Bill Luti 5 miler

Abbey and I went down to the Bill Luti 5 miler yesterday, feeling a little nervous as we've had a pretty lazy July. I tried to convince myself that I was still plenty fit, just well rested, and I think I pretty much got it right as this wound up being my best Bill Luti ever. I made the top 10 for the first time, and got myself a 7 second course PR with a 27:34. Here's the run down.

1st mile- 5:10  I got out trying to stay relaxed, but all the guys I wanted to run with were flying, and I didn't wanna risk letting them get away too early so it wound up being faster than I wanted to get out.

2nd mile-5:46 I panicked a little when I saw the 5:45 but I reminded myself of the hill we'd just gone up and just tried to stay focused.

3rd mile- 5:21 The race is always tough in this section down to St. Pauls, usually I find myself falling back here, even though it's a pretty easy mile. This year I was able to make myself focus and stay in the race. There was a decision to make, about wether I was gonna start racing the couple guys in front or if I was gonna just try and finish the race respectably. I wound up deciding to race, and managed to relax and work my way up to the guys in front of me, Neal Graves and Mucopa from Concord. I tried to focus on my breathing and found myself feeling very light on a long relaxed exhale. I caught mucopa and was battling him through out most of the race as we tried to reel in Neal.

4th mile- 5:38 Our whole pack started to slow down on the 4th mile and Neal Graves who's in the CARS series was coming back to me. Mucopa and I caught Neal around there and he just latched on we were all hurting, and it would have been much slower if it'd been strung out.

5th mile- 5:29 I hit four miles in 22:05 and knew I was on track for a Luti PR if i kept on track and did my best to stay focused on that. We all continued to battle over that last mile but probably the last 600-800 I let those two get away. I was hurting, but I think I got a little complacent knowing I was on pace for a good time (for me anyways). I was really happy with the race though, right up to the last 600 I raced really hard and was rewarded with a good time.

Went for a nice cool down with Neal after the race. We were both pretty pumped with our races, and had a fun time chatting it up. Abbey and I got our two Maragaritas gift certs for top 10 finishes! Abbey was second though, and won a little money too. After the race we went and checked out the Market Day Festival in Downtown Concord. Pretty fun time, but I was hoping to find this woman who had a bunch of great Jams the last time I was there, and I couldn't find her. Later on we went to The Dark Knight Rises and it was awesome. Great day!

Loon Mt. Race

This race went ok, but I don't feel like it was my best effort of the year. I wound up 25th overall in 51:09, getting beat by a handful of elite women. Early in the season I was really looking forward to this race, but by the time this week rolled around I was having trouble getting into the mind set for it. Not really sure what it was, I think I've just hit the doldrums of the summer season, as my mind set/motivation for running in general has been a little off the past week or two.

Despite not feeling very excited about the race all week, by the time I hit the line I felt ready to go and the legs felt nice and snappy. I was feeling optimistic and got lured out way too fast by that easy opening mile. I put myself right behind Kevin Tilton and Ross Krauss and began to envision myself hanging with them and being able to help my team win the title. I was able to hang with them for the first mile and then slipped back pretty significantly over the next mile. I let a stream of runners pass me until I had Chris Ritchie from the seacoast area catch up to me. There's nothing against him, I just remember battling him at the Children's Museum 5k earlier this year, and was set against losing to him again.

Seeing Chris got me racing again and I got back into it. I began to tell myself I wasn't the only idiot to go out too fast, and started scanning the trail ahead for runners coming back to me. I still didn't turn the race around though, as I was quick to walk on the steeps, but I tried to tough it out. Around 3 miles I caught up to my old team mate Craig McMahon's little brother, and chatted with him a bit as we made our way up the access road. We ran together for a little bit and then I decided I'd better try to put some distance on him because he's a college guy and a McMahon and probably quite a bit faster than me on a normal course right now. I just kept on chugging, and tried to run fast on the flat and downhill parts just because it felt good to actually be moving for a bit!

When I turned the corner and faced the BOSS for the first time it was the most crushing thing! I just couldn't believe how long and steep it was. I had envisioned something that steep, but maybe half or quarter of the length. I tried to run as long as I could and then settled into a walk for most of it. I turned around and walked backwards for a bit, and took in the view. I walked most of the climb, but every now and then I'd try to put in about 10 or 15 seconds of running to make sure I didn't get caught while climbing. Almost at the top I just started throwing up. (what else is new?) I got passed by Craig's brother and another guy at this point, and didn't think I'd catch them again, but the last 20 or 30 meters I was able to put in a strong run to over take them just before the line.

Abbey and I didn't have a whole lot of time to hang out, because Abbey had to work in the afternoon. We took a ride down on the gondola and then we got out of there. Abbey actually wound up not having to go in though, which was awesome. We went and took a jump at Indian's Leap (showing up some punks in front of their girlfriends) and then headed home for a nice afternoon on Lake Winnipesaukee with Abbey's parents.

All in all it was a great day and a really fun race. Not running quite as well as I wanted keeps me hungry for next years race. During the climb up the boss, I was telling myself  "never again" but it didn't take long before I started thinking about the places I could have run faster, and looking forward to taking another crack at this beast of a course.

Week Ending 7/1

Monday- Easy 10 on the roads. Ran funspot 7 loop, and decided to explore this hill that went into a gated residential community that goes off the loop. Looks great for "Drummer" work outs. Not quite the same profile, the grade is more consistent the whole way, but a good mile long paved hill 2.5 miles from home cannot be ignored. Nice run.

Tuesday- Easy 8 miles, ran up mt. piper and down to south piper, and then over to white face and back out belknap mt. road to my car. nice run, slow lots of stopping and looking for cairns to follow the south piper trail. Tight calves.

Wednesday- harder 10 miles up whiteface and over to Durrell mt. Road and back up liberty hill to the car. Felt shitty.

Thursday- unplanned day off. Waited for Abbey to come home, and then we just whimped out and decided to skip it.

Friday- 2 times up and down gunstock, 8 miles total. Tried to run hard but felt like shit, a lot more walking than I wanted, but it went ok.

Saturday- Another goose egg. Meant to run in the afternoon, but I wound up windsurfing with my brother all afternoon, right up until dinner.

Sunday- Another goose egg, went to the beach for the day.

Week Total: 36. Should have run more this week, but I was due for an easy week after 3 weeks of building. easier week than I meant for, but I felt great in tonight's work out (monday) 5x600 averaging 1:48.