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

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s when I was in high school and college it seemed like most of the local road races were 5 milers or weird distances like 5.4 or 7.1 (like Falmouth) with a 10k thrown in once in a while. Somewhere in the late 80’s and early/mid 90’s (what I refer to as my lost weekend from real running) the 5k distance crept in and that seems to be standard fare these days. However the 5k distance is difficult for me (and many others in 50+ set) because the pace out of the blocks is so fast that it takes me 3 miles before I feel like my legs are actually moving. I’ve been able to remedy this somewhat thanks to some helpful advice from fellow Strider Steve Moland who told me a few years ago to start warming up at least 30 minutes before the race and keep moving right up until the gun goes off and that seems to have helped. Nevertheless my favorite distance has remained 5 miles.

Today we headed up to Concord for the 42nd Annual Bill Luti 5 Miler which honors the legendary Concord High School track coach and is one of just a small number of 5 mile road races remaining in the area. I also like the 5 mile distance for a variety of reasons not the least of which is my limited math ability where I actually have some idea during the race of my overall approximate finishing time (“ok, I’m running 7 minute pace that means 5 miles x 7 minute pace = 35 minutes”). That is a challenging but do-able math equation for me. For the 5k (3.1 mile) distance I seem to get continually mixed up with that last 1/10th mile (176 yards or 161 meters) that I have to tack on at the end. I’m hopelessly lost when I’m running a 10k (6.2 miles).

Anyway, since the weather forecast looked decent for this morning and against my better judgment since I have a 17 miler on Sunday I decided to sign up late in the week for the race. At the start it was cloudy after raining all night and still quite humid with temps in the 60’s. Cathy and I both got off to a decent start and she was about 50 meters in front of me for the first 1 ½ miles. I ran the early part of the race with former Flash coach Jim Robinson of Derry and his son Mike Robinson and we gradually caught up to Cathy (not easy) and all 4 of us ran as a pack until about the 3 mile mark which passed through the St. Paul’s School grounds where I was able to pull slightly ahead. The course was hillier than I expected and this year had been certified at 5 miles after having been run previously as an 8k. I passed the 5k mark at 19:30 although I was working harder than I had hoped and ran the last two miles in 6:25 and 6:07 and finished in 31:22 for 31st overall and 3rd in my age group. My previous 5 mile best (post high school/college) was 34:26 back in 2000 at Rojacks so this was a PR for me by more than 3 minutes. I’ll pay for it tomorrow. Cathy was first in her age group and 5th overall with a time of 31:54. Also running from our club was Aline and Terry Kenney who finished 2nd and 6th in their age group. Thanks to Aline who picked up my Margarita's Restaurant gift certificate--I left early because I usually never win anything at races unless its a raffle prize.

The pictures above have nothing to do with today’s race. The top photo was taken last weekend at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and shows us looking into a thermal imaging camera on display as we entered the museum. The photo below (with Cathy and Anthony in the foreground) was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is a 9 x 7 photorealistic portrait by American artist Chuck Close. Even when I stood no more than one foot from the portrait I couldn't believe it was a painting! I’m not sure why I posted either photo other than I liked them.

The Gate City Striders is New Hampshire’s largest running club. One of the Club’s most successful community outreach activities over the last twenty years has been its annual “Fitness University” program. Fitness University is completely free of charge, open to all children in the community ages 3 thru 14 and is comprised of a series of eight weekly 90 minute “clinics” centered around running as both a fun and healthy lifestyle choice. The children are grouped together by age and the activities vary by group ranging from games of tag, follow the leader and short relays for the younger children up to more involved stretching and running activities for the older children. At the end of each clinic every child receives a small prize and refreshments with the Fitness University clinics culminating in a “Finals Day”. Finals Day is a special half day event where the children become “graduates” of Fitness University and run varying distances on the track depending on age as well as participate in many other fun Finals Day activities such as face painting, special relays, obstacle courses etc. All of the weekly clinics as well as Finals Day are staffed by volunteer Strider members sharing their love of running for the benefit of children in the community.

You have to see Fitness University in person to believe it. Under the leadership of Striders Leeann and Trevor Ward (Trevor is pictured above--I couldn't catch Leeann as she was in constant motion) the growth of Fitness University has been simply phenomenal. This year’s attendance at the weekly clinics has been regularly in excess of 300 and this past week at Fairgrounds Junior High School in Nashua I would venture to guess there were close to 400 children. Fitness University is near and dear to our proverbial hearts as it was one of the first places our two boys were introduced to running. I often joke with my oldest (who now runs Div. I college cross country and track) that it all began with “Duck Duck Goose” at Fitness U. Both of our boys participated in the weekly clinics and finals day back in the 1990’s and have come back periodically to volunteer when they are available during the summer. This week I was in charge of five year old boys and in between breaking up a few wrestling matches and discouraging the pulling and throwing of lumps of grass we had a great night. I’ve posted some pictures above including the one at the top of Gate City Striders President Michelle Poublon and Strider volunteer Karen Pattelena.

Here is the Fitness U link http://www.runfitnessu.com/