Fall Races

The last weeks of summer and the early part of fall are the best time for long distance races.  For me, I get the summer to work off the few extra pounds that I inevitably gain back in the winter, and I have a little extra daylight to run longer distance runs, so I am often in better condition.

Since the last update, I have competed in several races, two of which are in the Seacoast Series, which is a lot of fun.  The first was Saunders at Rye Harbor, a 10k race named after a place that no longer exists.  I had a big training week, and when the race started, I avoided a mistake I frequently make (starting out too fast) by simple exhaustion.  Instead, I ran very nearly even splits, right at 6:00 pace for the first 4-5 miles, and I ended up with a solid 37:46, which was 8 seconds off my course PR set 2 years ago.  For my efforts, which landed me a second place in my age division, I won a singlet and shorts, a novel, and $25 in cash.  Add it to the T-shirt and that was a pretty nice haul for one night!

Nick and I ran a race called the "You and Me" (ME being a play on the state of Maine).  This was the first race of its kind that I have seen -- it was a true relay.  The first runner races a 5k, then hands a baton to the second runner, who does virtually the same course.  The most difficult part of the event was finding the starting line, as my GPS magically disappeared from my vehicle and did not return (oldest son driving now... hmm).  We drove around lost for about 45 minutes before my uncle, who lives right near there, saved us by giving us very good directions.  Because I didn't have enough time to warm up, we swapped order and Nick ran first, hitting a solid 18:17.  I finished up in 18:25, and we placed 3rd in the 40-59 (combined) age division. 

The Kennett Challenge marked the start of the cross country season, and the Kennett high school team and the local White Mt. Milers club raced against the Fryeburg Academy XC squad.  Usually the milers run away with the team score, but this year we missed Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, and Leslie Beckwith (who ran with her young son), and we were defeated by FA.  Silas Eastman won the race with a time that tied his own course record (10:07), and our own Tim Livingston, ran a very solid race for second. Tim Even, USM all-star and former FA runner and now coach, backed off a bit at the finish and came in 3rd.  Nick was fourth, squeaking past a FA runner at the finish, in a PR of 11:17.  I held off a FA runner for 6th (11:41).  Alex had a decent run at 13:36, and Melissa was the number three scholastic runner behind Sarah Hernandez (KHS) and one FA runner with 14:16.  She counted for the milers, though, because she is only in 7th grade and not on the HS team.

The next race was the Millen Mile, a one mile track race in honor of a great community member, Gary Millen.  This was an evening event, and some of the big guns came out to race.  Tim Even won the overall race in 4:29, Tim Livingston would have broken the race record with a 4:36, and Kevin Tilton, last years winner, ran the same time as last year for third.  I managed a fourth place finish with 5:00.3, a fairly good time for me in a race like this.  Steve Piotrow hit 5:14, and Gabe Flanders, after eating French Fries, decided at the last minute to join the field and ran a very strong 5:22.  Allan Whitley completed the men's field with a 6:07.  The women's field only had three runners, but they were all very strong, led by repeating champion Leslie Beckwith, in 5:44.  Meredith Piotrow broke 6:00, and Cathy Livingston managed a 6:06, a very solid race.

The latest Seacoast race was the Fox Point Sunset 5 miler, my favorite race of the year.  It's not about the course, the distance, or the level of competition.  It's about the FOOD!  They have a cookout with burgers and dogs, pizza, cookies, brownies, bagels, etc.  It's the best spread of any race I have been to.  Having just raced the mile the night before, I was not expecting much.  Again, I avoided going out to hard because I simply couldn't go out hard.  However, I was quite surprised that I ran 5:51, 6:00, and 6:05 for the first three miles.   I was 18:31 at 5k, which made me smile because Nick's X-C time from earlier in the day (on a hilly terrain course) was 18:33.  Around the fourth mile, the runner who was in 4th place stopped by the side of the road to throw up.  I felt a moment of sympathy before thinking... well, that moves us up a place!  I chased a fellow named Tyler Doyle for the last mile (which turned out to be uphill, and explains the solid start) and ended up at 30:28, which was about 30 seconds off my best.  That made sense given the way I felt after the night before's full out effort, plus the running around at Alex and Nick's X-C race in the AM.  I think at full speed I might have been able to take 3rd place, but I was still happy with 5th.  Chris Ritchie took the win, and we all enjoyed a nice cookout (once the nausea from racing full out abated). 

Next up in the Seacoast Series is Great Island, and then Great Bay, both 5k's.  Meanwhile, I am changing my training to get ready for indoor track, under the guidance of Roger Pierce, a many time American and World Champion Master's runner, who has agreed to coach me.  The goal is a fast 400m time; from that, all else will come!

==
Darin
  

Nationals and Cigna

I competed in the USATF Master's National Track and Field meet last weekend.  My goal was to get to the finals at the 800m, and hopefully acheive All-American status.  I had a good race in the 800m trials, and moved up substantially from my seed, running very even splits and hitting 2:11.93, for the 6th fastest time and qualifying me for the finals.  At the final, it was 94 degrees and humid, and except for the two guys who won the sections (Landen Summay and Kevin Forde) the rest of the group all ran slower in the finals.  I ended up 7th at 2:12.98, and I missed A-A status by 0.93 seconds.

In the 1500m, I was dead legged, and the race was early in the AM after racing the afternoon before.  I went out perfectly at 2:25, but then I couldn't hold the pace and fell off, finishing at a rather disappointing 4:42.  However, my final race of the meet, the 4x800m relay, was a bright spot.  I anchored the Mass Velocity team, and I got the baton in second place in the race, but the racers in front and right behind me both were submaster teams (they had 30 year olds on them) and therefore we were not technically racing them.  I gave chase to the leader and ran a quick first lap, but made up no ground on the younger runner and cruised in for a 2:19, locking in the gold medal!

After a couple of days of easy running, Nick and I raced Cigna, the largest 5k race in NH.  We planned to run together, and I talked Nick into starting out "easy" around 5:40.  We passed the race clock at 1 mile at 5:37 (although my GPS watch clocked the mile at 5:47) and I came through the second mile at 5:50, which was perfect for me.  Nick and I finished 18:03 and 18:04, which was my best time for the season.  Nick was 3rd in his age division and I was 7th; in a race with 5000 runners, this is a pretty solid accomplishment!

Next up, Fox Point 5 miler, and then X-C season starts.

--
Darin

Nationals coming up; achilles battle

After nearly three weeks of backing off training (mostly to heal up the achilles injury from July 4th) I gave another shot at a 5k race today at Lancaster, to make sure the PT has taken and my achilles is up to speed. 

Much like Lovell last weekend, I felt terrible right from the start, and my time was a very similar 18:22.  The only things I can say that are positive are that I wasn't tired after the race, and I don't have a lot of pain.  I took 5th overall, and managed a mug for the age division award.

Nick had a terrible race, finishing slightly behind me after taking off to the lead and then feeling like his arms were made of lead.  He still won his age division by over six minutes, and he gets a week off now before X-C season training starts for real.

Melissa ran OK with a 24:17 time and an age division victory (by a few seconds).  Her training is "run a few miles every other day" as she is still too young in my opinion to start serious training.  She will have plenty of time for that later!

I leave for nationals next week, and hopefully I can make it out of the trials at 800m, but my focus is to just do the best that I can, given the injury which has hampered my last 3 weeks of training.  I had high hopes going into the season, but after missing all three of the practice meets due to injury, I have resigned myself to looking forward to next season to set my personal bests.

==
Darin

Races!

After another weak performance at the Tuesday Whitaker Woods races (probably because it was so hot and muggy) Nick, Melissa and I took to the track Thursday for a 200m interval workout.  Nick and I hit 29-31 and Melissa was solid in the high 30-low 40 range.

We started July with the MIT track meet, where Nick hit 4:43, I ran 4:44, and Melissa 6:08 for 1500m.  Nick jogged the 3k to a victory with 11:18, and Melissa and I ran a very hot and windy 800m in 2:17 and 3:18, respectively.  The times for most everyone were poor because of the heat.

July 3rd was my big race of the week; the Manchester Mile.  I ran 4:34.8 with Nick closing at the finish at 4:39.9.  Sure it was downhill, but those are good times regardless.  I thought the finish was slightly more downhill, but it was rather flat, so I didn't have quite enough left for a strong finish.  I was hoping to break 4:30, but maybe next year!   We both won our respective age divisions, and we were both in the top 10 overall (although not even close to the top 4, 3 of whom ran sub 4!)

We all did Bridgton's Four on the Fourth.  Nick and I had dead legs, after the mile race the night before.  Nick still pulled off a 23:25;  his age division was stacked, with race winner Silas Eastman, and another younster in the top 5 in the mid 22's (which Nick could probably do with a day of rest in between races).  Melissa ran a PR 31:34 for 3rd in her division (she got heavily boxed in at the start, but still did well), and Alex ran a PR at 34:04, after 6 weeks of not running.  My time was 24:50, but somehow I managed to win my age division anyway.  Unfortunately, I may have tweaked my achilles, which started bothering me after a 10.6 mile run over this weekend.   That will be inconvenient, as I was hoping to bump up the mileage and do more track work to get ready for Masters Nationals in August; instead I will be babying the injury and trying to maintain fitness.

==
Darin

Thursday Track work

We ran into Roger Marcoux, Tim Livingston, and Tim's family tonight on the track, where Nick, Melissa and I ran 12x400 in the searing heat.  Nick and I ran 79/78/76/75 for set 1, then 74/73/73/73 for set 2, and for set 3, 69/70/72 and then Nick took off with a 64 while I staggered in for 75.  Melissa hit 1:47 for most of them; her target pace was 1:45 but that was a serious challenge running by herself.  It was a great workout under the circumstances!!

Fudgesicles and a gallon of lemonade afterwards... let's hope tomorrow is slightly cooler than the 95 degrees we ran in today!

==
Darin

Downhill and Uphill

I raced the Hollis fast 5k on Thursday, capturing my age division with a 17:16, a somewhat disappointing time.  I was a bit sore from Tuesday's Whitaker Woods effort, which was a very strong one for me at 19:22.  My hamstring was bothering me enough to scratch Sunday's Father's day 5k.

Meanwhile, Nick had a fantastic race up Mt. Washington, coming in 83rd overall and 2nd in the 19 and under age division with 1:22:56.  Congrats to Kevin Tilton for winning the first NH finisher award, and the hometown crew including Jim Johnson, Paul Kirsch, Marc Ohlson, Nick and Josh Brustin, Rich Laracy, Shauna Ross, Leslie Beckwith, Kevin Callahan, and everyone else I missed!

Next up, Tuesday's Whitaker Woods race series.  Hopefully my hamstring cooperates for that.
==
Darin

Good week so far

Saturday Nick and I competed at the Market Square 10k, with Nick setting a 10k PR at 38:10, for 15th overall, and me coming only 21 seconds off my course best, at 37:52, for 13th overall.  I hit the top spot for Masters runners, and Nick was 2nd to former MS state XC champion Cameron Barth in the under 19 age division.

Sunday Nick and I did 10.7 around Silver lake, yesterday was an easy 4, and today Nick rocked at the first Whitaker Woods 5k, with a huge course PR of 18:36, taking 4th overall.  Jim Johnson, Tim Livingston, and Peter Haine were the leaders tonight, and I managed a strong 19:22 for 5th.  Melissa hit a PR for the course at 23:38, as she continues to get stronger.  For comparison, when Nick was 12 he was running 22:50 for this course, so Melissa is doing extremely well.

Thursday is Hollis for me, Saturday Mt. Washington for Nick, and Sunday is the Father's Day 5k for me in Portland.  Should be a high mileage total week for me as well, and lots of quality runs.

==
Darin 

State meet champion

Nick won the mile at the Middle School State Meet in a dramatic fashion.  After two laps of very slow paced tactical maneuvering (82/78), Nick's rival, Marc, took the lead and picked up the pace (75).  With 400m to go, Nick put on a surge and gapped Marc, and ran a 67 final lap to win 5:02 to 5:04.  Marc ran a 2:16 (71/65) to win the 800m, where Nick took second at 2:21.  Nick had really wanted to break 5:00 for the mile, but he realized he needed to race tactically to have the best chance to win.

Melissa came from 7th place in the last lap of the mile to finish 4th, almost catching the 3rd place runner, in a time of 6:23.  The leader ran an amazing 5:37, and was 50 meters in front.  Melissa came back in the 800m with a PR time of 2:56, 3rd in the section, and probably 7th overall.

My best training day was a 10 miler that was supposed to be a 10 mile steady state, but I ran out of gas at 8 miles and jogged the rest.  I am hoping to continue to pick up the mileage going into the summer racing season.  If I can get to 50 miles a week to develop a better base, with a race each weekend for speed training, I should get back to my best level of fitness, which is the only true goal any runner can have!!

==
Darin

Solid results

Melissa, Nick and I competed in the Mother's Day 5k on Sunday.  Nick took 16th overall with a PR 17:34 (winning his age division).  I managed a season best 18:14 (2nd in age group) and Melissa cramped up but still finished with a respectable 22:37 for 2nd in her age division, and her second best time.

On the track, Nick set a PR with a 5:02.9 mile, running 75/79/77/71 completely by himself.  His primary competition for the state meet skipped the mile and ran the 800m, which was too bad, because this youngster ran 4:56 recently and Nick was hoping to get under 5:00.   Nick came back in the 400m and set a season best 62.7, and then 10 minutes later ran a 2:28, taking 2nd to the Interlakes youth who ran low 2:20's. 

Melissa cramped up in the last 2 laps of the mile and fell off pace, but still managed a 6:23, which ties her season best.  She broke 3:00 (barely) in the 800m for a PR at 2:59.9, and then ran the next event, the 200m, at 33.2 for her first race ever at that distance.  She wanted to go back and try the next heat of the 200 as well; I guess she is ready to start interval training on the track!

State meets are next for the kids, and Red Hook 5k for me.

===
Darin

Catching up

Time to catch up; I have missed a couple of months of posting.  The short story is my indoor season ended badly at nationals with disappointing races in the 3000m and the 800m, and I was feeling so bad that I scratched out of the mile (a good decision).  Although I hit the All-American standard at the 3000m, my time was 20 seconds off my PR earlier in the season.  If I had raced the 800m like I had before I tore my calf, I would have been in position to win, and I would have certainly medalled, but I ended up in 7th.

Since then, I have been simply trying to maintain fitness, and get Nick to break 5:00 in the mile.  I have a couple of 18:30's for 5k this year (including a top Master's finish at the Children's Museum 5k last weekend), but I am nowhere near where I should be.  I need to pick up the mileage -- hopefully I can get out with Jim and Kevin once the kids' track season winds down and I have more time!

Nick has been progessing nicely.  His mile PR of 5:07 could get tested on Wednesday, the last meet before states.   Melissa won her first track race (mile) a few weeks back with a solid 6:35, and last week set a PR at 6:23.    Both Nick and Melissa won the respective races (Nick overall, Melissa the top female finisher) at the small Spring into Spring 5k last weekend (18:05 and 22:14, respectively).   They both hope to PR for 5k tomorrow -- all three of us will compete in the Mother's Day 5k. 

----
Darin

All American!

After 30+ years of competitive racing, I finally acheived the milestone of "All-American" status.  I raced the 3k at Boston University's "mini meet" and managed a PR time of 9:56.93, which was under the 10:00 age division standard for AA.  I had Brendan Dagan helping me out with splits, which was very useful, because I drifted off pace after the first 800m.  I went through the mile in 5:21 (slightly better than last week's 5:22, but off the 10:00 pace), but came back the last 800m in 2:34, passing many of the other runners in the race (I had been hanging out in last place!)  in the process, and taking 5th overall in the heat.

Nick had a great race in the mile, hitting a PR 5:11.13.  He is looking to break 5:00 this season, which, given that performance, is a likelihood.

Happy New Year and hopefully this will be a good year of racing!

===
Darin