25 years ago: March 1996

25 years ago (March 1996): A bit of a mixed bag for the month with three races and I picked up two wins and two course records, but the one I didn’t win was probably the one I was most keyed up for.  I was having trouble with my ankle/foot early on which required some PT and a cortisone shot.  My hope was to kick-off the USATF grand prix with a good showing at the Stu’s 30km (03/03/96).  It was windy and snowy with temperatures in the low 30’s.  A big pack of fifteen passed through a slow opening two miles (11:21).  From 5 miles to 10 miles the pace was upped (27:37 then 26:26) which reduced the pack to 10.  From 10 to 13 (where the race used to start/finish) the tempo was upped again with miles of 5:25, 5:14, and 5:10 which narrowed it down to 7.  Dave Marcus and George Luke forged ahead while I clung to the second group of Craig Fram and Mike Nahom.  I dropped teammate Byrne Decker at 14 miles as I fell behind Fram & Nahom.  We had near whiteout conditions the last few miles and I was happy to just hold on for fifth place.  I took some time before racing again and was feeling pretty good after putting in 106 mile week while working in Ogden Utah.  Next up was the Charbo’s run in Dorchester (03/24/96).  I ran the course with Byrne Decker as a warm-up on this sunny but windy 40 degree day.  I noted that I felt “okay but not great” over the hilly 5 miles.  Tommy Lynch and Darrin Krug took it out and I hung behind through miles of 5:00 & 5:17 before taking the lead and dropping a 4:48 mile.  I thought I shook myself free but Krug stuck with me and then pushed the pace at 3.5.  I bided my time until 4.5 and then made a final move for a 2 second win (25:12 to 25:14).

My final race of the month was the Merrimack River trail race.  Petey (Steve Peterson) and I put out over 400 flags and streamers on the course on Friday, and we did it in under 2 hours.  On race morning I did a 3 mile warm-up on the course then took off on a perfect sunny and 40 degree day.  Dan Verrington stayed one step behind me as we went through as surprisingly fast first 3 miles in 16:06 (the first and last 3 are flat and fast, the 2 miles to the turn are HILLY).  We hit the turn together in 28:48 and Dan continued to shadow my every move. I was pretty tired the last 2 miles (which I covered in 10:36) and felt especially beat when Dan flew by with ½ mile to go.  I managed to stay with him and made a move as we started under route 93 when I went by Dan suddenly stopped and started puking.  I did not wait around and ended up with the win and a course record.  Dan came in a little less than a minute later.