The first of three consecutive road races kicked off the Wild Rover Series. This was the 3 mile hosted in Haverhill via Maria's Restaurant in downtown. Race directors Dave Labrode and Dave Camire confirmed late in the week that they had 520 runners already signed up so this was going to be a popular race and series. I came into the race well rested with just a 8:31 paced test on Wednesday’s Notch 5K. The left knee was sore ever since but three days of rest helped out. I ran a very short warm up with David Harper from CMS. Nice to catch up with him as he is running so well in his late 50's (he would go on to be the top senior on the day running low 6 minute miles).
I piled into the start line next to Stephen Martin about 20 rows from the start line. Good clean start and before I knew it a mile had passed by. I was settled into the pace of the day which felt sustainable. Then we took a left away from the river and up a hill and around a cemetary. The hill was long and I had to back off a bit. I lost some places from there on out despite getting back to the flat section at mile two taking us back to downtown and the finish line. I regrouped a bit but gained very few places.
I finished 9th out of 32 within the 50-54 age group, chip time 26:14 (26:23 gun time), 153rd overall. The 8:45 pace in the end was slower than my shake out four days earlier but there was much more elevation here in Haverhill. Rumor has it that the next two races in the series have just as much for hills but the distances jump to 4 and 5 miles. Meanwhile, Krissy ran her first race in a few years. She ran great, covering the distance in 34 minutes!
