Saturday, May 8: Holderness

A rainy day for a modest 4-miler this morning up in Holderness, a town on Squam Lake, where 'On Golden Pond' was filmed. Only about two dozen folks turned up for this race, a Project Graduation effort, augmented by a plant sale inside the school entranceway. These are the ones I like to get, as often they're one-time-only races that aren't repeated, so it's important to be up for them when they happen.

This one was a friendly local affair. (With colorful T-shirts, see photo!) I looked at the registration roster when signing in (last-minute as usual) and I think I was the only flatlander in the pack. Though the weather wasn't awful, it was raining enough to wash away the chalk starting line, which caused a bit of confusion, but no problem: off we went on a nice loop in the countryside out in back of Holderness Central School. After some ups and downs, the road turns to dirt, but it was a graded and well-packed surface, so mud and puddles weren't a problem. (Unlike the Wolfeboro run from last month.)

Hills were just enough to keep it interesting. Things leveled out about half-way through, and then an easy push to end in the school parking lot. One unique touch was the "human finish line," a picture of which I've included. In keeping with the "no frills" spirit, the race had no clock; rather, my time of 40 minutes and 32 seconds was called out in unison by two nice gals as I crossed the finish line. A couple folks coming in after me apparently took a wrong turn at one point. I heard one say "I knew things weren't right when I saw the sign for the town border."

Well, that's town #109. Only...er, 125 to go!

Update: I've just found the results posted online; the race had just 20 entrants, and I came in 11th with an official time of 40:24. Not sure where those missing eight seconds went to.