January many years ago

35 years ago: January 1983 – I only raced twice during this month which was my Freshman year of Indoor track.  I ran a PR in both races.  At the Dartmouth relays I teamed up With Dave Quintal (4:28), Art Demers (4:24), and Joe Regan (4:30)  running the anchor leg of the 4x1 mile in 4:18.  Two weeks later I ran a school record for the 5,000 meters (indoors) with a 14:40 at the New England TAC (later renamed “USA Track & Field) championships.

25 years ago: January 1993 – I had a busy month, racing six times.  One of my goals in 1993 was to run 26 of the “CMS weekly 5k” races in order to earn a sweatshirt.  I’d end up driving a LOT of miles to get that sweatshirt and I had a lot of fun racing (and sometimes just “running”) the series.  I started the month with a couple of easy races.  I won the Derry Hangover “classic” on January 1^st in 27:10 and the next day tied with teammates Steve Peterson and Tom Anderson running a 16:20 at the CMS series.  The following weekend I picked up another win at the CMS series this time crossing the line alone in 15:01.  After that I was off to Bermuda thanks to Marathon Tours.  They gave a free trip to the winner of the previous year’s Grand Prix series (At the time I was in a winning streak having won the GP 1987-1992).  I had a decent run taking 6^th place in 31:10 over a hilly course on a humid 70-degree day.  

The following weekend (01/23) I was back in Worcester taking a crack at the course record (I ran 14:36 winning the USATF championships in 1992 over a very similar course).  I ran a 14:44 running alone from the start (2^nd place was a respectable 15:56).  The time was not the course record but was a “series” record.  I closed out the month back in Worcester on a 14-degree day running 15:23 to beat the other 40 runners dumb enough to show up on such a cold day.