Looking back 1999

20 Years ago: June 1999, I covered 363 miles during the month and didn’t miss a day despite my left knee, arch and ankle all giving me woes. I was definitely on a bit of a hot streak and I rode right ‘til the end (when my ankle blew up in August). I started the month battling with Eric Morse at Pack Monadnock. We ran stride for stride for the first 9 miles, then I gapped him in Miller State park. He came back and motored by me running the fastest closing mile ever run at Pack (sub 8 minutes) on his way to a course record 58:35. I finished in second place in 58:49. Morse and I would both run under 60 minutes again in 2001 and since that time only Eric Blake (59:55) has been under an hour at Pack. A week later Eric and I were battling again, this time in the USATF NE 10k championships in Portsmouth, NH. We ran together through 5.5 miles before Morse kicked it up a notch. He won in 30:25 and I took 2nd place in 30:31. A week later I was back at Mt Washington, watching the leaders pull away. Daniel Kihara and Matt Carpenter had a great race both running under one hour. I ran what still stands as the fastest third place time with a personal best 1:00:37 (Eric Blake is the closest with a 1:00:54 for third place in 2012). That still stands as the Massachusetts state record and was the 35-39 age group record until 2014 (Eric Blake ran 1:00:01).  I closed the month out with a 5.7 mile race at Stratton Vermont which hosted the USATF NE mountain championships. Eric Morse beat me again as I finished in 2nd place in 47:05. We both qualified for the US mountain running team.

1999

1          59:03    Daniel Kihara                 31M      Royersford, KEN           

2          59:16    Matt Carpenter              34M      Manitou Springs, CO     

3          1:00:37 Dave Dunham                35M      Bradford, MA     CMS

4          1:01:09 Eric Morse                     34M      Berlin, VT          CMS

5          1:01:38 Simon Gutierrez             33M      Albuquerque, NM           ADIDAS

6          1:03:04 Joseph Lemay               32M      Danbury, CT      ADIDAS

7          1:03:32 Rich Davis                     29M      Ft Collins, CO   

8          1:04:36 Thomas Anderson          34M      Keene, NH        CMS

9          1:05:53 Scott Elliott                    35M      Boulder, CO      

10         1:06:00 Richard Bolt                   28M      Pepperell, MA    CMS

11         1:06:22 Fergus Cullen                27M      W Hartford, CT  GLRR

12         1:06:43 Thomas Murdock           35M      Somerville, MA  IATC

13         1:07:02 Edward Sheldon             34M      Manchester, NH GCS

14         1:08:22 Stephen Peterson           33M      Chelmsford, MA CMS

15         1:09:00 Richard Doubleday         37M      Brookline, MA    BBRR

16         1:09:26 Mike Casner                  37M      Keene, NH        CMS

17         1:09:34 Peter Hammer               32M      Bridgton, MA     BRC

18         1:09:42 Francis Burdett              34M      Worcester, MA   GLRR

19         1:09:51 Thompson Parker          29M      Bow, NH           HS

20         1:09:55 Mark Behan                   36M      Newton, NH      WC

21         1:10:50 Tony Bates                    40M      Salisbury, VT     GLRR

22         1:11:16 Andy MacDonald            39M      Somerville, MA  BRC

23         1:11:40 Len Hall                        46M      W Lebanon, NH

24         1:11:58 Rick Stuart                     41M      Santa Fe, NM    CME

25         1:12:08 Russel Bollig                  35M      Boulder, CO