Monday- Easy 10 miles with Goupil on the Sweet trail off Bay Rd. Nice to get in a run with someone other than Tucker or Abbey. Felt like we picked it up the last few miles on the road, could have just been the effort was harder going up the hills on Bay Rd.
Tuesday- Easy 11 miles on the roads with Goupil in Durham. Ran the Wednesday Hill loop, which I've been told is 10.4 but it felt closer to 11 as we finished up in 75 and were pretty sure we were going sub 7's for most of it.
Wednesday- Easy 9 with Goupil in Barrington. Took it easy in the heat, and took a swim break halfway through the run. Not as bad as I thought it would be, a bit of wind for most of the run, was ok the only time I was really feeling the heat was coming back on rt. 125 towards Goup's house.
Thursday- I meant to run, but wound up going out cliff jumping with my brother and sister all day instead. Lots of great jumping at Indian's Leap in Lincoln, then we went up to Upper Falls up by the Cog. Probably could have squeezed in a run after I got back, oh well.
Friday- AM-7 PM-4 Went up to the Lincoln Woods trail with Tucker. We ran out to Franconia Falls and went swimming for a while then ran back and I went and took a couple jumps at Indian's Leap before heading back home. After Abbey got out of work we went another 4 to shake out before Saturday's race.
Saturday- Aurlow Stanley Memorial 5k 2nd place 17:17 8 miles total.
Pretty good run today. I was hoping to run a little faster, but the course isn't that easy, with some pretty tough hills. I've run 16:38 here before though, and was kinda hoping I'd be able to break 17 today. I got out off the line a bit fast and decided to just try and key off Justin Freeman who I figured would be winning. I focused on staying near him through the first mile and then gradually slipped back. at about a mile and a half you take a good corner and I looked back and saw Scott Clark just a bit behind me and started trying to work up the hill to make sure he didn't close the gap. At two miles I was hurting, but was pretty sure I had more in the tank if need be, I tried to keep the pace steady, because I knew Scott wouldn't be slowing down. I kept it together for most of the last mile, but was really hurtin going up the last hill. I tried to really work it and start moving on the down side of the hill, but I was not feeling good and was thinking I might do a good old Sam Wood boot. I just tried to keep a steady kick going as we finished the last 400 of the race and keep myself from puking, because I knew Scott would catch me before I got my legs back under me if I did throw up. I made it to the line and through the chute with out puking and was pretty happy. I didn't feel great out there today, and the legs never felt like they had much pop but I managed to hold on to second and the 60 bucks I knew was waiting for me.
Had a nice cool down with Scott, Justin, Abbey and Ryan LaFrance a youngster from Gilford that will likely be beating me in a few years. Fun day.
Sunday- Long run 20 miles total, about 3 to 4 miles of hiking. Abbey, Tucker and I went out and did the Wilderness loop plus Bondcliff and the Franconia Falls trail. Not sure how we decided to do Bondcliff, we were going up planning on just doing the wilderness loop, and then Cannon just looked so nice as we were heading up the highway I guess that we decided we should run up Bondcliff too. Felt great on the way out and over the river crossing, but we ran out of water on the way up Bond, and were both hurting once we got up there. We ran most of the first 2.5 up bond, and then had to hike most of the last mile and a half. We hung out and enjoyed the view and the wind for a bit but then we decided we'd better get down and back for some water. We were both really hurting though and wound up having to risk giardia and drink from some river crossings. I know it's not smart, but we were both really getting dehydrated and decided it was worth the risk with about 7 miles of running left before we'd get to fresh water. We wound up just filling our bottles and hoping for the best, and so far I feel fine. Not sure how long it takes for giardia to set in though. The tough footing on bondcliff was no problem on the way up but on the way down it was really giving me a hard time. Once we got back down to the wilderness trail it was a quick run to Franconia Falls where we took a very refreshing dip. The last 3 miles I was still really tired and hurting, but it went by quick enough. That bridge over the Pemi was a very welcome sight though. Beautiful day, I just wish we'd brought more water and more fuel. All we brought was granola bars I happened to have in the car, and I was really wishing I had some shot bloks or a gu or something for most of the second half of the run. Finished up with a soak in the river and some Subway before going home, I was still too beat to eat my sub though. Tough day, but overall it was fun, and the views were really great up top.
Week Total: 69 in 6 days. No workout, one decent race, and one really long run. Good week of training. Probably gonna get in some workouts at Gunstock next week to try and prepare for Loon. Gunstock's final climb to the summit area must be pretty close to the grade of walking boss at Loon. Not positive but it's pretty damn steep anyway.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I ran into some coyotes this week
Monday- 9 miles 63 minutes.
Ran with Abbey for her hard run. The plan was to start out easy the first couple miles then drop it down to Abbey's Marathon Pace for the rest of the run. Went well, ran 63 minutes with an 8 minute first mile. Abbey said it was kinda tough, but I felt great!
Tuesday-Easy 7 miles on the Liberty Hill trails with Tucker.
I really didn't wanna get out there for this run, I started out and realized I'd forgotten my watch in the car, luckily I was only a minute or two into the run, so I went back and grabbed it, and it was so hard to get started again. I managed to make myself do it by telling myself I could just do 7 and didn't have to do the 9 I was planning. I was secretly hoping I'd start feeling better and do the 9, but I wound up running right by the turn to add on when it was time and just finished up my 7 miles nice and easy. I'm just glad I got some in.
Wednesday- Interesting run today, I headed out from the Liberty Hill parking area, and out to Whiteface, took a trail down the backside of whiteface, and into this valley between Whiteface and Piper. As soon as I hit the valley bottom, I hear this coyote start howling, I'm not so concerned at first, I call Tucker to me, and then I hear another start in, and another. I did a couple shouts and clapped my hands, and then there's just like four or five coyotes howling. I grabbed the biggest stick I could find and took off back up the trail sprinting, with Tucker leading the way! I didn't drop my stick until I couldn't hear em anymore. When I hit the top of whiteface I stopped to take a breather fairly confident they weren't chasing us. Kinda scary though! I don't know if they were like howling to check me out, or to clear out, but either way I didn't wanna stick around to find out. After that I was kinda bummed because I had some exploring to do out that way. Once I got to the Whiteface trail again I had a decision to make about how I wanted to finish the run, I had a couple ways to go that would add on about 2 to 3 miles or I could just get back down to the normal Liberty Hill trails and just get the hell outta there. I wound up deciding to do that, and just finished up the second half of the lib hill 7 once I got back down to it. I added on about 2.5 miles with my climb up and down whiteface to make it a good 9.5 mile day.
Thursday- Long day today, I wound up running 17 miles but in 3 runs broken up by about a half hour or so for each. I started out planning on doing a 9 mile tempo on the roads. It was way too busy out with Bike Week though so I decided to bag it after 2.5 and go to the trails with Tucker. There's 5. I did 6 out on the Lib Hill trails with tuck, and after I finished up there I gave Abbey a call to see where she was at, and she wound up talking me into running with her, so I met her over at Ahern State Park for another 6 miles. Felt pretty good most of the time, a bit tired over at Ahern. I took a dip in the lake after we finished and then headed home to get ready to go into The Weirs and enjoy some Laconia Bike Week action.
Friday- 4 easy am, 4 easy pm Ran with Abbey in the morning on the roads, and ran in the afternoon with Tucker on the Audubon fields. Nice easy day.
Saturday- Hiked up Mt. Washington to watch Abbey and everyone else I know run. Beautiful day. I went up Lions Head to the Alpine Gardens and then upto about the 6.5 mile mark. Had an awesome time watching everyone come up the mountain. After most everyone went by I went up and caught up with everyone, and then went up and had myself a meal on top of the mountain. That's my favorite thing about Washington, I love going in and having a cup of coffee and pizza afer hiking all morning. I know a lot of people don't like having the observatory and all those people, but I can deal with it for hot food on top of the mountain. Once everyone started going down the mountain, I hiked back down Tuckerman's Ravine to the bottom. Great hike. I give myself about 4 miles of running for the day.
Huge Congratulations to Abbey on her 12th place finish, and 2 minute + pr. Abbey also managed 10th USATF athlete, to grab the last medal. So proud of my Fiance! Also congrats to the Masters team on their gold medal, and to the Open team for their silver.
Sunday- 9 miles, just ran a nice easy 9 miles with Tucker, I entertained Ideas of doing 18 instead of 9 but was feeling tired so I decided to just quit and be happy with the run I had done.
Week Total- 61 miles. Nice week of easy running. I know I should have gotten in a work out I just never really felt like it. Good week though.
Ran with Abbey for her hard run. The plan was to start out easy the first couple miles then drop it down to Abbey's Marathon Pace for the rest of the run. Went well, ran 63 minutes with an 8 minute first mile. Abbey said it was kinda tough, but I felt great!
Tuesday-Easy 7 miles on the Liberty Hill trails with Tucker.
I really didn't wanna get out there for this run, I started out and realized I'd forgotten my watch in the car, luckily I was only a minute or two into the run, so I went back and grabbed it, and it was so hard to get started again. I managed to make myself do it by telling myself I could just do 7 and didn't have to do the 9 I was planning. I was secretly hoping I'd start feeling better and do the 9, but I wound up running right by the turn to add on when it was time and just finished up my 7 miles nice and easy. I'm just glad I got some in.
Wednesday- Interesting run today, I headed out from the Liberty Hill parking area, and out to Whiteface, took a trail down the backside of whiteface, and into this valley between Whiteface and Piper. As soon as I hit the valley bottom, I hear this coyote start howling, I'm not so concerned at first, I call Tucker to me, and then I hear another start in, and another. I did a couple shouts and clapped my hands, and then there's just like four or five coyotes howling. I grabbed the biggest stick I could find and took off back up the trail sprinting, with Tucker leading the way! I didn't drop my stick until I couldn't hear em anymore. When I hit the top of whiteface I stopped to take a breather fairly confident they weren't chasing us. Kinda scary though! I don't know if they were like howling to check me out, or to clear out, but either way I didn't wanna stick around to find out. After that I was kinda bummed because I had some exploring to do out that way. Once I got to the Whiteface trail again I had a decision to make about how I wanted to finish the run, I had a couple ways to go that would add on about 2 to 3 miles or I could just get back down to the normal Liberty Hill trails and just get the hell outta there. I wound up deciding to do that, and just finished up the second half of the lib hill 7 once I got back down to it. I added on about 2.5 miles with my climb up and down whiteface to make it a good 9.5 mile day.
Thursday- Long day today, I wound up running 17 miles but in 3 runs broken up by about a half hour or so for each. I started out planning on doing a 9 mile tempo on the roads. It was way too busy out with Bike Week though so I decided to bag it after 2.5 and go to the trails with Tucker. There's 5. I did 6 out on the Lib Hill trails with tuck, and after I finished up there I gave Abbey a call to see where she was at, and she wound up talking me into running with her, so I met her over at Ahern State Park for another 6 miles. Felt pretty good most of the time, a bit tired over at Ahern. I took a dip in the lake after we finished and then headed home to get ready to go into The Weirs and enjoy some Laconia Bike Week action.
Friday- 4 easy am, 4 easy pm Ran with Abbey in the morning on the roads, and ran in the afternoon with Tucker on the Audubon fields. Nice easy day.
Saturday- Hiked up Mt. Washington to watch Abbey and everyone else I know run. Beautiful day. I went up Lions Head to the Alpine Gardens and then upto about the 6.5 mile mark. Had an awesome time watching everyone come up the mountain. After most everyone went by I went up and caught up with everyone, and then went up and had myself a meal on top of the mountain. That's my favorite thing about Washington, I love going in and having a cup of coffee and pizza afer hiking all morning. I know a lot of people don't like having the observatory and all those people, but I can deal with it for hot food on top of the mountain. Once everyone started going down the mountain, I hiked back down Tuckerman's Ravine to the bottom. Great hike. I give myself about 4 miles of running for the day.
Huge Congratulations to Abbey on her 12th place finish, and 2 minute + pr. Abbey also managed 10th USATF athlete, to grab the last medal. So proud of my Fiance! Also congrats to the Masters team on their gold medal, and to the Open team for their silver.
Sunday- 9 miles, just ran a nice easy 9 miles with Tucker, I entertained Ideas of doing 18 instead of 9 but was feeling tired so I decided to just quit and be happy with the run I had done.
Week Total- 61 miles. Nice week of easy running. I know I should have gotten in a work out I just never really felt like it. Good week though.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Newton 10k
Tough Race!
I came into this race with pretty high hopes, I'd run well the week before and felt really fit doing it so maybe I built up my expectations a little too high. I thought I'd be able to break 34:00 a week after getting a season's best of 16:48 in a 5k last week. I was convinced that if I got out near 17:05 for 5k that I'd be able to squeak under with the downhill last 5k. It didn't go that way, this was a bad race. My first bad race since Gilmanton back in March. My watch broke so I wasn't able to get splits for this race, I got some splits from guys near me at splits.
I went 5:30, 5:45, 17:20 23:something 29:01 and then finished up with a 36:07 I don't remember much of who was with me where or anything like that, I just remember running with Brett Ely for most of the first half, and chasing the second place woman through most of the second half. The last mile or two, I had a great guy from Whirlaway who kept pushing me to stay with him over those last miles and he was a great help as I was ready to pack it in.
No one really ran fast this race, and I was closer to my team mates time wise than I was at the bedford 12k so I'm not worried about the time. I know I'm pretty fit, it was just a tough day out there. I'm just gonna keep the miles up and keep rolling.
I came into this race with pretty high hopes, I'd run well the week before and felt really fit doing it so maybe I built up my expectations a little too high. I thought I'd be able to break 34:00 a week after getting a season's best of 16:48 in a 5k last week. I was convinced that if I got out near 17:05 for 5k that I'd be able to squeak under with the downhill last 5k. It didn't go that way, this was a bad race. My first bad race since Gilmanton back in March. My watch broke so I wasn't able to get splits for this race, I got some splits from guys near me at splits.
I went 5:30, 5:45, 17:20 23:something 29:01 and then finished up with a 36:07 I don't remember much of who was with me where or anything like that, I just remember running with Brett Ely for most of the first half, and chasing the second place woman through most of the second half. The last mile or two, I had a great guy from Whirlaway who kept pushing me to stay with him over those last miles and he was a great help as I was ready to pack it in.
No one really ran fast this race, and I was closer to my team mates time wise than I was at the bedford 12k so I'm not worried about the time. I know I'm pretty fit, it was just a tough day out there. I'm just gonna keep the miles up and keep rolling.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Training Week Ending 6/10
Monday- Mountain work out at Gunstock. Hard mile or so up the road to tower on Mt. Rowe 11:00. Easy over the ridge to Flintlock trail, then hard to the summit of Gunstock. Easy back down to parking lot and over to the base of the tower access road, and then hard up to the tower again 9:40 this time. easy again over to gunstock and back down to the car. Abbey and I did a lap around the parking lot to finish off 8 miles for the day.
Tuesday- 81 minutes exploring trails around Whiteface. 11 miles.
I took a trail from the gilford side of whiteface that skirts around the backside, and eventually connects to the logging road that I use to access whiteface from Durrell Mt. Road. I didn't go up cause I was trying to take it easy, just ran back down to Durrell mt. and after a couple more miles I just took Belknap Mt. Road back to the car. Nice run, tried to take it easy, but it was quite a bit of climbing.
Wednesday- Workout Mile, 2x800, 4x400 5:21, 2:39, 2:39, 78, 76, 77, 78
Not quite the work out I wanted today. I wish I had waited til Thursday to do this one, I don't think I was quite recovered from Monday's workout, and tuesday's run probably didn't help. Still not a bad work out, it just felt like a grind from step one. 8 miles total.
Thursday- 6 miles sorta easy
Abbey was doing a work out on the Belknap Mt. auto road, I wish I could have done it, but I had done a track work out the day before. I decided to take a trail up the backside of Gunstock, and then come back over to the top of the auto rd. to see how Abbey was doing with her work out. I was able to run most of the first half of the trail up gunstock, but the second half was really steep, and I had to hike most of it. Took it easy back over to Belknap, and managed to catch Abbey just before she headed back down on her second repeat. only about 2.5 to 3 miles so far. Ran easy with Abbey down to the bottom, about 4 or so now. Just ran out to the end of the road and back up easy until I met up with Abbey on her way back down. I did this while she did her last repeat too. I was worried about all the climbing I was getting in, but just decided that I was taking it easy and walking when it got too steep so it couldn't be too too bad. about 6 miles total on the day.
Friday- Easy 7 miles on the liberty hill trails. About 55 minutes.
Saturday- Easy 3 miles, to shake out before the 10k. Meant to run more, but it was a busy day, so I just squeezed it in before dinner.
Sunday- Newton 10k 36:07 70th place. Tough race. Ran another 4 miles later in the afternoon to make it 12 for the day.
Week Total: 55 miles with 2 work outs and a bad race. Ok week milage wise, I just sorta felt tired, and out of pop most of the week.
Tuesday- 81 minutes exploring trails around Whiteface. 11 miles.
I took a trail from the gilford side of whiteface that skirts around the backside, and eventually connects to the logging road that I use to access whiteface from Durrell Mt. Road. I didn't go up cause I was trying to take it easy, just ran back down to Durrell mt. and after a couple more miles I just took Belknap Mt. Road back to the car. Nice run, tried to take it easy, but it was quite a bit of climbing.
Wednesday- Workout Mile, 2x800, 4x400 5:21, 2:39, 2:39, 78, 76, 77, 78
Not quite the work out I wanted today. I wish I had waited til Thursday to do this one, I don't think I was quite recovered from Monday's workout, and tuesday's run probably didn't help. Still not a bad work out, it just felt like a grind from step one. 8 miles total.
Thursday- 6 miles sorta easy
Abbey was doing a work out on the Belknap Mt. auto road, I wish I could have done it, but I had done a track work out the day before. I decided to take a trail up the backside of Gunstock, and then come back over to the top of the auto rd. to see how Abbey was doing with her work out. I was able to run most of the first half of the trail up gunstock, but the second half was really steep, and I had to hike most of it. Took it easy back over to Belknap, and managed to catch Abbey just before she headed back down on her second repeat. only about 2.5 to 3 miles so far. Ran easy with Abbey down to the bottom, about 4 or so now. Just ran out to the end of the road and back up easy until I met up with Abbey on her way back down. I did this while she did her last repeat too. I was worried about all the climbing I was getting in, but just decided that I was taking it easy and walking when it got too steep so it couldn't be too too bad. about 6 miles total on the day.
Friday- Easy 7 miles on the liberty hill trails. About 55 minutes.
Saturday- Easy 3 miles, to shake out before the 10k. Meant to run more, but it was a busy day, so I just squeezed it in before dinner.
Sunday- Newton 10k 36:07 70th place. Tough race. Ran another 4 miles later in the afternoon to make it 12 for the day.
Week Total: 55 miles with 2 work outs and a bad race. Ok week milage wise, I just sorta felt tired, and out of pop most of the week.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Easy Week FTW
Mon- Franconia Ridge loop 9 miles 3h20min. run/hike
Tues- Planned day off. I was feeling pretty beat up. I had a sore achilles, and a sore shin and figured a day off might just be what I needed. It was tough to do, I had tuesday off and all I wanted to do all day was go run, but after three days of mountain runs, I figured I could get more out of the day off.
Wed- 7 mile tempo on the Liberty Hill trails. 43:18. This is a PR for this loop, but also the first time I've committed to a tempo, and not just a fartlek. I did well, I got started a little fast and put the crap in my legs pretty early, but only had to back off a bit to recover. I hit 3 miles a little under 18 and 5 miles around 29-30 minutes.I made the first mile of the climb back up Liberty Hill in 6:20 and then got a fly caught in my throat that triggered the ol' gag reflex. I was around 8:00 for the last mile after coughing/puking up that fly and taking about 2 minutes easy before I was able to remind myself what I was doing and get rolling again. Very happy with this effort. I would have been closer 42:30 with out that stupid bug.
Thursday- 5x400, 5x200: 75, 75, 75, 74, 75, 37, 37, 35, 37, 37
Wanted to get a little bit of speed in this week with a 5k coming up on Saturday. I was a little worried about trying to squeeze in back to back work outs but figured something light wouldn't hurt. Pete used to have us do back to back work out days from time to time. I always felt like I responded well to it, but this was more about time.
Friday- easy 4 miles shake out. I've been trying to lengthen my shake out, I always say I'm gonna do 6 this week, but then I get home from work and I'm just like meh, 4 will do.
Saturday- Over the River and Through the Woods 5k, 1st 16:48.
This was the 5th race of the CARS series, and with a 10 am start it was great to sleep in til 7:30 this morning. I saw it was raining getting up and was ok with it. I love racing in the rain, I just don't like standing around in it. I got a bit of cereal in, drank some juice, and a very small cup of coffee before leaving the house. I'm trying to limit my coffee before races, because I've been throwing up so often during my races. Today it seemed to work as I made it through the race without puking.
Abbey and I got there around 9:15 in pouring rain. We grabbed our numbers and nice long sleeve shirts, said hi to some friends and got out for our warm up. We ran into Ernie Brake and Scott Clark and his son Colby and finished warming up with them. Kinda just sat huddled in the car after putting on our singlet and flats then hopped out and pulled off our pants 5 minutes before the start and jogged over. I did some strides and hopped around trying to stay warm. The gun went off and there was a mass of highschoolers that surged to the front of the race, I just hung back and relaxed and just planned on trying to be around them by the time we hit the bridge over the river, because the walkway we run on is so narrow I thought I'd get stuck behind em. I managed to get by all but one of em, this young runner from Gilford Middle School a town over from me, who's going to be a very good runner I think, he was 18:18 today. I was still in 4th at this point but I just relaxed and waited til we got off the bridge and then moved to catch back up to Sam Evans Brown who was leading the race. I was feeling good and just decided to keep the move going and wound up taking the lead and trying to build a gap. I went through the mile in 5:25 just before we turn into the woods for about a mile of constant turning, through puddles and mud. It was great! I just kept the gas on through the corners and tried to get away from whoever it was I heard not far behind me. I made it through the trails with out getting caught, and then hit the road again, with just over a mile to go. I knew I had gotten a pretty good gap going, but just kept trying to roll. I felt really good all the way into the finish and had a pretty strong kick when Tom Walton who'd been leading me on the bike pulled off to tell me I was 16: and change just before I hit the "Root Canal". It felt great to get the win, and it was neat watching Colby and Scott come in one after the other for 2nd and 3rd. Abbey and I went for our cool down together and then froze our butts off during the awards. After almost 9 years of going to races together this was actually the first race that Abbey and I have ever won together. Of course since Abbey is always winning, you can guess who's to blame for the dry spell. Great day though, I felt strong the whole race, and enjoyed another CARS series race with a bunch of friends.
Tues- Planned day off. I was feeling pretty beat up. I had a sore achilles, and a sore shin and figured a day off might just be what I needed. It was tough to do, I had tuesday off and all I wanted to do all day was go run, but after three days of mountain runs, I figured I could get more out of the day off.
Wed- 7 mile tempo on the Liberty Hill trails. 43:18. This is a PR for this loop, but also the first time I've committed to a tempo, and not just a fartlek. I did well, I got started a little fast and put the crap in my legs pretty early, but only had to back off a bit to recover. I hit 3 miles a little under 18 and 5 miles around 29-30 minutes.I made the first mile of the climb back up Liberty Hill in 6:20 and then got a fly caught in my throat that triggered the ol' gag reflex. I was around 8:00 for the last mile after coughing/puking up that fly and taking about 2 minutes easy before I was able to remind myself what I was doing and get rolling again. Very happy with this effort. I would have been closer 42:30 with out that stupid bug.
Thursday- 5x400, 5x200: 75, 75, 75, 74, 75, 37, 37, 35, 37, 37
Wanted to get a little bit of speed in this week with a 5k coming up on Saturday. I was a little worried about trying to squeeze in back to back work outs but figured something light wouldn't hurt. Pete used to have us do back to back work out days from time to time. I always felt like I responded well to it, but this was more about time.
Friday- easy 4 miles shake out. I've been trying to lengthen my shake out, I always say I'm gonna do 6 this week, but then I get home from work and I'm just like meh, 4 will do.
Saturday- Over the River and Through the Woods 5k, 1st 16:48.
This was the 5th race of the CARS series, and with a 10 am start it was great to sleep in til 7:30 this morning. I saw it was raining getting up and was ok with it. I love racing in the rain, I just don't like standing around in it. I got a bit of cereal in, drank some juice, and a very small cup of coffee before leaving the house. I'm trying to limit my coffee before races, because I've been throwing up so often during my races. Today it seemed to work as I made it through the race without puking.
Abbey and I got there around 9:15 in pouring rain. We grabbed our numbers and nice long sleeve shirts, said hi to some friends and got out for our warm up. We ran into Ernie Brake and Scott Clark and his son Colby and finished warming up with them. Kinda just sat huddled in the car after putting on our singlet and flats then hopped out and pulled off our pants 5 minutes before the start and jogged over. I did some strides and hopped around trying to stay warm. The gun went off and there was a mass of highschoolers that surged to the front of the race, I just hung back and relaxed and just planned on trying to be around them by the time we hit the bridge over the river, because the walkway we run on is so narrow I thought I'd get stuck behind em. I managed to get by all but one of em, this young runner from Gilford Middle School a town over from me, who's going to be a very good runner I think, he was 18:18 today. I was still in 4th at this point but I just relaxed and waited til we got off the bridge and then moved to catch back up to Sam Evans Brown who was leading the race. I was feeling good and just decided to keep the move going and wound up taking the lead and trying to build a gap. I went through the mile in 5:25 just before we turn into the woods for about a mile of constant turning, through puddles and mud. It was great! I just kept the gas on through the corners and tried to get away from whoever it was I heard not far behind me. I made it through the trails with out getting caught, and then hit the road again, with just over a mile to go. I knew I had gotten a pretty good gap going, but just kept trying to roll. I felt really good all the way into the finish and had a pretty strong kick when Tom Walton who'd been leading me on the bike pulled off to tell me I was 16: and change just before I hit the "Root Canal". It felt great to get the win, and it was neat watching Colby and Scott come in one after the other for 2nd and 3rd. Abbey and I went for our cool down together and then froze our butts off during the awards. After almost 9 years of going to races together this was actually the first race that Abbey and I have ever won together. Of course since Abbey is always winning, you can guess who's to blame for the dry spell. Great day though, I felt strong the whole race, and enjoyed another CARS series race with a bunch of friends.
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