Notes
Slept pretty well last night. Ate usual pre-race breakfast of waffles with some water and left the house a 8AM to pick-up Chris. Snow had passed in boston, but just starting as we got to NH. We were up in Derry by 9, but had to be re-routed to over-fill parking lot, which was a mile away. After missing out on the next bus, we jogged over to the school and started our pre-race prep. Already 2-3 in. snow accumulated. Going to be interesting. Decided on ES20 t-shirt under drimove zip T. Was really cold at the beginning, but was better once we were in the starting crowd. Spotted Bill just as we were about to start.
After the gun, I took off to catch Bill to see what he was planning on running, to which he replied, "as fast as I can." Slowly dropped back over the 1st mile into a more comfortable pace. Trying to maintain around a 165 or so. Hard to find a good rhythm with the lousy traction. Had to pass judiciously. Really tough to get a good rhythm going with the snow and rolling course. Started to feel more comfortable after ~5 miles. Pacing with a shorter guy in all black. Passed him shortly before mile 8, still feeling pretty fresh. Took gel and prepared for the steep hill after mile 9. Could see a small group coming up behind me. Took the hill relatively hard and then cruised on the downhill. Hill at 10.5 was steeper than I remembered. Finally caught by tallish guy who was chatting behind me at the crest of the hill. Took another gel and water after 12. Started to feel strong and passed the tall runner again and just kept going. He responded about a mile later and he pushed me to run faster for ~1.5 miles. We caught two runners that I had been reeling in for the last 3-4 miles. Tall guy surged hard at the left turn onto Cemetery Rd., but I felt it was too early. I worked on trying to catch the next runner; stocky fellow. I didn't pass
him decisively enough, b/c he surged again. At 15, I decided to pick it up and caught the tall guy with 800m to go. Tried to reel in the stocky guy on the final hill, but not much left in the legs.
4 minute PR over last year's race.
www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1570184