Merrimack River Trail Race

I headed up to Andover for the Merrimack River Trail Race. 10 miles (5 out and 5 back) along the Merrimack River. The race was host to the New England Trail Championship and part of the All Terrain Series. I was torn about going, not wanting to race a week before the Boston Marathon and get hurt or stress the muscles too much. I went anyway planning on taking it easy somehow and limiting any risks. I got off to an unfortunate start by missing the start by 10 seconds - putting me behind 100 runners or so in a single file mob at the trail head. I came to a dead stop as people navigated the mud bog. I guess it was best as I was forced to a gentle start for the next few miles. Passing people on the single track was hard but I did not stress out. I got a few comments "Pawlicki, what are you doing back here?" My response of trying to just stay on my feet was true. I had a scare at 4.5 miles and had a mild collision with an oncoming runner (Ryan Kelley?) who was heading back. I was with a runner who went to the left and I went to the right as we jumped over a drainage pass. Ryan was coming at us and it looked like he was going to split us in the middle. But he leaned my way as we were both mid-flight. His knee grazed my right quad. We both landed with apologies there and at the post race food tables. We were fine, just shaken. Today, my upper quad is sore and tight. I picked up the pace a little bit after the turn around but but more so after the hills settled down with about 3 miles to go. Mile 9 was my quickest at around 6:30 pace. I finished 48th overall and a time of 1:12:29. I hung around and caught up with peeps and awaited the famous Stephen Peterson raffle. The team did well by placing 1st for the open and masters divisions. I was the 4th master on the team where 3 scored. Results