Heather and I went up to Concord NH this morning for the SEA 5k which is part of the CARS series. The course is very flat but has lots of turns (check out the Strava map) and can be windy do to its elevated location above the Merrimack River. Today both Heather and I got to race thanks to Mrs Coach (Deb Walton) offering to watch little Eliza while we raced. The weather forecast for this morning was terrible. Basically we were expecting a monsoon! The forecast called for rain and heavy winds. But upon arrival there was no rain and it was breezy, but not as bad as expected for sure.
After getting Eliza situated with Deb, Heather and I went out for our warm up. We ran most of the course as a refresher as we have both run this race multiple times. The wind was present and there were going to be some sections of head wind for sure, but really it wasn't so bad out there for a race. I got in 3 miles of warm up and some strides before getting over to the starting line.
Going into this race I was expecting a pretty fast crowd to show up. Jim Johnson had mentioned it, but he dodged me and went to Todd's Trot instead ;). I was expecting to see Nacho Hernando for sure, but I guess he is injured, although he ran a track meet on Sunday. Despite these top guys missing the field was still strong with Patrick Ard, Kevin Alliette, Tim Cox, Mike Giberti, Eric Williams, Keith Lundquist and Sam Wood toeing the line. I took my place on the starting line and soon we were off and running!
Off the starting line Eric Williams shot off into the lead and a large group of us tucked in behind him. The pace was decent and I was comfortable letting Eric lead the way. Just before we hit the 1/2 mile Kevin Alliette went by us both with a head of steam and quickly opened up about a 10 meter lead on all of us. Over the next minute or so I picked up the pace just a bit and made my way up behind Kevin. I didn't want to let him get a bigger lead and get to far out in front. I tucked in behind him to stay out of the wind and let him lead the way to the first mile mark in 4:59. Just after the mile you go into the worse part of the course, its basically a square with a bunch of 90 degree turns. Its a pretty good momentum killer. Kevin seemed to let up a bit around the corners and I shot past him and pressed a bit in an effort to get away. I opened up a gap on him and I decided I was going to try to make the move stick and stay away. I wanted to make sure I got away from Kevin earlier than later because he has speed (See Clip)! That kind of talent doesn't go away! I pressed over the next mile as I was feeling good, I also knew that the ever dangerous Patrtick Ard was also lurking back there too! I hit the two mile mark in 10:08 (5:09 2nd mile) and knew I had a decent race going. I couldn't hear anyone behind me, but I knew that they couldn't be too far back. So I kept the pace solid and started thinking bout getting to the finish. The third mile seemed to take forever, but I hit the three mile mark in 15:20 (5:12 3rd mile) and kicked it home for the win in 15:52. Patrick Ard was 2nd in 16:08 and Kevin was third in 16:20. Heather finished her race in 18:28 good for 2nd place behind Christin Doneski (18:05) who is having another strong season!
RESULTS
Overall I was very happy with the race. It was another strong performance and I didn't feel like I was all out or really went to the well on it. I just hope this is another step towards even better results later this year. There is still more work and more miles to get done! I cooled down another 3 miles with Heather, I also got in another 4 miles later on the treadmill in an effort to get the junk out of the legs.
NOTE: had a watch issue so Strava splits are not correct
what a Jerk.
ReplyDeleteIts true!
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