December not so long ago...

December 2002 – 10 years ago

I started the month out running the long leg (9.3 miles) at the Mill City Relays.  This time I ran for the Rogue Runners (they had a cool Pirate Logo).  I wonder what the record is for the most different clubs run for at the MCR?  I was happy with the result, running 54:10 which was the pace I’d aimed for.  A week later I was back in Huntsville for my final time at the Rocket City Marathon.  My goal was to run 6:00 pace and hopefully crack the top ten and earn a little cash.  The trip was free as a former winner of the race so I went to have some fun and hang out with CMS teammates Byrne Decker and Kevin Beck.  I ended up meeting my goal as I moved up from 25^th at half-way to finish 9^th in 2:36:22.  Byrne and Kevin both had good days taking 2nd and 4th in 2:22:48 and 2:27:31 respectively.  My former U-Lowell teammate Dennis Simoniatis took the overall win in 2:22:02.  Two weeks later I hit the snow and got a victory at the I love Woodford 3.5 mile snowshoe race.  I somehow mustered a final sprint to hold off teammate Richard Bolt in 25:19.

December 2007 – 5 years ago

I was busy during this month, racing a seven times but only accumulating less than 17 miles of “fast” stuff.  I started the month with a 5k race at the USATF convention in Honolulu.  It was hot and humid despite starting at 7 am and we got caught in a downpour during the race.  I was in a pack with the top four but fell off at 2 miles and ended up in fifth place in 17:21.  A week later I hit the “Assault on Mt Hood” XC race, which is one of my favorites.  I’ve run it a few times and it seems like every time I go there they have a new, interesting, difficult course.  This year there was 2-4” of snow on the ground which made it especially tricky.  I tried to keep Dan V and Jim Pawlicki in site and ended up taking 10^th place in 18:04.  I was 11 seconds behind Dan and 2 back from Jim.  Next up was the B.U. mini meet the following week.  This three week series is pretty popular and attracts all levels of ability.  I took 10^th of 16 in the slow heat of the 3,000.  The action was intense and I battled back and forth with Craig Fram’s son (who ended up out-kicking me).  I was pleased with a masters PR 9:34.3.  The next week I was back at it again, this time taking 19^th of 20 in my heat of the 3,000.  I took five seconds off of my time from the week before.  I stuck around for the mile, which is the last event, and set another masters PR with a 4:59.2.  The final week of the series had me pack in the 3,000 in the slow heat where I dropped another 3 seconds running a 9:26.4 which remains my masters PR.  I took 6^th place in a field of 13.  The next day I closed out the month with a 24:36 at the Woodford snowshoe race placing second behind Josh Ferenc (who was out of sight right from the start).