5th Annual ECTA Thanks for the Trails 5K – South Hamilton

The ECTA Thanks for the Trails 5K is hosted, Friday, the day after Thanksgiving at 10AM in Hamilton. This event was formerly Gabe’s Run and ECTA took it over five years ago. I did a light warm up and got on the line. The plan was to be competitive with the terrain and keep heart rate elevated but not convince Garmin that I raced twice in 24 hours. Garmin was telling me to take a rest day. No rest for the wicked!

Patton Park and the Tank

I let several runner jump out ahead at the start line. It was single file quickly as we rounded the fields and into the woods. I got through the mile in 7:37 and the miles slowed thereafter as there was a decent sized hill in the middle of the second mile. That hill crashed back down into the opening filed and mile two split was 8:06. The hill in the middle of the closing mile was shorter but steeper. The back side of the hill allowed me to stretch the legs and head back to the finish. 

I lost one place on the return. GPS recorded 3.23 so a touch long for a 5K.  26^th place overall, 4^th in an odd age group of M46-55 and an unofficial time of 25:37 or 8:15 pace per mile. My average heart rate was 161 bpm. I connected with Larissa Bifano for a short cool down a minute after my finish. After checking the results I grabbed a cider donut and a cup of soup before heading out for the day. Splits were as follows: 7:37, 8:06 (hill in the middle), 8:17 (hill in the middle) and 6:58 for last .23 miles. Results

Greenbelt Run for the Hills Trail 10K

Photo by Roger Perham

I headed over to Pingree to sign up for the 10K trail run. There was 5K too which is one loop and the 10K is two. I warmed up with Doug and Dan. On our way back to the start, a crowd was staring at the foot bridge as bees were stirred up and had stung several runners. This was 200 meters into the race so the race director made the wise decision to delay the start and re-route the course away from the area for everyone’s safety. This shortened the course a bit (I measured out 5.7 at the end of the race). I jumped out at the start into the lead with Mike Demauro in tow. The change in the course was simple – just head across the baseball field and into the trail to pick up the orange surveyor flags. There were two volunteers out on the field just in case as well. The footsteps behind began to fade after 1.5 miles. I went through half way in just over 18 minutes. I noted how warm it was but 90% of the course was under tree cover in the woods. Based on the cheering at half way, my lead was less than 15 seconds. Come to find out Mike was finishing his race (5K) and Eric Narcisi was now in chase. I heard him twice in the next mile or so. I was tiring out and could not sustain the pace of the first lap. I had to keep honest and did not want to get caught. I pressed on with small surges and it seemed to give me some operating room. I finished up and held Eric off by 19 seconds to take a win. My time was 36:34 which suggests that my 2nd lap was about 30 seconds slower. In keeping with the trend of not doing back to back races on the same terrain, my next race will be the Jim Kane Sugar Bowl 5K this Thursday night in South Boston.

Full results

Merrimack River Trail Run

Where do I begin? Dave Dunham and Steve Peterson put on a solid event at the Merrimack River Trail Race. The post race raffle is kept light with "Petey's" enthusiasm and sense of humor. I think half the race went home with a raffle. There were cameras every where during the race. All races should have this type of coverage. I think I saw some highlights on ESPN and NESN later that day. They showed yours truly, clearly out of breath on the first power line climb, cursing Mike Quintal's choice of a Montreal Canadians shirt. Rumor has it that his cousin is Stephane Quintal, a Boston Bruins 1st round draft pick from 1987. Don't watch his movie clip with little kids around.

I traded in the CMS Polar Bear singlet in favor of the Polish Eagle Singlet. Poland was mourning the loss of the Polish President - Lech Kaczynski, and other significant military leaders and politicians who died earlier in the day in a horrific plane crash in Russia. After a three mile warm up with Tom Brown and Dan Scotina, the race of 200 were off for race. I got out quickly, pounced through some mud and settled into third behind Ben and Kevin Tilton about 600 meters into the race. I encouraged Tom Brown to go get after them reminding him that the tough part of the race is the middle four miles. Now in fourth place and hitting some hills, I could not keep Geoff Cunningham off my shoulder. He was relentless on the hills and I tried to offset it with surges on the flats. I stayed in 5th place for the remainder of the race after he passed me sometime before the power lines on the way out. On my way back to the finish beyond the power lines, I peeked back and saw Dave Quintal closing in and Scott Clark not too far back. So much for backing off and trotting back to the finish. I hustled on the flats and stayed honest on the ups and downs. A quick look at the watch with about 200m to go forced me to hustle to the finish line through the mud to secure a sub 1:03 for my second fastest (I need to confirm this) time on the course. I got a 1:02:57 for 5th place.

I did not take any splits other than seeing a 5:00 first mile split. I regret not seeing my turn around time for the day. I was exhausted by four miles in the race but had no choice to hang in there with DQ and SC chasing me in the second half of the course. As I write this on Monday night, I can confirm my legs are more sore today than yesterday. My IT bands and lower hamstrings are screaming. And to think I was going to go race a 5K in Salem on Sunday morning. It is a good thing that Dennis Floyd called me an hour before the race yesterday and talked me into a training run at Lynn Woods instead. I limped through a 6.9 mile run with him and Brett Rickenbach.

Rest and recovery is in order for a few days. I will lick my wounds and seek a race before now and the next New England Grand Prix Road Race Championship, Bedford Rotary 12K in May. The above photo credits go to KrissyK and Scott Mason who caught me hurting even holding back descending the power line hill.

Results CMS runners packed in 8 out of the top 10 spots
KrissyK photos
Scott Mason Photos
More photos, race footage from Mike Quintal, stats, and details. Merrimack River Trail Race Blog