Tortoise and the Hare 3 Mile - Nahant

Happy 4th of July! I usually head to Chelmsford for the John Carson 2 mile but opted to stay local. Nahant's, Tortoise and the Hare 3 mile and 1 mile appear to have last been held in 2019. Some from the Lynn Woods running crew like Sal and Eric planned on going. Sign up was easy, A list per 10 year age groups were used and made age group results and soring easy for the top three following the race. Eric, Sal and I did a 1 mile warm up. 

The light rain/drizzle seemed to lay off. About 50+ got started in front of the Flash Road Firehouse. Mile 1 was flat, coming in at 7:19. Eric was already 25 seconds ahead battling for his senior age group. The second mile brought up "the hill." I gained a few spots on the top side and held the spot until the 2nd place female, in a one-piece tennis outfit came beside me with 800M to go. I managed to hold her off in the end and finished with a time of 21:16 for 2.9 miles. 

If I find the results, I will share here but guess the place was 15th or so, but was 2nd in the age group. Eric, Sal and I went off for cooldown out to the ocean where Sal showed us where he does some barnacle studies on the rocky shore. 

John Carson 2 mile Chelmsford

Another round for the John Carson 2 mile road race on the 4th of July tradition. It was going to be a toasty race. I warmed up with Terry McNatt and Dave Dunham. Got the CMS singlet and flats on and did a another short warm up trying to stay in the shade. I got in the mix at the start. CMS had Chris Mahoney, Patrick Rich, Dave Dunham, and I all in the first two rows. Kids jump out and sprint the first 200m so I was careful not to have a collision when they slow down. I got out clean and settled in a few strides behind Dave. He put on a decent push at the 1/2 to the mile where I lost a stride or two reaching the mile in 5:35, off my goal of 5:28 and 10:59 expectation. I slowed a bit in the last mile and the last 400m was tough. I finished with a time of 11:20, 5:40 pace and placed 35th. I had fun I caught up with the guys after the race. I was focused on getting back to the car so I headed off for a cool down with Paulo Amaral who finished 8 seconds ahead of me and with Dave. My dad walked the course so after he saw me at the finish, he planned on walking back to the start line. Patrick Rich broke 10 minutes with a 9:59, Chris ran 10:35, and Dave ran 11:01.

Finish at the John Carson 2 mile
photo credit to Granite State Race Services

John Carson 2 mile road race

Full Results

19^th place

3/103 Male 30 – 39

10:30  or 5:15 average pace per mile

The 4^th of July tradition for my racing schedule is the John Carson 2 mile road race in Chelmsford. I opted for a YMCA run race last year in Swampscott and regretted it each day since (just kidding). It is fast, competitive, and the pain is over in ten minutes or so. I did a slow and easy warm up with Dave Menard, and CMS teammates Heidi Besse and Colby Chrusciel . It was great to see them. We ran the first mile of the course and back to the start. I put on the singlet and Nike Lunaracer, version 2. I did another ¾ of a mile warm up and did some light stretching. I got just about on the front row of this one and took off at the start on a slight decline. I did not want to head out too quick as plenty of runners sprint out too quick so 40^th place was per the usual here for me. We had a grade going up at 800m and I stopped passing the over-zealous runners by 1200m. I could see CMS mate, Adam Malek in 3^rd place up ahead. He would finish in the same place with a 9:19. 

The mile came up pretty quick which was a good sign. My Garmin said 5:17 (noticing after the race) and I did not hear any split given. Water was given out but it was too fast of a race to consider reaching for. I was running on how I felt and had two Greater Lowell guys and the first female (Karen Roa from Boston) ahead of me.  We had a fair decline now and I slowly caught the GLRR guys. I told the 2^nd one that we got to catch the female ahead. I had to put in some effort as the course dipped down again to an overpass which I would say 400m remain. I caught and passed Karen in there and now we had to climb up a bit for the last 300m to the finish where my place remained. I finished in 19^th place and a time of 10:30. My Garmin had me at 5:11 and change for the 2^nd mile. My goal as I was quoted at the start was 10:25 so I was close. Karen was four seconds back. I collected those that I warmed up with plus Adam for a cool down after drinking a bottle of iced tea. My plan was to take them off the parade route for a 3.5 mile cool down but I changed my mind about a mile into that and we went back onto the course where we ran into the parade coming at us with sirens, horns, cars, candy, et cetera.