Looking back

10 Years ago – 2002

I stayed off-road this month running two trail races and a Cross-Country race.  I started off the month in Topsfield running the Bradley Palmer XC challenge.  I ended up finishing 6^th in a field of 54 running 23:48 for 4.7 miles.  The next weekend I ran the Dogtown trail race.  This one was pretty unusual the “ribbons” they used to mark the course were actual ribbons tied to trees.  Teammate Richard Bolt took the win and the cool Dogtown painting (that he still displays in his home), besting a field of 40 runners.  I rolled into the finish in 2^nd place running 17:32 for the 3.25 mile course.  I went back to Gloucester a week later and took on the Ravenswood I beat a very small field of only 33 runners covering the 3.9 mile course (which I thought was more like 4.5 miles) in 25:26.

5 Years ago – 2007

Seems like yesterday!  I raced four times during the month, all different disciplines: Mountain, Trail, XC, and Road.  I also covered distances from 1 mile to the marathon.  The first race was the toughest mile race in New England (maybe anywhere?).  The “open” course (any route you choose) up Stark Mountain included 2,000’ of vertical.  I mapped out my route and it came out to somewhere between 1.5 and 1.7 miles.  I won in a course record of 23:51.  While standing on the starting line I asked the winner from 2006 what route he took when he won.  He had an answer that still makes me laugh…”follow me and find out”.

The next day I toed the line at the Wayland XC race, a tough 5k over rolling hills and through a sand pit around Wayland High School.  I took 25^th (and 4^th master) in 18:03.  A week later I was on the trails of Gloucester getting my ass kicked at the Ravenswood trail race.  I finished the 4.5 mile course in 28:54 taking 6^th overall and 2^nd master.  My final race of the month was the USATF NE marathon championships at the Cape Cod marathon.  I ran a conservative pace and actually negative split (ran faster the second half) running a 2:49:25 for 26^th place (and 8^th in the 40-49).  This still stands as my best time as a 40+ runner.  Maybe I can do something about that next year J