I finally got the W!!!

In the over 50 age category that is. Since turning 50 I've finished in the top 3 of the 50 and over age category in every race (except for The Boston Marathon), but had yet to finish 1st in the age category. I've been close, one race it was announced that I won but after a couple of days of "fixing" the results I ended up 3rd. In another race I was the first to cross the finish line but they were using chip time and a guy who finished behind me got the W.

Today I headed down to Concord, MA to run the Emerson Hospital 5K run for cancer race. After last weeks very poor showing in Andover (19:48 5K) I wanted to change things up a bit and see if I could redeem myself.

First change was to wear the acidotic RACING White & Blue racing singlet and shorts. Second, instead of starting the race with no real warm up, I did a 2.3 mile easy run on the course. Third, I was going to start the race more conservatively, at least that was the plan.

As always I arrive at the race site early, and it was pouring. This was going to be a wet day no matter what happened. I quickly signed in and went back to my car to get ready for my warm up run. I had a map of the race course so I decided to do my warm up on the course. During my warm up the rain just kept coming down. I finished up and was soaked. It's a good thing I had a total change of running gear for the race.

As I lined up for the start of the race I started up a conversation with a guy who was wearing a BAA singlet. His name was Kyle Bowers. He ran a 2:52 in Boston so I knew that I wasn't going to be finishing to close to him. In addition there were a number of young (teenagers) runners up front who looked like they were going to go out fast. I wasn't going to get drawn into that trap like last weekend.

The race started right on time and sure enough the teenagers went out fast. Kyle was right behind them. I held the horses back and ran very controlled. I was running in 10th place but gaining on some of the people who had got caught up in the start. I hit the mile marker in 5:45 but my watch, a Garmin 305, had not registered the mile point until 5:50. Either way I was much faster then last weekend. So much for my racing plan. But for some reason, I felt much better then last weekend. Could be the warm up run, or maybe it was because I didn't sprint out at the start. At this point I was running in 6th place and that's where I would stay for the remainder of the race.

Below are all my splits

1 5:50

2 6:17 12:07

3 6:12 18:19

3.1 :34 18:53

Overall pace 6:05's

So I ran nearly a minute faster then last weekend and I finally got the W in the 50 year old age category!

I'll take it!!

I guess I need to do another track workout this week so I'll have even more speed for "The Rock Pile" next weekend. RIGHT!!!

Red Sky in the morning...Runners.....

Go to the TRACK......OOOOOCCCCCCCHHHHHH!!   Forecast for today....Pain...Heavy At Times (aka PHAT).

OK it's been some 15 years since I've been to a track to do 440's.  I hate the track and the track hates me.  I stopped going years ago because every time I went I viewed every quarter like it was a race and always ended up with a pulled hammy.  

So after my less then stellar 5K over the weekend I decided that I needed to get to the track to increase my speed (or at least get a little speed).  As I was driving into work this morning at the early hour of Dark:OH:30 I took this picture while on RT 128.  Was this my warning as to what was coming?  I hoped it wasn't but knew that there was some Pain in the forecast.

Now I've been working in Medford for 2.5 years and rarely run from work because the area SUCKS for running.  It's a mismash of roads with lights at every corner and way to much traffic.  But yesterday I hooked up with an old friend and she showed me a route that brought us by a track just 1.5 miles from the office.  I figured that this was the perfect setup with a warm up and cool down built in.  

So I got into work and started my 1.5 miles to the track.  The plan as always was simple:

1.  Do 1.5 mile warm up

2.  Do 6, 440's at 5K pace with 440 rest in between

3.  Do 1.5 mile cool down

I arrived at the track in Malden and it was a little funky, because it was a 5 lane track around the football field.  I guess the main attraction was the football field and the track was just an added bonus.   I did one easy loop around the track to make sure there were no bad footing areas and to make sure I still understood how to run on a track.  There was one other guy going through his paces on the track but he soon vacated once he saw my pure speed circling the oval (or was he just dieing of laughter?).   

Anyway, it was time to get this show on the road.  I started my first quarter and my left leg was very tight as well as my left achillies.   I was not fluid or even bumpy, I was more like a truck with 4 flat tires going over rail road ties.  NOT PRETTY AT ALL.   My time was so poor that I'm embarrased to even share it but it was a 110.  Not 1 minute and 10 seconds, but 110 seconds or translated to 1 minutes and 50 seconds.  Which means I was running a 7:20 mile.  AAARRRGGG!   How is this possible?  I was hurting really bad too.  Now I'm thinking to myself, WTF I ran 6:55's at Boston, now I can only manage 7:20' for 1 quarter.  I was in trouble.  I did my 440 rest loop and was hoping it would get better on the next quarter.  

As I approached the starting line I took a deep breath and I was off.  Still nothing was working right.  Every other step was painful, my left leg was killing me.  I finished up quarter number 2 in 103.  Well it was a little better but still slow.  Quarter number 3 was a little better at 99 seconds.  Still that's only 6:36's.   I need to change things up.  I decided to reverse directions on the track and run clock wise.  I thought that by doing this some of the preasure on my left leg would be relieved.  Quarter number 4 clocked in at 97 (6:28's).  Seeing that I was only going to do 6 quarter I wanted # 5 to be an all out attack.  As I started out I kept telling myself to shorten my stride and increase the turnover rate and LIFT you're dam knees!!!  I hit the 22o mark in 45 seconds, I was a MACHINE, a slow machine but I was moving faster then I have moved for the past couple of years.  The last 100 yards things started to tighten up and I struggled to the finish in 89 seconds (5:56), YEEESSSS!!!   Now the key was could I do it again?   I thought I had used all of my energy on # 5, but I needed to prove to myself that I could push myself through the pain.   As I started out on quarter #6 I could feel that I was running slower, but I decided to see if I could run the first 220 easy and then kick in the last 220.  At the 220 mark I was at 49 seconds.  I was much slower (10%) then quarter number 5 but at least I was feeling good and had some reserves to finish strong.  I kicked it up a bit for the final 220 and finished in 91 seconds (6:04).  Not to bad, I'll take it.  

As I look over my times I know I can do better, but this was a good starting point.  My short term goal is to run most of my quarters at 85 and long term to get them down to 80's.  I figure if I go to the track at least once a week I should be able to achieve this by August.  We shall see.  Below is a summary of my times.

Quarter 1  110

Quarter 2  103

Quarter 3  99

Quarter 4  97

Quarter 5  89

Quarter 6  91

So the red sky did indecate a storm was brewing and now as I type this my legs are telling me it was a really bad storm.

5K's are just way to FAST!!

Sunday was perfect, weather wise.   Over the past several months I've run 3 races, 2 half marathons and a marathon.  So my slow twitch muscles are working fairly well.  With Mount Washington Road Race just 2 weeks away I wanted to test my ability to have my heart rate shoot into the stratosphere then settle into a rhythm that stressed me but didn't break me.  So on Friday I combed the pages of Coolrunning.com for a 5K race close to home.  I was lucky, I found 2 races on Sunday that would do the trick.  One at 9 AM in Andover (The Krit Classic 5K) and one at 10:30 in Lowell (Lowell Firefighters 5K).  Then I started thinking that "hey I'm in good shape, if I do Andover and still fell good I can shoot down to Lowell and do a double".  Sometimes I have these types of thoughts go through my head and forget that I'm 50 and the days of doing 5 races in one weekend are long gone.  But I figured why not set myself up for it.

So I left my house at 7 AM and quickly arrived in Andover for the race.  As always I was one of the first people to arrive and was able to sign up in no time.  I checked out the list of runners they had on the wall and quickly realized 2 things.  First, they had over 1000 people already signed up for the race.  That was truly impressive considering it was a first year event.  Second, most of the big guns were down at Rhody's race, which meant I stood a good chance of doing well.  As I watch people file in I didn't recognize a single person.  None of the top guys were here.  However I did spot a group of high school age kids who seemed to be floating down the road warming up.  I hooked up with them and found out that one of them had run in the 9:40's for the 2 mile this spring.  He was the man to beat today.  Not that I had anything to say about it.  In talking to the kids they told me that the course was in a lollipop shape and it was down hill the first mile, leveled off for the 2nd mile and up hill for the third mile.  My take was that this course would maximise pain, pure speed the first mile, a little recovery the 2nd and all pain and suffering the last mile. 

As we lined up the kids took their place in the front row, I settled in off to the side.  A women with an air horn walked up and without uttering a word sounded the horn.  HOLY SH!%@$, what a fast start.  The high school students ran in a pack up front with 2 or 3 older guys tagging along.  I settled in next to this woman who was 5 foot nothing and must have weighted 95 pounds soaking wet.  She had a quick turnover rate.  Her and I battled back and forth the first mile then I just couldn't continue to hold on and let her go.   I hit the mile at 6:01, which for me was fast but I figured I was OK, however my heart rate was through the roof.   I need to settle down the 2nd mile and recover.  I was now running in no mans land and finished up the second mile in 12:21 (6:20 split).  I had slowed considerably.  I need to pull it back together and push the 3rd mile but I was beat and knew that it was all up hill from here.  At this point we were now going by the people who were still running the 1st mile.  The road was packed and car traffic was making it even worst.  At one point I had to yell out to oncoming runner who were not paying attention to what was coming at them.  I hit mile 3 in 19:05 (6:44 split) and all of a sudden I stumbled.   I recovered quickly but lost some momentum.  At this point a young girl (28) had pulled along side of me and was aiming to beat me.  Well it's one thing for a well seasoned women to crush me at the mile marker, but it's a real pride killer to be out kicked by a girl wearing an Ipod.  My legs were not able to sprint at this point so I needed to use another strategy,  I raise my elbows up and every time she tried to get around me I slide in front of her and did not let her pass.  In the end I beat her by less then 1 second and clocked in at 19:48 and ended up 15th over all out off 990 finishers, and 2nd in my age category.  

I was hurting.  I quickly realized that a 2nd race was out of the question.  I could barely walk.   So I just hung out for the results which when they came out and were posted on the wall of the gym, they were in a random order.  We tried to figure out what order they were in but we eliminated the following possibilities,  Race Number, Age, first name, last name, race time, town, and state.  So figuring out how you placed we very difficult for everyone except for the first couple of people.  At the awards ceremony they announced the top 3 in each category then everyone went up at once and was handed their award.  I walked away with a Bauer sweatshirt.  That was the first time I received a hockey item at a road race.  Beggars can't be choosers!!

What did I learn?  I just don't have the turnover that I need for short races.  I need to get to a track once a week and work on my speed.  I can't do more then one race a week.  Lastly I like the acidotic RACING red uniforms.  They are comfortable and there fast looking even if the person wearing them is a slug (that's me). 

Did a sweet trail run on Sunday

Trail running is not my thing. I tend to turn ankles, fall or just get tuckered out. The plan was to hook up with 4 other ROAGites in Groton at the end of Cow Pond Road to run the trails. I had planned on racing Sunday but family commitments prevented me from doing so.

The trails we were to run I've run before but only in snowshoes. In fact it the same set of trails that my wife and I got lost on and I had to ditch the SS and run back on the roads to get the car. For some reason my wife has not gone snowshoeing since. Go figure!

The 5 of us headed out and quickly got ourselves up onto an ester that was a lot of fun. After doing a loop and retracing some steps we were heading across the street for some trails that were new to me. These trails were made by mtn bikers and it showed. They were very technical and were constantly turning. This trail also featured many rock formation climbs and descents. I was very nervous on the rocks because rock, moss and rain make for some very poor footing.

I managed to stay upright the entire run but one person wasn't so lucky. David K. went crashing to the ground right in front of me. He popped up quickly and was uninjured. We finished up with 5.6 miles of trail running in 54 minutes. Not fast but it was nice to be out.

I'm a sore loser!!

Photo by Kristin Wainwright


That's right, I hate to lose and who doesn't? I believe that running is all about putting it all on the line and when the gun goes off it's about how much pain you are willing to endure to beat the guys near you. Yeah there will always be people much better then you, but they are also running their own race against people near them. So it's all about the group your running against.





I think that Chip timing is a good idea when it comes to qualifying for Boston but other wise it has no place in racing. For years runners have been self seeding themselves at races without much direction from race organizers. Of course you will always get the weekend warrior who will try and get up front and go out hard for the first 100 yards of a race but is soon shat out the back side. Other wise self seeding has worked.





Last weekend I ran the Big Lake Half. I've run this race every year since it's inception 8 years ago. It's a "Scenic Race" these are code words for NH races meaning, hilly with the possibility of mountains. So I knew the course was tough and I would be challenged. The race was chip timed, which I know makes it easier for the race officials to post the results but I was unaware that chip times were going to be used to give out awards. To me this makes no sense.





As you can see from the picture above I was clearly ahead of the 2 other guys in the photo as we approached the finish line. However in the results it shows that both of these guys beat me. The guy just behind me #734 challenged me in the last 50 yards. I kicked with everything I had left and just beat him by a second or two. Yet the results show that he beat me by 9 seconds. WRONG!!! I out kicked him. The guy further back in the photo I beat by about 7 seconds yet in the results it shows that he beat me by 4 seconds. WRONG AGAIN!! I beat him to the finish line fair and square. What I really think is funny is on race day he was listed as 50 years old. Yesterday he was listed as 49 years old. As of 10 minutes ago he was listed as 50 years old again. WTF!!!!

My question would be what if the winner (first across the finish line) of the race beat the 2nd place guy by 1 second but the guy in 2nd place crossed the starting line 2 seconds after the gun. Would they give the win the the 2nd place guy? I don't think so!!! So why would they use chip timing for awards in the age categories? It just doesn't make sense.

So if you want to race me, line up next to me and don't rely on chip timing to stealth in for the win. I want a chance to beat you man to man.

I'll get off my soap box now. I feel much better.

What's in a name?

Photos by Kristin Wainwright

On Saturday I raced the Big Lake Half Marathon up in Alton, Bay NH. If you recall a couple of weeks ago there was a big fire up in Alton. It wiped out a ton of small places right by the finish line. Any way it seemed to be a good day for racing. It was a little warm, around 60 with partly cloudy skies.

As I was thinking about writing this blog on my way home from Alton Bay on Saturday, I realized there were just to many Title's I could use so I decided to write this blog using the titles that I came up with.


1. "I beat JJ today" OK, I always show up early to races. How early well that all depends on the distance. At a 1/2 marathon, at least 2 hours early. Chris Dunn is of the same mind set and I hooked up with Chris and his wife Karen at registration. We then were hanging out by Chris's car when a bright yellow Xterra drove up with Jim and Kristin. So Chris and I beat JJ today!


2. "acidotic RACING is STYLE'N" That's right, Chris brought with him our new team shirts. They are really nice, read and black colors, so they must be fast! In addition I ordered a white and blue tanktop for summer racing and also got the team shirt for the Reach The Beach relay. Add to that the shirt from the race and I walked away with 4 shirts. My wife is going to kill me.


3. "That's going to leave a Mark" Mile one was fast, how fast you ask? Well for me it was the fastest mile I've run in the past couple of years. 5:57.03. Now I've heard that this is a short mile but I was feeling really loose and it didn't' really surprise me. How ever I knew that I was in trouble.


4. "Myles pass by" At mile 2 Myles Chase pulled up along side of me. Myles is my "EXPERT" bike mechanic and owner of MC Cycles of Laconia. Myles is very fit and is a strong biker. He was shooting to run sub 1:25. I thought I had an out sided chance of running with him but once he passed me it was for good.


5. "Cannon ball in my gut" At mile 3 my stomach was starting to bother me. It felt like I had a heavy weight in my stomach. I was starting to slow down.


6. "I'm Dunn" During mile 4 Chris Dunn ran past me like I was standing still. He then slowed down and said that he was going to pace with me. That only lasted about 50 yards and he started pulling away. At the half way point he had 50 seconds on me and was still running strong.


7. "Major Slow Down" Miles 5 and 6 are up a long steady hill. When you reach the top you are at the entrance of the Mt Major parking lot. I was slowing down and needed to get it going again.


8. "I'm getting double Chicked" The first woman passed me around 1.5 miles into the race. Now the 2nd woman passed me at 6.5. She was young and flying and there was no way I was going to be able to catch her.


9. "Chuck and Run" At around mile 8 I noticed a young kid around 19 years old had pulled over and had his hands on his knees. He was blowing chow, it looked like Gatoraide had taken it's toll on him. I figured this was my chance to pass him. But much to my surprise, this kid finished up with his technicolor yawning and jumped right back in running 6:30's. I knew that I was not going to be able to beat this kid. Anyone who can loose their lunch and then start running full speed seconds later is to tough for me.


10. "Game ON" At mile 11 there was a kid about 50 yards a head of me. I figured that if I pushed it I could catch him with in a mile and then would have to work hard during mile 13 to put some distance between us so he wouldn't be able to beat me with his kick. At least that was the plan. At the 12 mile mark I caught the kid. As I passed him he started to break and slow down. I shouted to him, "tuck in behind me and we'll work together, DON'T GIVE UP". For the next mile that's just what he did. With a tenth of a mile to go, he came around me and started his kick. I don't have a kick so I watched him pull away. Then I heard foot steps behind me. No way I was going to let another person pass me so close to the finish. I gave it everything I had and ended up beating the guy by about 2 seconds. Note to self: "If you want to beat someone towards the end of a race don't give him the plan on how to beat you".


11. "I got CHIPPED" At the finish I figured I ran well enough to place 2nd in my age category. I knew that there was one guy a head of me who looked my age so I was content to take 2nd. When the results came out it showed that another 50 year old guy beat me by 1 place and 6 seconds. Hold on the kid in front of me was only around 18 and the next guy in front of him was a couple hundred yards a head of him. Where did this 50 year old guy come from? At the awards I spoke with him and he said that he got a slow start across the chip timing mat. In fact he crossed the timing mat 15 seconds after the gun was fired. Off the gun he finished behind me but because they were using chip timing he finished a head of me. The awards for 2nd and 3rd were exactly the same so it really didn't matter. Maybe I'm old school but, this kind if ticked me off. Awards should be based on gun time, not on chip time. How do you race against someone if you don't know they are there? This guy should have seeded himself up towards the front with the rest of us. To top it all off I just checked the results this morning and now it shows his age as 49....AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!


12. "Last Myles to slow" I told you about Myles Chase trying to break 1:25. Well he came as close as you can get but failed. 1:25:01. Talk about close.


13. "Dunn Right" Chris Dunn ran a fantastic race placing 20th with a time of 1:27:01. He was 2nd in the 40 - 44 age category. It must me the Shirt!!!


13.1 Liz Hall ended up wining her age category with a time of 1:32:27 and Karen Dunn set a PR for herself. Way to go LADIES!!


Photos by Kristin Wainwright

Below are my splits


1 5:57
2 6:37
3 6:43
4 6:55
5 6:56
6 7:05
7 6:36
8 6:45
9 7:22
10 6:19
11 7:18
12 6:54
13 6:54
13.1 42


Total 1:29:08 Pace 6:48

Dead Legs

It's been 10 days since the Boston Marathon and I've managed to get out the door 6 times. That doesn't look to bad when I type it but I must say that it has been a struggle. My legs are just plan tired.

Each time I go out I'm doing 9+ miles but I just don't have any bounce in my step. When I run with friends they tend to drop me within 2 miles and I'm never able to recover. In fact I get to such a low point in my running speed that I may be running 10+ minute miles. And that's on the roads.

I'm guessing that I need to give my body a rest and do a ton of stretching exercises. So I'm off to Miami this Saturday for a week long seminar at the Doral Resort & Spa. I've scoped out the area and I think the high point in the area may be 10 feet above sea level. So doing hill work is out of the question. So I will rest the best I can and some how get ready for my next race.

Next up, Saturday, May 9, Big Lake Half Marathon in Alton Bay, NH. I've done this race every year they've had it. This race used to be put on by endorfun but Keith Jordan has decided to focus more on directing Tri's. LOCO is now in charge of this race. I believe the format and everything else is the same.

Hopefully my legs will be back to their bouncy form once again so I can glide across the scenic roads (NH code words for hills).