Run for the Hills 10K - Hamilton

The Run for the Hills race is aptly named behind Pingree High School. There are several short momentum breakers on the course. I had to sign up so I got to the race early to fill out an application. I was still laughing about a closed online registration portal on a Tuesday afternoon. I introduced Greg Putnam to Colin Carroll before showing Greg the course. It was muddy in the swampy sections. The course is one loop for the 5K and two loop (repeat the 5K loop) for the 10K. It was awesome to have the CMS teammates on the line. Colin was undefeated in the North Shore Trail Series in 2015. Greg has been racing well and looking to take no prisoners. Therefore, there was no surprise when they passed me a few minutes into the race - making me look like I was in the JV race. I somehow kept Colin in sight - only if there was a straight away on the first lap. He was not his usual self. The gap was getting smaller as we started the 2nd round of hills in the second lap. I told Greg earlier that the second lap was going to hurt. It did. I caught Colin in the middle of that second lap. We were both hurting, he admitted later that the lack of training caught up. I managed to get a little room and hold onto 2nd in the end. Greg smoked the course in what has to be a course record (edit - Joe Shairs ran quicker in 2008, 36:57). Colin was on my heels - 11 seconds behind. I drank a ton of Gatorade and ran a cooldown with Jason Matuelwicz over the loop for 4th time for the day. My reward beside muddy legs was a half dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies made by RD Cathy Lanois.

2015 Run for the Hills Race Results

Loon Mountain Race - New England Mountain Running Championship

Krissy and I headed up to the Loon Mountain Race (6.6 miles). The ride to 60 Mountain Road in Lincoln, NH was about 2 hours. After getting my number and talking to Scott Mason about his GTI, I went out for warm up just shy of a mile. I changed into my racing gear and CMS singlet. Krissy headed to the top of Loon Mountain with Scott to work their craft behind the lenses. I got on the starting line with several team mates who have been crushing it within not only the USATF New England Mountain Series but the All Terrain Running Series. I have hit all of the ATR races so far but nothing to speak of in terms of an outdoor track 5,000m. Thus, I need to get to the remaining races which should not be a problem as long as I stay healthy.

There was a new start this year at LMR which was behind the lodge instead of down at the river. As a result, they extended the finish line back to the top of the gondola or about three minutes beyond the top of Upper Walking Boss. My expectations for the race were really simple, give my best effort and don't give in to walking until UWB as it is just inevitable. I started out huffing and puffing right away and I really thought I was taking it easy. There were some ups and downs and we hit the nordic trails which I really like. Dave Dunham and I traded spots in there. It was wet and muddy in several areas. Any standing water was ankle deep. I put on a little hustle to pass Dave and get after Kasie Enman and Kim Nedeau. I clocked my fastest mile of the day in 7 flat.

Heading down to Upper Walking Boss
Photo by KrissyK

I never did catch Kasie but got as close as a few seconds. I appreciated any shade on the course. I was slow on all climbing but resisted walking among those that had to. I was just waiting for Upper Walking Boss which is a devil including some 40%. I was running with Alex Hall from Whirlaway. While we were walking up, I tried to crack some jokes - making it up on the fly to cope with the misery. Some worked, some didn't. I kept it light. Had to. Running or hiking up this is insane. Kim Nedeau was the only runner to go past us on UWB. We seemed to get to the top sooner than in the past. Why? We did not have the switch backs up. Why? They did not mow it. I am OK with that.

Alex and I got into a trot before we got to the top and we hauled ass to the finish which took another three minutes of a steep down hill and a little steep hill up into the finish where Krissy was. I finished 25th overall with a time of 1:06:28. That is 10:05 average mile pace if you are keeping score at home. Josh Ferenc crushed it running 8:37's!

Head down and up into the finish
Photo by KrissyK

CMS did pretty well getting 6 guys in the top 17. Todd Callaghan (7th), Scott Leslie (11th), Chris Mahoney (12th), Dave Dunham (13th), Erik Vandendries (16th), & Matt Veiga (17th). I got some water and chatted it up with some of the guys I battled with. Then I headed over and hung out with Krissy and cheered on the next 45 minutes worth of runners into the finish. We headed down in the gondola and took a quick soak in the Pemigewasset River before hitting the road to beat some of the traffic.

Loon Mountain Race New England Mountain Running Championship 2015 results