September 1979

September 1979 - 40 years ago: I started my sophomore year at Billerica High School with my first season of cross-country! I did some training over the summer (6 miles a day 5 days a week) with the goal of making the varsity squad by the end of the season. I got in 138 miles with 8 days off (mostly weekends) and raced three times during September. My first XC race (09/17/1979) was a dual meet at Billerica’s home course against Lawrence. I finished in second place (JV) running 16:29 for the 2.6 mile mostly paved course around the parking lot of the high school. A week later I won my first XC race taking first in a dual meet against Dracut at Dracut with a 14:21 for 2.4 miles. Five days later I was back on my home course this time against Central. I took 1:24 off of my time from two weeks before. I led the JV squad running a 15:05.  This would be the highpoint of the season as I only raced a couple of more times due to multiple ankle sprains.  Since my first XC race I’ve raced another 1448 times and XC is still one of my favorite type of races and ranks 3^rd on the list of races by type