Race 2 out of 3 for the Wild Rover Series was hosted in Lawrence out of the Lawrence Elks. The 4 Leaf Rover (4 mile) was also part of the New England Runner Pub Series so there was extra competition within all age groups and the overall results showed that.
I had a tough week of training coming into the race with a sore knee and a single 2.8 mile run. The weather was in the mid 20’s but sunny. My warm up was from the Elks parking lot over to the start
line .3 miles away. I started next to Stephen Martin as I did last week about 12 rows back from the line. I got out
to a 8:37 flat first mile within the industrial park. The knee was not an issue. I was settled in upon approach of the residential
neighborhood but preparing mentally for the climb starting at 1.25
miles.
The course profile showed that the last climb and high point would be around 2.6 miles. Mile 2 was paced out at 9:07. Everett McBride went by me with two water towers on the horizon at about 2.4 miles. He did a snowshoe race the day before. I remember those snowshoe days well but would not beat up the body too bad.
Once beyond those two water towers, we were greeted with a decent down hill into mile three where I clocked an 8:56. It was nice to open the stride. The last mile was all flat taking us back into the industrial park.
I got my best cadence there picking up the pace for the fastest mile of the day
toward the finish line with an 8:18. I passed a few people but not before something
in the knee got my attention forcing me to jump in pain on the approach of the finish
line. I had to back off and regroup for the last 25 yards to the finish line.
I finished in 153rd place, 13th in the 5 yr age group, chip time of 34:52, gun time of 35:03. The pace for the 4 miles (8:44) was similar to the 3 mile last week. Krissy ran great, running 47:06.
The final race of the series is next,
adding 1 mile for the Irish Clover 5 mile in Dracut.
4 Leaf Rover 4 mile results March 2, 2025
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