Looking (way) back

            

35 years ago

Only one race in November of 1982 (11/06/1982) and it was the New England XC championships at Franklin Park.  We’d missed qualifying for XC nationals so this was my final race of my freshman cross-country season.  I took 14^th place in 24:08 running splits of: 4:40/4:50/4:53/5:13/4:32.

30 years ago

My only two races in November of 1987 were the New England championships and the U.S. championships.  On the 15^th I ran a “part XC but mostly roads” NEAC championship in Marlborough, MA.  I ended up placing third in 29:57.  Two weeks later I (barely) cracked the top 50 at the TAC championships on a long (10.3k) course in Van Cortland Park.  I took 49^th in 31:42 in a field of 500 on a cold 40 degree day.

25 years ago

I ran four races in November of 1992, two on the roads and two cross-country.  On the 15^th I headed to Smithfield RI for the New England XC championships.  I ended up 4^th in 30:55 after passing the mile just out of the top 15.  Two time Olympian Bob Kempainen won in 30:12.  Next up was Slattery’s 5m (11/22/92), which was always loaded due to the ca$h prizes.  Nearly 1,000 runners hit the road on a 55 degree and rainy day.  I found myself in a tight battle with Eric Morse and Andy Ronan (Irish Olympic Marathoner).  We dropped Ronan in the last ¼ mile and Morse used his sub-4 mile speed to pull away in the final stretch.  I took 2^nd in 23:33 and picked up $400 for the effort.  The following Thursday (11/26/92) I “tempo” ran the Feaster Five road race in Andover.  I didn’t want to run too hard as my focus was the US XC championships two days later.  That was a tight turn-around but I’d been doing tempo’s at 5:10 pace so it wasn’t a huge stress.  I ended up placing 3^rd in 25:32 in a field of over 3,000.  Two days later I was on the line in Racine WI racing 300 of the top XC runners in the country.  It was muddy and icy in spots (perfect XC conditions).  I moved up slowly through the field cracking the top 30 by 5k and ultimately placing 25^th in 30:51.  Bob Kennedy won in 29:41 and CMS took second place (by 11 points).