Heather and I finally made our way back to the states after being stranded in Ireland for an additional 6 days due to the volcanic ash in the air. We also made it back in time for the NHTI Delta Dental 5k Road Race (results), the third race of the CARS series. Heather and I are both in the CARS series and we had to make this race as you can only miss one, and we will be missing one later in the series. So after traveling to Boston from Ireland we made the drive straight to Concord NH from the airport. Being jet lagged and exhausted from travel neither of us were expecting great performances, more or less we just wanted to run respectable races and keep ourselves in the running for end of the series standings.

Once at NHTI we got changed into our running gear and had a short while to relax before it was time to head out for a warm up. Conditions were good for a race, although it was a bit windy in the open spaces. Heather and I headed out to preview the course with Dave Quintal, Mike Quintal, Scott Clark, Rod Viens, and MacKenzie Kilpatrick who caught up to us during the warm up. I felt OK on the warm up, it actually felt good to stretch the legs after sitting in cars and on a plane for the last 10 hours. After three miles of nice easy warm up it was time to put on the racing flats and head for the starting line.

After a few words from Tom Walton the starting gun went off and we were on our way. Scott McGrath and Nathaniel Sans went right to the front followed by MacKenzie, myself and Mike Quintal. The course follows some roads on campus before hitting some of the NHTI XC course. Scott and Nathaniel were holding solid in front followed by Mackenzie and then Mike and myself going back and forth in the 4th and 5th spots. After a bit of trails we hit the first mile mark in about 5:05. Around this point I was in 4th place and felt some space opening up behind me as I got some distance on Mike. I was still trying to hang onto Mackenzie, and Scott and Nathaniel were putting in a little bit of distance on us. I was starting to really hurt at this point, and I knew I would not hang on to MacKenzie for much longer. After leaving the trails and getting back on pavement, and into a head wind, MacKenzie got some distance on me as he pulled away and tried to chase down Scott and Nathaniel. At this point I knew my race was pretty much over, my legs were gone, I was exhausted, and I just wanted to go home. I figured I would just try to minimize the damage at this point and try to hang on to 4th place. As I approached the only real hills (an overpass you go over twice) on the course I heard someone coming up from behind, my fear was that it might be another CARS series runner chasing me down, maybe Tim Cox or Taylor Annett. Much to my relieve it was Mike Quintal, who was looking good and running strong! I knew I would probably not be able to hang with him as he went by, I tried for a few seconds to pick it up, but at this point the body was not having it. This happened at just about the 2 mile mark which went by in about 5:28. For the rest of the race I just tried not to give up too much ground to those in front of me, and keep the rest of the field behind me. With the help on a bit of a tail wind I covered the next mile in about 5:18 and finished up the race in 16:24 in 5th place.

Overall mission accomplished! It was not the greatest race ever but it could have been a lot worse or not happened at all if we did not make it back in time. Despite all the travel, driving, and jet lag I actually ran a bit faster than I expected. I was really thinking anything under 16:45 or so would have been good. Heather also ran a decent race finishing up 3rd in 19:27, again, not the best race but it did the job as we both will maintain our standings in the CARS series. Congrats to Scott McGrath on the win and a new course record.