Ahhh... Summer

Thank goodness it's finally here. I said the same thing when Spring arrived, even ran a trail race in Manchester with a similar name (It's Finally Spring 5K). But I truly love the emancipation from bulky clothing and that weighted down feeling when Summer arrives. HOT? Yes. Worth it? Definitely.

Sunday 6/23 I ran 10 long with Al Litwin, then hit the beach at GiantsNeck Heights Beach Association beach to relax for a couple hours. Went for a brief swim to see how my right shoulder would respond after experiencing rotator issues for the last 9 months. Not bad.

Tuesday 6/25 I ran the Stonington Dog Watch Fun Run. HOT. After warming up with Jeff Walker and Mike Boumenot, I went shirtless and wound up doing about a 23:35 if I recall correctly. Great to get to chat with Jeff finally and meet his wife, whom Mike credited with all the great race captures at WTAC events.

Over the next few days I noticed a persistent soreness in my upper left hamstring. It felt mostly like tendonitis.This seemed to present itself most noticeably when sitting at my desk for long periods. Stretching and rolling with a foam roller seemed to alleviate the symptoms. No races the weekend prior to Fourth of July.

Ro DiRoma arranged a get together with Steve Dinsmore and me me to jog the next Dog Watch Fun Run on 7/2. I think we eased across the finish line with about a 31:00. Didn't want to overdo it with the Chester Four on the Fourth coming up on Thursday with the hamstring thing going on.

Ran the Chester race on the Fourth of July. It was a logistical nightmare! I'd gone with an anticipated race start of 10am as noted on the SNERRO site, but as they advise and as I always do I checked the official race site for the gun time that morning about 8am just to be sure. OMG, it said 9am. I put the hammer down and jammed down I95 and RT 9, got lucky & found a parking spot close to registration, ran over and got in line with 20 minutes to spare. Whew! Not as bad as I thought it would be.

Another freaking hot day. Felt like it was about 100 degrees. Did I mention how much I love Summer? To me it looked like a huge field. Someone said they thought it wasn't as big as past races, but to me it looked like there were hundreds in attendance. After chatting with a few Mohegan Striders, including Way Hedding...who mentioned they'd heard about the start time change late... I made my way to the head of the pack a few rows back to make sure I didn't get trampled to death. I knew I wasn't going to be setting any new earth land speed records on a day like this, not to mention this is a known hilly course and I wasn't sure if the hamstring issue was going to be a factor.

Gun. Course goes out a quarter mile, then sharp left onto a long half mile climb. I found myself passing runners on the uphill. As the first uphill leveled off, the course weaved through several turns with more uphill climbs and leveling off. Eventually we got to mile two, where one of the volunteers barked out 15:30. So I knew I was under an 8-minute pace, which seemed attractive on the hottest racing day of my 2013. I really struggled on the uphills after that point because the heat was just sapping my strength. I wound up deciding I'd walk the water stops for 10 seconds to see if I got rejuvenated enough to run the final half mile hard. Ultimately I was forced to walk 4 times, for an approximately 40 second hit. But I think it paid off in the end. I was able to finish strong and didn't feel beat up. Had no idea where I'd place in my division with such a large field. All I knew was sweat was pouring off me like a waterfall and I needed to get some water and orange slices pronto.

I was surprised to find I placed 2nd in my division with a 32:32. The guy who took 1st with a 29:something was George Sanders from Guilford, who like me had just turned 60. Spy Barres from Mystic, at age 50, finished 3rd overall. Amazing. It looked like the heat played a big part in slowing older runners down, based on the placements I saw later. The best news  of the day for me was the soreness didn't show up after I cooled down. I'm wondering if the 3 beers I had at the Pattaconk Tavern with Way Hedding didn't help. I drove to Al Litwin' s place to join him for a walk to the beach to relax the rest of the day.

Friday 7/5 I had to work, so I hooked up with Ro DiRoma and Steve Dinsmore for an easy run to Eastern Point Beach, then continued on to Avery Point and Jupter Point to make it a 7-miler. After work I drove home to take care of the cat, then drove to Lake Winnipesauke to hook up with Suzan for a long holiday weekend with family and friends. Hoping to do an easy run Sunday afternoon back in Niantic, then start preparing to work on my speed to get ready for the Sailfest 5k on 7/14.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!