Looking Back

5 Years ago – Oct 2005

I was on my way to a stress fracture and only raced twice.  I went with Morse to the Syracuse Festival of Flowers 5k road race and ran 16:34 to take 3^rd in the 40+.  I was outkicked by a 13 year old kid!  Luckily I was not “girled” as the women had a separate race.  Eric took 2^nd in the masters with a fast 15:19.  I won $50, which cut into the weekends travel expenses.  The only other race I did was Jennifer’s run in Lowell.  I was the top master in 17:24 noting how bad my leg felt…a couple of days later I was on the injured reserves.  I had a fibula stress fracture that put me on the sidelines for 6 weeks.

10 Years ago – Oct 2000

The big race of the month was my first Ultra (beyond marathon distance) a 100km race in Boston.  I was surprised to earn a victory in 6:46:39 (6:32 per mile for 62.2 miles) and get one of my biggest paydays - $3,000.  A week later I ran the Nute Ridge ½ marathon which was part of the Hockomock Swamp rat series.  I took 2^nd to teammate Larry Sayers in 1:14:27 and won $25.  Two weeks later I closed out the month winning $100 at the New England marathon championships in Falmouth.  I took 5^th place in 2:30:53, but the story of the day was Eric Beauchesne and Chris Teague who went off course just before 25 miles.

15 Years ago – Oct 1995

I started the month with a course record at the New Castle 5k (14:59).  The course had about 100 turns and ran on every road in the miniscule and scenic town.  Rod Viens and Scotty Clark took it out hard, but Dan Verrington had the lead through 1.9 miles.  I moved by Mike O’Brien in the last ½ mile to take the win.  Dan finished third in 15:08.  A week later I took the win over 31 finishers at the Brooksby Farm XC 5m in 26:56.  The race was a prep for the Mayors cup the following week.  I took 27^th in 24:41 and noted in my training log “out hard, but WAY back”.  The final race of the month was a win at the HFC XC race in the Fells in 15:33 over 5km.

A lot of familiar faces...Clark, O'Brien, Verrington, Viens, Hammond.

20 Years ago – Oct 1990

Only two races this month and one was a “workout”.  I won the Hollis Applefest ½ marathon in 1:06:31 setting a course record.  Splits for the mostly downhill 1^st 10k and mostly uphill 2^nd 10k were 30:35 and 32:30.  It was  a solid run despite a head cold and 79 degree temperatures.  A week later I “ran through” the Lowell (Baystate) marathon in 2:58:28 using it as a long run in preparation for another fall marathon.

Starting line, with some familiar faces...

25 Years ago – Oct 1985

I had arthroscopic surgery on my knee in late September so no running or racing in October.

30 Years ago – Oct 1980

Six races in my first full season of varsity XC (my junior year at Billerica High).  I won in a dual meet against Austin Prep on our home course, which if I recall was 99% paved, running 15:33 for 3 miles.  A week later John Dangora (who is getting inducted into the BMHS hall of fame this weekend) and I tied over 3 miles in a dual meet against Wilimington.  Three days later I finished 6^th at the Catholic Memorial meet at Franklin Park.  I wrote “felt tired” in my training log which may have been from a very aggressive opening mile of 4:46.  Another 3 days later and I won in a dual meet at Tewksbury where John Dangora and ?? Romano got into a fist fight at the finish line.  I remember stopping about 1 mile into the race when both of them wanted to “throw down” behind the high school.  At the finish Romano tried to shake hands with John who proceeded to jump him.  It was crazy!  I remember Mike Granfield trying to separate the two.  Gotta love fired-up runners!  Four days later I finished fifth at the Northern Area championships at Bradley Palmer (3m in 15:54) and I closed out the month on the 29^th tying with Mike Busnach in 15:30 in a dual meet at Methuen.  We decided to tie when Methuen held out there top four runners, so they’d be fresh for upcoming “big” meets.