Up in Warner, NH for family farm day, this race has become part of that tradition. And it doesn't hurt that I won last year - so it stays on the race calendar.
I forced Eli to wake up early so that we could get in a decent warm up, and we were fortunate that it was very temperate weather compared to past years. We got in 4+ along with a few strides and light drills, and I took a spot at the front of the crowd while Eli was more comfortable hanging a few rows back.
The first mile went out reasonably quick, and there were a handful of guys around me that didn't race last year - I had the feeling that they weren't going to be fading from a fast start though. I'm not sure why, but I felt very winded and empty-legged during the first mile. I tried to just stick with the two guys that were taking it out hard though, and we were already a little bit strung out at the first mile.
The second mile takes you off of a main road and through a neighborhood, and eventually a covered bridge. I slowed a bit here while one runner created a big gap before we hit Bean Road. Almost immediately after hitting the base of the Bean Road hill, the guy I had been running with started to pull away. With no hill work lately, I felt the burn! I kept the legs churning though, and did a lot of, "make it to that point...ok, now make it to that point..."
Once I crested the hill, the guy in first had a large lead, but the guy in second was making up ground. I lost a lot of time on the hill, and worked to make up some time on the flat-ish straightaway. All of us seemed to remain a bit slowed though. Trying to regain our form after that hill was tough.
After we hit the end of Bean Road and turned back towards the finish, I started to feel pretty good. I was working hard, and I felt it - but my legs were nice and stretched out. Unfortunately, I didn't make up much ground on the guys in 1st and 2nd. I used a telephone pole to count their lead, and I got them from ~22 seconds to around ~15, but I worked hard to do that. Once we hit the big downhill towards the finish, they turned a tight corner and put on the jets. Since they were around the corner, I didn't see them make that move, and by the time I did they took back the time I worked for and then some.
The hill is steep enough and their lead was big enough that I simply stayed in control. I worry about clipping a toe or something on that hill, and my position was pretty set at that point with maybe a half mile to go.
In the end, I finished a respectable third. Meanwhile though, Elizabeth was the top women overall. So at least there was one Bugbee winner on this day!
Splits:
5:29.12
5:46.21
6:53.18
5:54.62
5:24.49
5.38 seconds
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