Bow Lake Dam 15k

Strafford, NEW HAMPSHIRE--Life is great when you get to race in your hometown. Actually, I'm technically from Dover but Strafford is where I now call home. The Bow Lake Dam 15k was revived after a several year hiatus and the committee who brought this race back to the Strafford community did a tremendous job. Many of the homeowners along the 15k route set up water stops and there were at least 3 live bands playing music from driveways along the way. Multiple water stops and a ton of volunteers made race day that much more enjoyable. Mother Nature cooperated as well and bathed the beautiful lake loop with sunny skies and temps in the 70's. I met fellow teammate Steve Wolfe before the race and quickly finalized a race plan. Steve is recovering from a mysterious musculoskeletal injury that forced him to shut it down for several weeks. A fierce competitor and incredibly talented runner Steve agreed with the plan to go out together around 6:30's, survive the "hill", and then hammer to the finish. We figured by working together we may be able to pick up a couple of spots late in the race and pull each other to the finish. Our first split was just shy of 6:25's as I worked to find a groove. The rolling nature of the first 6 miles made it somewhat challenging to run consistent splits. A little fast here, a little slower there we stayed within a few meters right up to the monster climb. Funny thing was I sort of lost track of where I was on the course. As we climbed the hill the thought crossed my mind...if this is a roller before we get to the hill I may be in trouble. Little did I know I was actually ascending the hill. As I plugged away I began to slowly open up a gap on Steve. He claimed I opened up a 30 second lead at one point during the climb. When I finally realized I was actually climbing the killer hill I was almost 2/3 of the way to the top. This immediately bolstered my confidence and I set my sights on the guy ahead of me. By the time I finished the climb I was on his shoulder. As we ran down toward Tasker Hill Road I peeked behind me and noticed Steve slowly closing the gap. Flying down Tasker Hill Road (marginally out of control) Steve caught and passed us. He never looked back. The final mile on Bow Lake Road was a struggle as I felt my engine running out of gas. Steve widened the gap between myself and the younger guy whom I had caught and was now pulling away from me as well. In one last ditch effort not to lose another spot I looked behind me and felt the next runner was sufficiently back not to challenge at the finish. I held on for a 1:02:12 (unofficial). It was good enough for 10th place overall and 4th in the 40-49 age category. Imagine that...10th overall and still finish off the podium. Steve's incredible rally and finishing kick were good enough for 8th overall and 3rd in our age group. It was great to see him on the podium after shutting things down for a while. With no rest for the weary, Dwight will be here in less than 24 hours for a 3+ hour Death Race training session. It's a good thing you don't saw logs with your legs.

Next Up: Exeter Trail Race, Fort Rock, Exeter, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Bow Lake 15k

Although today is technically the last day of this first transition cycle, I decided to head over to Bow Lake and check out the course for the first annual Bow Lake Dam 15k scheduled for June 13th. The idea sprang from my new favorite website...MapMyRun.com. Seems as though I'm often the last one to the party with these cool running aps. Over a morning cup of Mt. Tam Blend from Club Caffeine Karen & I discussed our individual running plans for the morning. She planned to do her out and back up Mile Hill Road (aptly named and fiendishly climby) but wondered out loud exactly how far it was. That's when I remembered the MapMyRun.com website and in a couple of clicks I had her answer...11 right on the nose. I've got to give her a lot of credit, she's really embraced running hills. However, if you live in our neck of the woods you'd better embrace it or find another recreational pursuit. Strafford County has got to be one of the hillest in the entire state not named Carroll or Grafton. I must have spent close to two hours this morning busily mapping each of the loops we run...Donkey (6.04), 3 Town (8.34), and Pond Hill (8.56) to name a few. Really cool running ap that I'm amazed I hadn't checked out before. Anyway, while surfing around I searched the archive of existing maps in our area and low and behold there was a loop around Bow Lake. We've both openly talked about trying to loop the lake. Some industrious soul had done the work for us! I studied the map and sketched a rudimentary map just in case. I had run Donkey last week and felt pretty good. Last May I entered the Pineland Farms 25k Trail Challenge a little too confident and a lot too undertrained and had my arse handed to me by a course that takes no quarter. Knowing I had come up woefully short on my hard long runs last March-May I knew I needed to get my mileage up sooner than later. The Bow Lake loop would allow me to get a hard hilly 8+ in and get an advanced scouting report on the course I plan to race in June. Although not unfamiliar with the lake (we drive by it every time we head over to CBNA) I've not spent much time on the northeast side. I parked at the dam and headed out in a counterclockwise direction saving the infamous Tasker Hill Road as a descent. There was no way that the race would loop with Tasker as a climb...just no way. Province Road rolls along on the northeast side of the lake. This is going to be a gorgeous loop this summer. I took the first two miles or so to warm-up, torn between the concepts of "long" and "fast". When my legs finally came around I cruised the next three miles capturing every opportunity to glance over my left shoulder at the lake. Did I mention this is going to be a beautiful loop this summer? Shortly after taking the turn onto Bennett Bridge Road I anticipated the start of the climbing. What I didn't anticipate was that the road would end. Lake roads can often be a maze of dead end streets terminating in quaint little clusters of 3-season camps. Up to this point I was running very strong and the prospect of a sub-7 effort was very much in play. Then it happened. I probed a road that I knew was wrong and quickly turned around when I arrived in a driveway. For a moment I thought about turning around and running back in the same direction. But I quickly did the math and estimated my conservative 8 miler would now become more like 10. Not what I had in mind and probably a recipe for problems. As I doubled back and forth at the exact location that the road seemed to dead end I noticed a guy working in his garage and against my male instinct asked for directions. Thankfully, I soon learned the road didn't in fact dead end...but instead, became a snow covered jeep road that he called a "town road". Sub-7 was now just an afterthought as I gingerly danced over 1.5 feet of packed snow trying my best not to posthole as I finished most of the climbing the loop had to offer. I'm now a trail runner forced to the road out of convention, but I must admit that asphalt never looked so inviting. Picking up the pace I raced down Tasker Hill and finished with a kick back to the dam. Not sure why, after stopping to ask directions, but I stopped my watch when I finished. 1:02:something for 8.2 miles. 7:37's is really pretty good if you figure I probably spent a total of 7 minutes getting lost and then found. The combination of not enough mileage and the backwoods "town road" that is Bennett Bridge Road made it somewhat obvious that this wasn't the official Bow Lake Dam 15k course. After lunch I e-mailed the RD and she sent me the map I've used at the top. Sure enough, the course doesn't run up BB Road. What a relief. I won't be back at Bow Lake next week, but I'll be back soon. And this time I'll know where I'm going, or at least where I've been.