So, on Saturday I snuck out to the Tilton-Northfield Dare 5K. As I drove to the race I noticed that the area seemed to be very flat, my kind of race these days. As always I was bright and early for the 8 AM start showing up at 6:30. I decided that I had plenty of time so I went out on a warm up run to view the course. I was in NH, and any flat area is always next to a very hilly area, and this flat area was no exception. As I ran UP the first mile I knew I was going to be in trouble. Then some how I lost the course and heading UP, UP, UP. At the 2 mile mark in the warm up run I figured I had missed a turn and headed back down the hill, and sure enough I was able to get back on the course. Now on the right road, I was climbing the other side of this hill. GREAT!! At least this time, at the 1.5 mile mark the course turned and headed back down. So this was going to be a slow first half and a much faster 2nd half, that is if I had anything left. I ended up with 4 miles in.
As I scanned the crowd I noticed some young hot shots who looked like they could fly. I started up a conversation with them and sure enough there was one who was shooting for a 16 and change. But he also pointed out 2 other guys who could run 15. There was some speed at this race. As we lined up I also noticed Scott Clark and Tim Cox, speed was the word of the day.
The "GO" command was given and we were off. Or should I say that about 50 people were off like lighting and I was playing catchup right away. Mile 1 when by slowly. It was my slowest first mile in a 5K ever at 6:27. Mile 2 was up the steepest part of the hill but, at 1.5 miles turned around and headed back down the hill in a bone jarring manor. I was passing people and gaining some confidence. Mile 3 flattened out and I was running on fumes. I finished in 20:10, my slowest 5K ever. I ended up 19th over all so I caught quite a few people. I just couldn't seem to get my turnover rate going.
I ended up 2nd in the 50 - 59 year old category, which I received a gift certificate to Applebee's. I decided I needed to do a cool down run and hooked up with Scott Clark and Tim Cox. With them, they had the winner of the 50 - 59 category, John Belvidere from Laconia. We chatted about what each other was doing and what injuries each of us was battling. We sounded like a bunch of old people at a nursing home. Come to think of it we aren't to far off. Total miles for cool down = 2 miles. Total miles run 9.
My story doesn't end there. I shot back to my place in Gilford and did a quick change of clothes into my biking stuff. I needed to bike the 40 miles from my place to Melvin Village Marina to pick up my boat. I always take the long way counter clock wise around the lake to avoid the heavy traffic in Laconia and Meredith. Of course the traffic in Wolfeboro was a bit heavy but that section is only about 300 yards long. It funny though, the wealthiest town on the lake, Wolfeboro has the poorest road conditions. I'm guessing they do that on purpose to slow down the cars so they stop to buy something.
Anyway my ride went without incident and soon I had secured the keys and threw my bike in the back of the boat and was cruising across the lake. It was beautiful out, 80 with no wind and clear sky's. What a great reward for all my efforts. I hooked the boat to it's mooring and now was the part of today's exercises that I liked least, the swim to shore. You might think that I liked this least because I'm a average to poor swimmer and you'd be right, but that was not the reason today. Today the water was cold. There hasn't been enough sun shine over the last couple of weeks to warm up the lake. I must have sat on the back of the boat with my feet in the lake for 10 minutes before I finally took the plunge. I'd like to say that I swam like a fish back to shore but in reality I swam more like a rock, and that wouldn't be fair to rocks. One of these days I really have to learn to swim properly. I bet it would make the 1/2 ironman I do every year much easier.
So I did a reverse Tri on Saturday, 9 mile run, 40 mile bike and 200 yard swim. I think the swim took the longest of the three.
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