 posted May-21-2007 10:31 AM
   
Sugarloaf 15K Race ReportThis was to be my first effort at a15K road race so I was interested in seeing what I was capable of, but I was a little nervous due to the fact that I had just raced two 5K the past two weekends and have a goal 5 miler next week. I figured I would give it my best shot and make a decision as to how to run this one as I went along. My primary goal was to shoot for a 1:03 since I knew that last year the top three in my AG were between 1:03:09 and 1:03:56. If things fell apart then I figured a 1:08 would be respectable. I made the trip to Sugarloaf Mountain with my week end running group on Saturday afternoon and we arrived at Sugarloaf at about 5:00 after stopping in Farmington for a nice lunch and a couple of cold beers. We were fortunate that a mutual friend of my new running groups had offered up his “vacation home” at Sugarloaf Mountain for us to stay overnight. What a great friend indeed as Rob Spaulding who is himself a very good runner and a musician that couldn’t get out of some commitments that he had made has a most beautiful home here on the mountain and it made our trip all the more wonderful. After dropping off our travel gear at the house we traveled to the lodge to pick up our race packets which took all of about 5 to 10 minutes. No complaints here that made it nice and easy. Then we took off for the house again and relaxed a bit before heading out to the Carrabassett Valley Inn for some nice thin crust pizza. What a deal and the food was absolutely delicious! I woke up at about 4:00 to the sound of heavy rain on the skylight, and drifted back to sleep hoping that just maybe it would stop for the race…no such luck! I ended up getting up at 5:00, showering and dressing for the race before I had my regular pre-race breakfast of a glass of chocolate milk, a glass of orange juice a banana and 2 cookies and cream pop-tarts. The group that I run with have been called the “Maine Rowdies” for quite some time and as we were preparing for the race one of my friends asked if I wanted to wear his singlet since he couldn’t run due to an injury, I guess this was my official indoctrination into the “Rowdies”. We headed out the door at about 6:45 for our 7:30 start and got to the start line before 7:00. There was already a good sized group of runners milling about trying to stay dry, with little success I might add. We got out and stretched and paid Mother Nature a little visit and then we were off on a bit of a warm up after which we ended up taking off our dry tech shirts that we had on under our singlets. It may have been raining but it was actually pretty warm and we knew that we would be too warm with long sleeve shirts on during this race. We were at the line and waiting when the starter arrived to give us a short two minute count down and before you knew it we were off and running. Jeff Tidd one of the Maine Rowdies who is just coming off an Achilles injury had asked me what I was planning to shoot for and I had told him I would be looking to run somewhere around a 1:03 and change and he said he would go out with me and see how he felt. Nice I thought I’ll have company. However, shortly after the gun sounded I saw Jeff and another fellow Maine Rowdie, Randy Bartlett (the eventual 50-54 AG winner) shoot out at a pretty good clip I knew that I shouldn’t try to stay with them or I would be asking from trouble (this would prove to be a very smart decision on my part since they ended up finishing in 59 minutes and change! As we approached the 1st mile marker I realized I was going out too fast and pulled it back pretty good. I was already running on tired legs and knew that I would rather have a comfortable race than fall apart at the end from going out too fast. I hit the first mile at 6:28 and knew that I should still pull it back a bit. During the course of the first two miles I settled into my position and figured I was somewhere in the top 25 runners give or take a few at that point and made it my goal to stay keep it that way. I felt pretty good and watched as the front runners slowly ran out of my line of sight and I ended up running alone for quite some time. I hit the 2nd mile marker at 6:41 and still knew I was just a little ahead of pace. Now over the course of the next two miles I started to drift a bit, I think partly as a result of running alone (and still not used to being so near to the front) and I could feel that my legs were a bit tired. But I trudged onward hitting the 3rd mile at 6:52 which was pretty close to where I wanted to be. As I was running along during this next mile I could hear someone coming pretty strong behind me and to the left but I refused to turn back and just kept on at what I felt was a pretty good pace. Then suddenly my good friend and running partner Joel Croteau pulled alongside of me and said “Hi Bob”! Hey Joel I said as he pulled up, and then I went on to tell him how lonely a road this was and he agreed which was why he said he really pushed it to catch me so that we could help push each other in. This was a very welcomed thing for me as we the 4th mile at 7:01 (his had to be much better). During the course of the next mile we pulled it together and ran a pretty steady pace from that point on and actually began to close the gap on a couple of runners in front of us. I told Joel that we should just keep it steady and reel them in one at a time (not really sure if we could or not). As we hit the 5th mile at 6:55 a young girl cheered us on and yelled that we were numbers 23 & 24 at that time. Cool I thought my earlier estimate was right on target. Let’s just keep this up Joel and we can finish in the top 25. There’s no one in your age group even close Joel said and I said great but I think there are three in front of me including Randy and I thought that maybe one of them was one of the guys I was trying to reel in. We kept it going nice and steady and chatting back and forth and really enjoying the nice run. We hit the 6th mile at 6:59 and knew it was a little slow but there were a few rolling hills through here (very miniscule I might add) and I was beginning to feel pretty good now and had actually gotten back into that zone and my legs were actually feeling stronger than during the third and fourth miles. Plus Joel reminded me to keep an eye on the river that ran the length of the course to our left and think about how it is always flowing down hill in the direction we were running!
The 7th mile came and went in 6:48 and I was feeling pretty good knowing that it was less than two and a half miles to go, no problem I thought. The few locals or support teams that were out there for other runners were great as they cheered us on and gave us a boost every time we would see them, since we saw a few of them several times as they would leap frog the course in an attempt to get aide to their friends or family members running. We hit the 8th mile in 6:56 hmmm I thought that was a little slow and told Joel that we only had a mile and three tenths to go let’s get this done. Somewhere along this mile we passed the first guy who was a pretty big dud and I am sure would classify as a Clydesdale, but a very good runner indeed for his size. And then as we were beginning to reel in the second guy a young guy goes breezing by us on the right like a freaking gazelle, I mean it looked like it was effortless for him…I was impressed. Shortly after that a young female runner passed us on the right and I just didn’t want anymore to pass us so I picked it up a notch and told Joel I was going to stick to this young lady since she had a pace that I felt we could stay with. We passed the 9th mile in 6:51 and I could see the finish ahead and started to pick it up a bit. I knew that Joel wasn’t able to respond quite as much but I told him was going to kick it to pass the guy in red and the young lady and began to push it. The girl responded but the guy didn’t have anything left and didn’t even make an attempt. I could hear the girl say as I passed her say “oh my God I can’t believe his kick” now that made me feel good. I passed the finish in 1:03:39! Not a perfect race, but not too bad considering the day and my tired legs!! The young girl I passed actually sought me out after the race to compliment me on my finishing kick and told me she was a bit surprised by it. Once again a very good feeling as a very nice young lady paid me a compliment. Ends up I had to verify for the race director that she had finished right behind me as they somehow missed her in the results. Joel ended up finishing 24th overall and 1st in his age group, Jeff Tidd finished 10th overall and 1st in his age group, Randy Bartlett finished 1st in our age group and a couple of places behind Jeff and I officially finished 21st overall and 3rd in my AG for which I received a nice stoneware mug! I can't find anything on-line for "official" results so I am going on what I remember seeing posted and the awards ceremony. Garmin Data:
9.37 miles - 1:03:39 - (6:48)
Avg HR 159 Max HR 175
1 - 6:28 - 153 / 159
2 - 6:41 - 158 / 160
3 - 6:52 - 158 / 160
4 - 7:01 - 158 / 159
5 - 6:55 - 158 / 162
6 - 6:59 - 158 / 162
7 - 6:48 - 160 / 163
8 - 6:56 - 161 / 164
9 - 6:51 - 162 / 165
.37 - 2:03 - 169 / 175 (5:32 pace) One final bit of info our friend that was running the marathon had a great deal of trouble with stomach cramps and struggled during the last ten miles. No BQ this time, but we'll be there for him on his next try. ------------------
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Bob
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I spoke briefly to one of your group as we waited for the race to start (I do not think it was you.) Maybe we will bump into each other someday. 
