Striding Along - Gate City Striders

Continued from page 22
At the Horse Hill 7k in Merrimack, NH (results)
I took advantage of the fast conditions and hung
with the speedy shoers right up until the last (of
three) climbs of the day. I was also able to hold off
2 racers on the final decent and out-sprint another
over the last 400 meters of the course. Even
though I was still the 6 th fastest master, I did
manage to finish in the top 12 overall. And, more
importantly, for the first time all year, I felt like I
was actually “in the race”!
The following week at the Beaver Brook 5k in
Hollis, NH (results) the quick conditions
remained in place and so did my race strategy -
“Hold on to the tail of the tiger for as long as you
can and then see if you can bite him in the end”.
Unfortunately, my over-exuberance came back to
bite me instead as I went out too fast, got caught
out of position on the first section of climbing
single-track and paid dearly for it for the remainder
of the race. Nothing like using the middle mile of
a 5k to recover from a too-fast first!
In the end, I managed to catch my breath over the
middle third of the race, hold off some hardcharging
shoers and finish respectably. As was the
case in the previous race, I was able to out-kick a
couple of veteran racers over the last quarter
mile and finished as the 4 th fastest master. I also
managed to crack the top 10 overall and finish
with a near 8 minute per mile pace – a far cry from
the 14 minute miles I was cranking out early in my
training!
So, now that we are on the cusp of March, I’ve
hung up the snowshoes for the season and have
turned all my focus towards the goal race for the
spring - The New Bedford Half Marathon.
During the 2-months of snowshoe training I
continued to maintain my long runs & tempo runs
and have seen a clear improvement in the quality
of each. I’ve also managed to shed 10 pounds of
extra weight which leaves me with just 6 pounds
more to go to reach my goal weight of 180.
Lose Weight? Check. Get Stronger? Check. Get
Faster? Only time will tell!
February - April 2011 Striding Along 23