Looking back

20 Years ago

I raced five times in June of 1991, mixing it up with races from 5 to 10 miles and from the big fields at Mt Washington and the New England Athletic Congress (now USATF NE) 10km to the small (96 finishers) field at the Goffstown Gallop.

I started the month with a third place finish at the NEAC 10k in Winthrop.  This was a rare race that was named for a hockey player (Mike Eruzione).  It was a very hot day in the 90’s and a huge pack went through the 5k together.  It was a two loop course because Winthrop isn’t big enough for a single loop 10k (laugh).  Ed Sheehan took the win in 30:47, Rod Ellsworth ran 30:49 and I finished in 30:50.  Hodgie took fourth in 30:53 and Scott Clark was 5th in 30:58.

Left to right: Ellsworth, me, Ed Sheehan, and Hodge...Scott Clark is directly behind Ellsworth.

The following week I picked up $600 for finishing second at Mt Washington.  Derek Froude, who is getting inducted into the Mt Washington Hall of Fame later this month, won the race in 1:00:36.  I finished in 1:02:07 and noted in my training log “felt lousy, fifth place at the mile, passed Hodge at 2 miles”.  It was a muggy day with temperatures in the 60’s at the base and a 17 degree wind-chill at the summit.

Peg Donovan and I got the Crossan cup for top NH finishers at Mt Washington

The next weekend I doubled-up, running a 10 mile on Saturday and a 5 mile on Sunday.  I won at the Montpelier 10 mile running “as easy as possible to win” in 53:32.  The next day I raced in Lowell MA, taking on Dennis Simonaitis, Paul Hammond, and Buddy Bostick (among others).  Dennis took the win, breaking 24 minutes and I was second ($300) in 24:02.

The final race of the month was the Goffstown Gallop, which is a long running New England standard.  This year will be the 32^nd running.  Back at the 12^th running, I took the win over the 5.2 mile course in 27:19.  I don’t remember much about the race except that it was very hot that day and I went right from the finish into Glen Lake.

10 Years ago

I raced five times in June of 2001, four mountain races and one road race.  The first race was a second place finish at Pack Monadnock.  Morse tookthe win in 59:07 and I took second place in 59:40.  A week later we tied on Whiteface Mountain an 8 mile climb in Wilmington NY.  Neither one of us wanted to try and break it open, so late in the race we decided to finish together.  The 56:26 we ran is still the course record.  The following day I did my only road race of the month, the Khoury’s 4.13.  I finished 5^th in 22:37 and have no memory of this race at all (maybe that is a good thing).  The following weekend I took second place on a hot and humid day at Mt Washington.  The temperature was 86 at the base and 64 at the top as I ran 1:04:20 and picked up $500 for my efforts.  The final race of the month was the Ascutney hill climb where Eric again beat me as I took second place in 29:39.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

This may have been the last race I beat Craig Fram at