Hangover Classic 10k Race

 This year I ran the Hangover Classic 10k in Salisbury. Typically one expects high winds and sub-freezing temperatures for this race, but this year it was in the 50's, albeit still with the wind. Nonetheless it was about as good weather as could be expected.

My goal was to run a sub 50 minute race, which I just managed to do. The course was a bit short of 10k, so it's an open question whether I would have made the sub 50 if the course had been the exact 10k distance. It would have been very close.

It's an out and back course, usually with the wind in your face on the way out and at your back after the turnaround. That was the case this year.

Hangover Classic 10k

 I opted for the Hangover Classic 10k over the Frosty Four in Salem for this year's New Year's day race. The Hangover Classic course is nice and flat along the coast in Salisbury, but this time of year there is usually a strong freezing wind with which to contend with. Not this year. The temperatures were high 40's, no wind, overcast and rainy, more of a drizzle than a pouring rain. I had a good run, running at a faster pace than I did the Wild Turkey 5 miler on Thanksgiving. The joints felt good.

The official timer has me at a faster pace than my Garmin. Maybe because the course is officially measured at 6.22 miles but the Garmin has 6.14.

North Shore New Years Day Challenge 2020

What I call the "North Shore New Years Day Challenge" is running the Wicked Frosty Four race in Salem at 10:00 AM, then jumping in the car and driving up to Salisbury to run the Hangover Classic 10K at 11:30. It's a tight schedule as it's a 45 minute drive from Salem to Salisbury. The plan is to finish the Frosty Four, keep running right to the strategically parked car, and immediately head off to the 10K.

Today was a nice day for a race. Right around 32 degrees, about as warm as can be expected this time of year, and nicely clear and sunny. There was the inevitable wind on the course, but not as bad as it has been some years.

Last year when I did this I ran the Frosty Four moderately, saving myself for the later 10k. This year I held nothing back on the Frosty Four and had a nice run, with all four miles under 8 minutes:

Finishing the Frosty Four

Following the plan I jumped right into the car and headed north. I made it to Salisbury at 11:15, just right to make it to the start on time - and not stand in the cold wind too long. The wind is always worse in Salisbury than it is in Salem, and it was today. Otherwise, the weather was great.

Sitting in the car for 45 minutes after the Frosty Four, naturally my legs were pretty stiff at the start of the 10k. It took a couple of mile for things to loosen up, but I had a good race and negative split every mile:

The race bib comes with two beer tickets so I had a nice time after the race with some friends from the D5K. I also recognized several other runners who had also run the Frosty Four earlier - I'm not the only one who does this.

Mystic Classic 10k

I ran the Mystic Classic 10k in Wakefield, around the lake. It's a decent course, nice and flat, and the weather was good - cloudy in the low 60's. The only drawback to the course is that it is run in the road rather on the sidewalk, and it's an open course, so on a few sections there is considerable traffic to contend with.

But I ran well, better than my last 10k, and just managed to reach my goal of a sub-50 with an official time of 49:57.  In the 6th mile I ran my fastest mile in a long time - a 7:48. My joints held up as well with only slight soreness at the end. The splits below:

A couple of pictures from Tricia:

Bridge & Back 10k

I ran the Bridge & Back 10k in Salem this morning. This is always a hot race and today was no exception. Up and over the bridge is a trial as there is no cover at all and one bakes on the concrete.

But I was happy with my performance. As usual, I finished just out of the age group awards:

Also as usual, I negative split the race. The joints mostly cooperated, although both my knee and hip were a bit sore at the end. Nothing bad, however.

I generally don't take good race pictures, but hey.... it's a picture

Wicked Frosty Four and Hangover Classic 10k

Yesterday I ran both the Wicked Frosty Four in Salem at 10:00 AM and the Hangover Classic 10K in Salisbury at 11:30. For some reason, I thought the Frosty Four was at 8:30 when I signed up. If I had known it was at 10 I wouldn't have signed up for both, as Salisbury is about a 40 minute drive from Salem.

My idea was to run both as an experiment to see how my knee held up. I've been able to run a 10K on the road fairly comfortably. How would I do with a four miler, some rest and then a 10K?

I arrived at the Frosty Four very early and got an ideal parking spot so I could finish the race, jump in my car and head off to the Hangover Classic with no delay. That's exactly what I did. I was in my car and driving less than 3 minutes after finishing the Frosty Four and made it to Salisbury at 11:20.

Both races went well. The weather at both was as good as one can expect at this time of year, close to 50 degrees. Both races featured some heavy wind at times, an inevitability when running along the coast.

I didn't run as hard as I could at the Frosty Four but instead kept a good, steady pace.

Wicked Frosty Four:

Frosty Four Finish

My knee started to bother me about the 3 mile mark of the Hangover Classic and I began to wonder if running both races was a mistake. At the turnaround (it is an out and back course) I took it up a notch and the knee started to feel better. It seems to feel better the faster I run. I wonder if that is because of adrenaline kicking in.

My fastest miles of the day were the last 2 miles of the 10K, which was a good sign for possibly running longer races than the 10K. I'm still hoping I might be able to try a half marathon again in 2019.

Hangover Classic 10k:

North Shore Cancer Run 10k

Today was an  experimental morning: With the arthritis, can I still run road races? I've been able to run some decent mileage in training, but it's all been either on the turf field at the high school or the treadmill at Planet Fitness. I did run the D5K for the first time in many months this past Wednesday, as a test before today's 10k. If I couldn't manage the D5K, there wasn't much point in running the 10K today.

It turned out the D5K went well, and I didn't experience much joint pain, so I made it a "go" for this morning's 10K. The race starts and ends at the Cove Community Center in Beverly - the same location as the Beverly 10 miler every June. Arriving early, I enjoyed the dawn coming up over the water at nearby Lynch Park:

The race course is one I've run many times, both in training and running the 10 mile races every year. My plan was simple: Run fast and hope my knee and hip don't revolt before the finish. I haven't run anything faster than 9 minute miles in training in a long time, and usually my mile time is closer or even slower than 10 minute miles. So I wasn't expecting a lot of speed.

As it turned out I was pleasantly surprised at how well things went. I was able to run better than 8 and a half minute miles and, once I warmed up into the race, was even able to put in a few sub 8 minute miles. Here are the splits:

The official time was 51:10 at an 8:15 pace. More importantly, none of my joints gave me any real problems during the race. So I may have figured out a way forward to keep running: Don't run consecutive days, train on the treadmill and turf field, mixing in plenty of cross training on the bike or elliptical - and save the pavement running for races. There is still some running left in the old legs.

Bridge & Back 10k

I ran the Bridge & Back 10k in Salem this morning. It was a beautiful day for running, low humidity, in the 70's and sunny.  I'm not at my race weight right now - in fact, close to 15 lbs over it - so I wasn't expecting too much. Especially so as I've had some trouble with my Achilles in both feet the past month and took some time off. They seem pretty good at this point.

I felt strong from the start in this race and ran comfortably the whole way:

1. 7:37
2. 7:48
3. 7:44
4. 7:36
5. 7:38
6. 7:17

Finish: 46:37

Last year I ran this race in 49:19 (although it was hotter then), and I managed to beat that time by almost 3 minutes,  and miss my 10k PR by only 14 seconds. As is usual when I run well, I came close to an age group award but didn't quite get it... this time I was 6 seconds behind the 3rd place 50-54 finisher. The guy blew by me a quarter mile before the finish line. There wasn't much I could have done about it as I was running as fast as I could in any case (mile 6 was my fastest).

The rest of this month will be taken up with the high mileage training for the Wineglass Marathon.

Louisa May Alcott 10k

Aaron and I ran a 10k in Concord today, a benefit for the Louisa May Alcott Orchard House (the historical home of the Alcott's). The idea here was to improve our 10k time to get a better corral at the Disney World Half Marathon in January. We both wore our "I'm training for the Disney..." tech shirts. A few other runners noticed them and mentioned that they were running Disney as well. No one else was running the Goofy Challenge but one was signed up for the Dopey. We also ran into Dean from the Danvers 5K, who I see every Wednesday at the weekly event and for the follow-on beers. Dean started pretty quickly and we didn't see him the rest of the race.

The race featured some organizers in period costume and a pair of Minutemen firing muskets to start the race. Also the start line is at an elementary school so there are indoor bathrooms rather than port-a-johns. A nice touch.  Pretty good free food pre-race as well. Tricia came and took pictures along the course. Here we are at the start line:

The course is relatively flat with a few rollers but no serious hills. It was in the 60's and a misty rain so it was pretty good running weather. Here we are midrace:

And crossing the finish line:

We ended up improving on the 57 min 10k from the North Andover 10k in July, but only by about a minute. It's all good, though, as a sub-hour 10k will give us a pretty decent Disney corral.

Next stop: Clarence DeMar Marathon on Sept. 27

Seacoast Running Festival 10k

If the Triple Threat Half Marathon was a killer, the Seacoast 10k course is built for speed. Very flat, and a slight downhill from start to finish, with a couple slight uphill sections. It was a pretty good day for running as well, in the 70's and cloudy for most of the race.

I had planned on running with Ellen, but I felt a lot of juice in my legs during the warmup so I decided to try for a PR. The race was timed by Racewire but, oddly, the start did not have the timing mats. So we pushed to the front of the corral and got off right with the gun.

The course, while flat and fast, is a little odd. It includes running along roads, a rail trail, a wooden bridge, through parking lots and a park. The mile markers were not correct according to my GPS, which is not always accurate but never two tenths of a mile off. And my GPS recorded 6.2 miles at the finish so it was accurate assuming the course length was correct. The bad mile markers set up a bit of a false hope as I thought I had a chance to break 46 minutes as I passed the 6 mile mark. But when I turned onto the homestretch I could see the finish line and it was clearly more than 1/4 mile away (when it should have been two tenths of a mile).

In any case, I ran a good race and PR'd by three minutes finishing in 46:23. My splits:

1. 7:42
2. 7:39
3. 7:22
4. 7:29
5. 7:28
6. 7:20

It was a good day all around for the Tye family, as we all PR'd by several minutes. Ellen knocked 5 minutes off of her North Andover 10k down to 52:33, and Ethan took about 3 minutes of his N.A time to 45:12.

North Andover July 4 10k

The three kids and I ran the 10k in North Andover this morning. It was a real treat to have the whole crew along for the race. A couple of Ellen's friends came along as well to cheer her on.

The weather was good but the course, as I remember it from last year, is very difficult. Pretty much nothing but hills from start to finish - starting with a nice juicy one over the first mile. My goal was to PR and hopefully pull a 7:30 pace - doable I would think as I ran a 7:41 pace for the 10 miler in Beverly two weeks ago. Aaron and Ellen were hoping to break an hour (they are running for a qualifying time for the corrals in the Disney World Half Marathon next January).

Here we are we are prior to the start of the race (all pictures courtesy of Tricia):

And here are Ethan and me waiting for the start of the 10K:

and here is Ellen getting a good start:

I stayed with Ethan for about the first 3 miles when he gradually began pulling away. He was a few hundred yards ahead of me by the last mile, then took it up a notch in the last half mile and I lost sight of him. The hills on this course really do a number on your pacing. It's just impossible to get into a solid groove because you are either working up hill or falling downhill. I never really got settled and never got close to the 7:30 pace I was hoping for (my best mile was about 7:45). In the end, I barely ran 8 minute miles and finished in 49:28, about 50 seconds faster than I did the course last year, which isn't saying much as I've dropped my half marathon time by more than 6 minutes since that time.

Ethan ran steady and strong and finished well, posting a time of 48:17. Aaron and Ellen both broke an hour, Aaron finishing in 57:19 and Ellen in 57:24.

Here is Aaron, me and Ethan passing the same point about a quarter mile from the finish:

 

 

Next up for me is the Triple Threat Half Marathon on August 2. Another difficult course. Aaron, Ellen and I are also planning to run one more 10k before October - this time a flat to get the best time they can. I imagine they can drop a couple of minutes off of their 10k times simply by running an easier course.

Air Force Association Veterans 10k and 5k

The Hal Higdon Marathon training plan for this week has a day of rest on Saturday and a Half Marathon race on Sunday. Not being interested in running another half marathon race at this point, I substituted a 10k race today and I'll do an easy 10 miler tomorrow morning.

 

There is a nice 10k event this weekend in Bedford, the Air Force Association Veterans Fun Run that starts and finishes at the VA facility in Bedford. It's a fund raiser for the AFA so I thought it would be a worthy event in which to participate. I was happy to hear that Ellen was willing to join me running the 5k, so I picked her up at school Friday afternoon (Tricia was gracious enough to bring her back this afternoon). Here are Ellen and me prior to the start:

I thought I would "represent" the Marine Corps at the race so I wore my hat. There were a lot of people running in Air Force gear (naturally) and a few in Army wear. There were one or two others sporting the Eagle, Globe and Anchor of the USMC. Here are the flags set up at the finish line...

 My goal at the North Andover 10k in July was to break 50 minutes. I almost reached it in that race, running a 50:19. This time, 15 pounds lighter, I would be disappointed if I wasn't able to improve that time enough to get under 50. The race time temperature was in the high 30's, which didn't bode too well as I don't seem to be a good cold weather runner. The course isn't easy either, consisting mostly of rolling hills. But I ran the first mile in 8:28, which was a good sign as I have generally been in the 9:30 range for the first mile or two. I ran the first 5k in 25 minutes and change, which put me within striking distance of 50 minutes. About the 4th mile I really settled in and was able to increase my pace, finishing in 49:07 for an average pace of 7:55 per mile. I was happy to see that I negative split the second 5k in something less than 24 minutes, and got under an 8 minute average pace for the first time. Ellen did a 28:28 for the 5k, not her best but then she had a chest cold and ran anyway.

Here is Ellen finishing the 5k...

And here I am finishing the 10k...

North Andover 4th of July 10k

Next up, the 10k on the 4th of July in North Andover, MA. This was mostly for fun and was the first time I had trained over-distance for a 10k (I never used to run more than five or possibly six miles at a time). And, again, I had Ellen with me running the companion race (a 5k). Given that I had run an 8:40 pace for the 10 miler a few weeks before, and I had lost some more weight in the meantime, I was hoping I could break 50 minutes on the 10k, which would involve an approximately 8 minute mile pace.

I came close to my pace goal, but ended up running a 50:19 at an 8:06 pace. Ellen ran a PR for the 5k at 25:59. The 10k wasn't an easy course, featuring some serious hills, including a good climb towards the end. As usual for me - and as happened on the 10 miler - I started the race slowly and spent the race passing people, negative splitting the second half of the race. I know I'm losing some time starting so slowly, but even when I put in a good warmup (I warmed up a half mile for this race and then a lot of stretching) I never start quickly. This was true going all the way back to my teenage running days.

In any case, I was already a long way from the behemoth who ran a 10:24 pace for the 5 miler in 2012.