BostonBound59

It has been many years since I’ve run the Cigna 5k race but I decided to give it another shot this year after a nine year hiatus. The race is by far the largest field of any distance in New Hampshire and one of the largest 5k fields in New England with close to 5000 runners. I last ran the race in 2000 with temps close to 90 degrees and vowed it would be my last Cigna. This year I decided to find out what kind of shape I was in after a month of distance training for my Fall marathon. We lucked out with temperatures in the low to mid 70’s as race time approached plus we had a slight tailwind blowing in from the north which would help in the final (always brutal) mile down Canal Street before taking a left and finishing on Merrimack Street.

The field was loaded with elite runners. We had a decent 25 minute warm up but due to the size of the field we needed to get to the starting line earlier than usual just to hold a spot to prevent from getting boxed in during the early going. My goal was to run close to 18:30 (my previous PR on this course was in 2000 in 19:48—just before two knee surgeries) so I knew I had to get out fast to have a chance at 18:30. The gun went off after a long wait and the first mile is a straight shot up Elm Street. I’m not a natural 5k runner and felt very unsteady and out of sync as we pushed away from the start and thought to myself how much easier it would be to just pull up, bag it for the night and go on a long run but after about ¾ mile I started getting into my rhythm and passed the first mile mark in 5:54. I often describe to others that the first mile in a 5k feels like entering a state of semi-shock—you are standing still for several minutes then suddenly accelerating out from the start at speeds I rarely reach even during our Strider track work outs. Karen Long was running with me along with Justin Platt (pictured above) just to my left. I knew Cathy was in my midst but didn’t know for sure. At about the 1.5 mile mark the course swings left from Elm onto Thayer Street where there are two large water stops manned by Gate City Striders and Greater Derry Track Club members. I received many words of encouragement from my Strider teammates which helped immensely and after a slight downhill stretch passed the two mile mark in 5:42. I ran alongside Merrimack Valley High School Cross Country Coach Dave Irving the last mile, who had several of his high school runners with him in tandem and this helped me maintain a fairly steady pace. The last mile is pretty demoralizing as you see the 100 + runners strung out far in front of you along Canal Street making it all look so easy while my 50 year old lungs are literally exploding as I gasped for air trying to just hang on. Finally, I could see the turn onto Merrimack Street at 2.9 miles. As I came up the final hill I could see the clock in the distance at 17:45 so I pushed as best I could and came across the line in 18:05, 5th out of 244 in the 50-54 year old group. Cathy finished in 18:49 winning her age division and was 6th overall woman in the race. The photo above (by Strider Dave Delay) was taken at about the half-way mark showing eventual winner Alene Reta of Ethiopia (left), whose time of 13:53 was the fastest 5k road race time ever run in the State of New Hampshire. He is being closely pursued by Bajo Kiorku (right), the 2nd place finisher (14:03). If you look closely you can see the many Gate City Strider volunteers (in green shirts) manning the water stop.

There were many Striders and Granite State Flash runners and coaches in the race, here are the results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/Aug13_CIGNAE_set1.shtml