New Bedford Half Marathon

The second race of the New England Grand Prix Series take place this weekend in, you guessed it, New Bedford, MA. I ran this race once (2006) and recall it has the potential for being a fast course. I think I remember it starting out flat, climbing around mile 3 or 4 and then about 4 or 5 miles of gentle downhill. I don't remember much of the course after that, except I think it was down near the water and it was WINDY (aka head wind), with another hill around mile 12.

With the snowshoes packed up for the season, I've been able to focus just on running the last couple of weeks. Although I've maintained a good solid base through the winter and had plenty of speed work (with track and snowshoe racing), my distance running has been a little weak (at least in my eyes).

New Bedford should be a good test of fitness since I'll be well rested and hopefully healthy. Goals are always a tricky thing but I feel like I can improve upon my 1/2 marathon PR from the fall so I'll try for 1:22:00, weather permitting. Plenty of competition in the NEGP races so I won't be running alone. If I don't hit it, no big deal.....it's only March!

Stimulating Shoes!

Well at least I'm doing my part to stimulate the economy. In the past week or so I've gone on a mini spending spree (apparently I can print money just as well as the government), upgrading my running arsenal. Both my trainers and racing flats were in need of replacement plus I've been looking at some new trail shoes.



Mizuno Wave Rider 12 - I've been running in Wave Riders since 2002 so obviously they're one of my favorite training shoes. I've gone as high as 400 miles and as low as 200 miles before retiring previous pairs, although 300 miles is pretty standard for most nowadays. Shoes really don't 'wear out' that quick, they 'break down' and I start to feel it in my shins. Thankfully Mizuno hasn't changed the shoe too much in the last 7 years (I hate change). I still have my Brooks Defyance but they are also nearing end of life.



Asics Hyperspeed 3 - Until last year I trained and raced in the same shoe (see above). Last year I picked up a pair of racing flats (Asics Hyperspeed 2) after getting a gift certificate from my running club. I wore them at every track workout and in every race up to 16 miles and ended up putting just over 200 miles on them. I figure that's a lot of miles for a racing flat so I bought this years model, the Hyperspeed 3. I'm not sure if racing flats make you any faster but psychologically they make me 'feel' faster.



Inov-8 Roclite 295 - These were an impulse buy. I currently have 2 pair of Salomon trail shoes that suit me just fine. I've heard a lot and read a lot about Inov-8's and all the cool kids seem to be wearing them so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. From my limited time trail racing (less than a year) I've decided a good trail shoe needs two things, good drainage and a sole that grips on all surfaces, especially rocks. The 295's should meet those requirements.

Indoor Track is Done

We finished up the 12 week coached indoor track session at the Hampshire Dome last night. When it started back on 12/9 I felt I was running pretty well, having a fairly successful fall racing season. Our first workout back in December consisted of 10 x 400m repeats with 200m rest and I averaged 1:23 per lap (5:34 pace). 10 weeks later we did the same workout (10 x 400's) but this time I averaged 1:19 per lap (5:17 pace). So am I a believer in speed work? I am now. When you see the results from the hard work how can you not see the value?

7 weeks until outdoor track!

Hawley Kiln Snowshoe Race

My snowshoe racing season is officially over. Dungeon Rockers Bill Morse, Jay Curry and I (I'm not a Rocker, just an acidotic groupie) made the trek to the Mohawk Trail State Forest in Hawley, Ma for the 4.6 mile Hawley Kiln Snowshoe Race.

Hawley is a very rural mountainous town somewhere out in western Mass and seemed to be within spitting distance of a number of WMAC snowshoe races (Savoy, Moody Springs, Hallocville to name a few). A little factoid about Hawley is it's one of the most wintery towns in Massachussetts, averaging nearly 110" of snow each year.

Although the course had its share of hills (500ft of climbing), most of the climbing today was done in the car getting to the start (thankfully). If you looked up 'low frills race' in the dictionary, you'd find Hawley Kiln listed first. Registration looked like some sort of drug deal was going down, with people lining up at the drivers window of a small white van, handing the driver cash. Turns out this same white van doubled as the official timer as well.

Onto the race. The start climbed steadily for just under a mile on nicely groomed (and frozen) snowmobile trail before turning sharply into the woods on a trail that was just barely a single track. About 2/3 of the race would be on single track and it was not easy going. First, it was impossible to pass, stepping off the trail would put you in knee deep snow. Second, although the single track was frozen and seemed firm, it was an illusion. Almost immediately we were post holing, breaking through the thin frozen surface and sinking into a foot of snow. I followed a runner the entire time on the first 2 mile section of rolling single track, never looking up from his shoes, trying to avoid his post holes and not end up on my face. Somewhere around 3 miles we joined back up for a brief run on snowmobile trails before heading back onto the final mile of single track. I managed to pass the runner in front of me during this section and made up a little time. Turns out it was a little easier in front since I was a bit lighter and didn't break through as much. I knew I should have asked to pass.....oh well. At about 4 miles we jumped back onto the snowmobile trail for the last .6 miles to the finish.

Overall I was happy with my race, felt pretty good and finished strong. The top 20 are listed below and full results are located at WMAC. Turns out fellow acidotic RACING team mate Matt Cartier was there but I had no idea. With a no-frills race and no shelter, nobody really sticks around and chats much. Beth Herder has some great photos of the race here.

PLACE	FIRST	LAST	AGE	TIME	POINTS
1	Dave	Dunham	44	0:38:32	100
2	Matt	Cartier	33	0:39:56	98.63
3	Tim	Van Orden	40	0:41:20	97.26
4	Tim	Mahoney	29	0:42:18	95.89
5	Peter	Lagoy	49	0:43:05	94.52
6	Steve	Wolfe	44	0:43:32	93.15
7	Brian	Northan	34	0:44:12	91.78
8	Larry	Dragon	48	0:44:56	90.41
9	Ken	Clark	46	0:45:40	89.04
10	Amy	Lane	29	0:46:48	87.67
11	Richard	Teal	31	0:47:09	86.3
12	Bob	Dion	53	0:47:48	84.93
13	Erik	Wight	49	0:47:58	83.56
14	Jay	Kolodzinski	29	0:49:42	82.19
15	Peter	Malinowski	54	0:50:14	80.82
16	Jay	Curry	37	0:50:28	79.45
17	Richard	Chipman	48	0:50:40	78.08
18	Chelynn	Tetreault	33	0:50:46	76.71
19	Glen	Tryson	55	0:50:50	75.34
20	Pat	McGrath	43	0:51:53	73.97

After the race a few of us did head over to the South Face Farm Sugar House for breakfast. Blueberry wheat pancakes with real maple syrup, bacon and coffee and good company. Not a bad way to end the season.






Now a little history of the kiln, the races namesake (courtesy of the 2002 WMAC newsletter).
The kiln was built in 1870 by a man named Albert Dyer. Mr. Dyer was building the kiln for a man named William O. Bassett, who in 1870 was Hawley’s most successful farmer. I don’t think at the time that Mr. Dyer thought he was building the most historical site in the Hawley State Forest. The kiln is also the oldest known flagstone charcoal kiln in New England.

The kiln is a beehive structure, 25ft high, 25ft in diameter and could hold 25 cord of wood during the charcoal process. Today, it is apparently a very popular hangout for connoisseurs of hops and barley based on the number of cans that litter its interior.

Hawley Kiln & Sidehiller

I really tried to hang up my snowshoes for the season but I couldn't do it (at least not yet). I decided to head out to Hawley Kiln for one more snowshoe race on Saturday. I haven't heard a lot about the actual course but I've heard a TON about the post race breakfast at the South Face Farm Sugarhouse. I hope it lives up to the hype :-)


Sidehiller in the News -
A Lakes Region reader sent me the following scans from the Meredith News (or whatever the local paper is called). There was an article about the Sidehiller snowshoe race, with pics of several racers ( Kevin Tilton, Jim Pawlicki and John Skewes) and quotes from Dungeon Rock's Jay Curry and acidotic RACING's Liz Hall and myself.

Hawk Attack?

Check out the lastest blog post from our friends at New England Track and Trail (NETT). One of their runners was out for a run and a hawk swooped down and tried to carry him off. Unbelievable.

Here's the link to the post - Hawk Attack

Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race

Saturday - I made the relatively short trip over to Madbury for the last race in the GSSS with wife and kids in tow. As usual I was early and as usual I was not the first. I think Scotty slept over and Jim Johnson was hanging in the Town Hall. Michael was setting up his timing equipment so I took a few minutes to swap out one of his cleats with a spare I had brought. It was nice to have an indoor facility, a fact not lost on my family (or me for that matter).
Jim and I headed out to run the last section of the course (Hicks Hill) to check conditions and course markings while we still had some daylight. After summiting up and over the hill we decided to run the entire course (backwards) since we had plenty of time and Jim likes to get his gazillion miles in anyways.
Oh, did I mention this was a night race. I did this race last year and it was one of my favorite races of the year. I was really looking forward to running it again. Surprisingly, this is the ONLY snowshoe race I've run this year that is exactly the same course as last year. Last year I was 5th out of 88 and ran 27:42.
As usual, Jim told me how he was going to take it easy, blah blah blah. Of course I said pretty much the same thing. We were both running the Jones Group 10-miler the next day so the smart thing would be to take it easy. Unfortunately that's not the way I run. I guess I can't help myself.

Deb (along with Ben and Jessica) positioned themselves about 100yds from the starting line and managed to get some interesting night video. Actually, the audio may be more interesting, at least it was for my kids (note their commentary).



The start was very narrow, maybe 4-5 wide tops. With a 107 snowshoers it meant they were stacked pretty deep. I settled in behind Josh Merlis and waited for the start command. It was a VERY fast start with about 5-6 shoers jumping out in front and me just trying not to trip, following comfortably behind (my favorite spot). Shortly after the first turn I slipped by Chris Smith and Scotty G and found myself all alone (or so I thought). Heck, Bob Jackman and Jim Johnson were nearly out of sight by the 2k mark.
Then I spotted what looked like a runner without a headlamp. WTF? As I got closer I realized it was Josh but he must have had the worst headlamp ever and I don't believe the light even reached the snow. I got up on his heels and adjusted my light to shine a little more in front, trying to give him something to see (especially at the turns). We stayed in this position all the way to about the 4k mark (except for one brief section in which I lead for about 100yds). Around the 4k mark (on one of the switchbacks) Josh missed a sharp turn and headed into the woods. I yelled, ran past him and never looked back. Heck, if I had looked I probably wouldn't have seen him anyways. I figured he was right behind me but I hoped I could put some distance on him on the downhills since he was running nearly blind. Hey, I'll take whatever advantage I'm given!
As I came across the finish I was told I got 2nd place with a time of 25:18 (nearly 2 1/2 min improvement over last year). Huh? What the heck happened to Bob Jackman? I didn't recall seeing or passing him. Very strange. Of course then I was told what happened to Bob. Bad luck Bob got tackled by a dog somewhere along the course and in the process had his snowshoe knocked off as well. Now that's the story he's telling anyways, I don't recall seeing any dogs either :-)

Splits for the night:
1k 4:12
2k 4:58
3k 5:09
4k 6:04
5k 4:51

Danny Ferreira was able to nose out Josh Merlis for 3rd with Bob 'the dogman' Jackman rounding out the top 5. The top 20 are listed below (with my team mates highlighted in RED)

Place Time    Pace  Pts  Name                   Team                      Age Sex Bib City St         
===== ======= ===== ==== ====================== ========================= === === === ==================
1   22:36  7:16  107 Jim Johnson            CMS                        31 M   115 Salem NH        
 2   25:18  8:08  106 Steve Wolfe            acidotic RACING            44 M    36 Merrimack NH       
   3   25:50  8:19  105 Dan Ferreira           acidotic RACING            26 M    87 Concord NH      
4   25:51  8:19  104 Josh Merlis            ALBANY RUNNING EXCHANGE    27 M    34 Albany NY       
5   25:53  8:20  103 Robert Jackman         TUESDAY NIGHT TURTLES      26 M   113 Warwick RI      
6   26:40  8:35  102 Ri Fahnestock          acidotic RACING            30 M    55 Dover NH        
7   27:08  8:44  101 Warren MacPhail        DUNGEON ROCK RACING        42 M    47 Winthrop MA     
8   27:11  8:45  100 Shane Sherwood         Dungeon Rock Racing        36 M    91 Winthrop MA     
 9   27:13  8:45   99 Leslie Dillon          acidotic RACING            25 F    56 Troy NY         
10   27:20  8:48   98 Patrick Smith          DUNGEON ROCK RACING        46 M    43 Salem MA        
11   27:23  8:49   97 Jay Myers              acidotic RACING            38 M     7 Dover NH        
12   27:36  8:53   96 Luke Fernandez         Team TNT                   22 M   122 Kennebunk ME    
13   27:48  8:57   95 Chris Smith            DUNGEON ROCK RACING        42 M   110 Woburn MA       
14   28:15  9:05   94 Dan Cooper             DUNGEON ROCK RACING        36 M    42 Salem MA        
15   28:31  9:11   93 Scott Graham           acidotic RACING            50 M   100 Westford MA     
16   28:40  9:13   92 Danny Chick            DUNGEON ROCK RACING        49 M    63 Lynn MA         
17   28:45  9:15   91 Austin Stonebraker     acidotic RACING            29 M    84 Dover NH        
18   28:47  9:15   90 Jay Curry              DUNGEON ROCK RACING        37 M    45 Lynn MA         
19   29:19  9:26   89 Ted Hall               acidotic RACING            35 M    58 Merrimack NH       
  20   29:20  9:26   88 Elizabeth Hall         acidotic RACING            35 F    59 Merrimack NH       

These snowshoe races have been really cool. Almost all runners stick around afterwords for awards, the infamous Chris Dunn Raffles or just to socialize. Road races tend to be 'run and done'. Of course it helps to have an indoor facility (thanks Madbury for the use of your town hall).
I got my first podium win too (although I've been second twice before, I've never actually stood on a podium). I think my kids thought it was cool as well. I also picked up a 12-pack of Copper Hook for my effort. In my house this is equivalent to winning 'Beer for 2 years'....I'm a slow drinker :-)
I managed to finally beat Jim Johnson at something: I won a Redhook hat in the raffle and he scored a goose egg. Keep training Jim, you'll get better at the raffles next year.