Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon and 5K

4,368 runners completed the Half Marathon and 506 runners finished the 5K race. The sky was partly cloudy most of the day and temperatures were in the 40s! We were fortunate that Hurricane Joaquin was many miles away and left us alone. Overall, a pretty good day for a run.

Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon

Tim Catoggio of Boston was the fist place man at 1:11:23 for a 5:27 pace.

Reilly Kiernan of Cambridge was the first place woman at 1:20:44 for a 6:10 pace.

Devan Kucker of Haverhill was the first place wheelchair competitor.

Warren Hayes of Merrimack was the oldest finisher at age 79 and a finish time of 3:16:02.

Smuttynose Rockfest 5K

Ben Ossoff of Boston was the first place man at 17:40 for a pace of 5:42.

Lisa Johnston of Reston, VA was the first place woman at 22:23 for a pace of 7:13.

Robert Randall of Springvale, ME was the oldest 5K finisher at 78. His time was 31:57.

Complete results from Cool Running.

Race Day

My day started at 4:30AM with my alarm rudely awakening me. I was meeting Rowena in Melrose and we were supposed to leave by 5:10. They were closing the roads at 6:30AM and we wanted to get there before that so we could park and not have a stroke!

Before I left the house I managed to get a cup of tea and a Smolak Farms apple cider donut! This early in the morning I must be on auto-pilot. Somehow I managed to get dressed, out the door and over to Melrose in time. As I waited for Rowena to show up she sent me a text that her car had a flat tire. Fortunately she doesn’t live far from Brueggers and in no time we were on our way to Hampton Beach, NH.

Before 6AM, we rolled into the parking lot I wanted to park in. It was where the number pickup tent and all of the porta-potties were. We quickly found a parking spot and got our bibs and race fleece.

We hung out, used the facilities and did our pre-race prep. Somehow I forgot to do any significant stretching before we left for the starting line around 7:45AM. Some of the porta-potties ran out of TP. I saw a few runners with distressed looks on their faces. Not a good thing on race morning.

We got into corral 2 and waited. We could barely hear the National Anthem and no one even took off their hat! Like most races, the PA system just wasn’t powerful enough.

And they’re off!

The race started pretty much on time. As we crossed the starting line I did not see a timing mat and worried this would be a gun-time race. With five waves I thought this was really un-fair. It turned out they had timing devices on either side of the starting line.

The first 2-3 three miles were very crowded as we circled around Hampton Beach. Just after mile 3 we made our turn onto Route 1A and headed north up the coast. I had been running with Rowena for the first three miles. We had different finish times in mind so we split up shortly after we got onto 1A.

All the way up Route 1A the ocean was on our right. The waves were crashing in but they were not storm waves and the wind was mild. I finished my bottle of water around mile 5 and tossed it near a volunteer. After mile 6 I took my first gel because I didn’t want to wait too long to take my first one. Shortly after that we arrived at the water stop where they were handing out Hammer gels. I grabbed one and held onto it for a few miles.

Shortly after the 10K mark we took a left onto High Street. This is where we encountered our first hill, a small hill.

Since I forgot to stretch before the race I had to deal with various aches and pains on the run. My left knee hurt, then my left achilles. Somewhere along the way my right hamstring started to ache and I thought it might cramp. I began to think that it was time to buy a new pair of running shoes. The bottoms of my feet hurt a little bit at times also!

Our peak elevation was at mile 7.7, a whole 58 feet above sea level. I easily chugged up the “hill” and ran the down hill.

My goal had been 8 minute miles. Mile one had been 9:47 and I did not get below 8 minutes per mile until miles 12 and 13! I had my watch set to show my overall average pace and I was way off track the entire race.

When we came back out to Ocean Blvd/Rt. 1A, my average pace was 8:42. At mile 10 I began to kick it in. The road was flat, nothing really hurt and my energy level was pretty good.

Mile 11 was 8:15. I was passing people. As we approached mile 12 I came up on a group of runners, probably 25. I could tell I was closing on them and it dawned on me that I was about to pass a boat load of runners! I couldn’t believe it.

While I was passing these people some guy was right up my ass. He must have been drafting as I made my move. I first noticed him when I put down my foot and felt his foot under mine. He was that close! He said sorry, sped up and got on someone else’s ass.

I passed him when I passed that entire group.

The ocean was to our left and the breeze was at our backs. With each breeze I felt like I was being pushed along. Mile 12 came in at 7:50 and mile 13 was 7:56! I could not believe that I was running my fastest miles at the end of the race! That never happens for me. The last time I ran this race I ran the last few miles with another guy and it took both of us to finish that race.

As we got close to the finish the road narrowed and the crowd increased. I kicked in the last bit of juice and could feel my breath getting short. My last 0.21 miles were at a 7:08 pace! It was only for a short distance, but that is my 5K speed.

At the finish I drank a Gatorade in 10 seconds. Then I grabbed a bottle of water and got my medal. A Smuttynose bottle opener medal no less!

I tried to keep walking to catch my breath,but the crowd was too thick. I quickly put my hat and gloves back on before my body started to get cold. That only worked for a while.

As I got out of the food tent I saw Dave McGillivray and went over to say hello. He was polite but busy with his post race routine. He started speaking with Arlon from Club LOCO and I knew I had no place in that conversation, so I headed for the beer tent. It was still nice to see Dave even though he has no idea who I am.

I stood in the beer tent trying to stay out of the breeze and trying to keep an eye on the finish line. Rowena was relying on me for a ride home. Before Rowena finished I spotted my friends from team “Slow and Thirsties.”

We had fun trying to hold onto beers and our food. Rowena made a bag out of a Mylar blanket – what a great idea.

Eventually we decided to head for the lobster sandwiches and hot chowda. It was a short walk and then a short line. The food was great but I ended up loosing everyone on the way back. I slurped down my hot chowda and headed back for the beer tent – where I knew I would find everyone.

Eventually we all met up, told some more stories, drank some more beer and tried not to get hypothermia!

A little after Noon we decided to head home and call it a day.

My finish time was 1:51:32 for a pace of 8:31. Out of 4,368 half marathon runners I finished 859th and 75th out of 245 men 50 to 59.

For not training for distance running I did pretty well. Not as well as I wanted, but as well as I deserved.

Rowena ran a PR and this was her sixth half marathon for 2015!

Run well my friends,

Andy

© 2015 andrew nagelin