Looking back - July 35 & 30 years ago

 35 Years ago: I covered 360 miles with one day off in July of 1987.  I had sprained my ankle badly at the end of June and was still working my way back from that.  I only raced once during the month.  I topped a field of 600 (which wasn’t unusually large for a local race back then) at the East End Club 5 mile.  I came up a few seconds short of my course record from 1984 but ran alone after 2 miles.  Splits of 4:50/5:03/4:57/5:00/4:34 brought me home in 24:34.  I picked up $50 for the win.

30 Years ago: I put in 438 miles in July of 1992 and raced four times.  I started the month with a win at the “Fit Kids” track mile.  I wasn’t beating up on any Kids as they had adult heats as well.  Big Mike (Mike Beeman) set up the race as a chance for me to set the Pinkerton track record.  He set the pace in the early going as I hit splits of 64/68/65/64 for a 4:21.  I’m not sure what the record was but that was the new record (which may still stand since they run a 1,600 now!).  Six days later (07/16) I took first at the Lynn Woods trail (or XC) race in the 2.5 mile version.  I ran most of the race with Dave Cremin (U-Lowell) but managed to outkick him 12:15 to 12:20.  The U-Lowell guys ran some hot times with Mike Toomey (12:48) and John Doherty (12:50) taking third and fourth.  Three days later (07/19) I was up against Cremin again this time at the East End Club 5 mile (Lowell, MA).  It was hot and humid (what summer race in Lowell isn’t?) for the field of 450 runners.  I picked up $50 for the win in 24:30, missing my 1984 course record by 4 seconds.  Cremin took 2nd in 24:57.  Nine days later (07/28) it was 80 degrees again and humid for the Tuesday night “Yankee Homecoming” 10 mile which served as the New England 10m championships (NEAC).  Nearly 2,000 completed the rolling 10 mile course.  I found myself in a big group of 10 runners at 5 miles.  We dropped a couple by 8 miles.  Scott Bagely took off soon after with Rachid Tbahi and Craig Fram trailing him.  I was off the back but managed to get around Craig in the last 100 meters to take third in 50:17.