Looking back

15 years ago

It was a weird month for me with a couple of “workout” type races and a couple of LONG races.  On 11/02 I ran with Dan Verrington in a 5k in Haverhill (Run for Food), Dan ran fast enough to win and I ran fast enough to finish right behind him (18:04).  The next day I topped a field of 71 runners at the Willard Brook Ramble, an 8 mile trail race in Ashby, MA.  Steve Peterson gave me a good race; every time I got lost and went off course he’d pass me and move into the lead.  I ended up first in 52:40.  The following weekend I ran the Stone Cat trail marathon in Topsfield (11/09/02).  For the most part I ran with Leigh Schmidt and Dan Verrington.  Dan stopped to puke late in the race and I pulled away from Leigh in the last mile to score a win in a (then) course record of 3:06:10.  Since that time the record has been lowered twice by CMS teammates: Greg Hammet 3:04:50 in 2008 and Ben Nephew 2:54:45 in 2009 (the CR has since been lowered to 2:54:33).  I closed out the month with a 50k in RI, the Nifty Fifty was the New England championships.  I ran pretty much alone, except for a few marathon runners who stayed with me through 15 miles.  It was an awful day to race with temps in the 40’s at the start and 36 and pouring rain by the time I finished.  The wind didn’t help with steady 20+ mph winds and gusts in the 40 mph range.  My hands were numb for the last 10 miles but I held on to win in 3:20:07.  I picked up $100 for the win.

10 years ago

I raced three times in November of 2007, and felt like I was getting into decent shape.  I returned to Slattery’s for the first time in MANY years.  I ran a lot of the race with second place female runner Heidi Westerling and was able to gap her on the final tough hill.  I ended up finishing 16^th, and 3^rd 40+ with a new master’s personal best of 27:52.  A few days later it was back to Newburyport for the excellent Thanksgiving race.  I took 14^th out of 958 over the 5k course under excellent conditions.  I was third in the 40+ age group running 17:29.  The next day I ran at the Chelmsford Alumni XC race.  I was the top Billerica finisher J  The Chelmsford boys took it out very relaxed for the first 2 miles then took off.  I ended up finishing 4^th in 18:56.

5 years ago

I raced three times in November of 2012.  On 11/10 I had a rare race against teammate Eric Morse and his very speedy dog (Murdoch).  A field of over 300 took off in a sprint for the 5k Doggy run in Boston.  The course had some “out/back” which is never a good idea in a dog race.  I caught Eric at 1.5 and ran with him until ½ mile to go but couldn’t kick with them.  I ended up in fourth in 16:53.  Erick and Murdoch ran 16:45.  The following weekend (11/18) I had a good run at the USATF NE XC championships in Westfield MA.  I had a good battle with teammate Joe Shairs right to the finish out-leaning him by 1 second for 13^th place in 27:54.  The very flat 8km course was great for fast times (Mike Nahom was top master in 26:19).  Five days later I placed third at the Chelmsford Alumni XC race.  As is sometimes the case at this race the first mile was at conversation pace, the second mile was hard running and the final mile was all-out.  I took third place (tied with race director O’B) in 19:34 over the 3.28 mile course.