Thursday, May 6, 2021

Looking back - May 1996

25 Years ago: I had a pretty busy month with a couple of road races and some mountain racing.  I started the month (05/05/96) in Worcester at the CMHC 10 mile.  It was a bit warm (65) and windy (10-20 mph) for the field of about 500.  Scott Bagley took it out hard in the first mile and was uncatchable, winning in 50:29.  I took second ($1,500) in 50:39 with Eric Morse third in 50:49. 


The next week I was off to the very first USATF NE mountain series race (05/11/96) at Kearsarge Mountain (Warner, NH).  Dan Verrington and I ran together through the tough first 5 miles in drizzle and fog and then I broke away on the mountain proper to take the win and set the course record in 51:23. Dan took second in 52:26.  Next up (05/19/96) was the USATF NE 8km championships at Agawam (MA).  I felt lousy in part due to the 85 degrees and humid conditions.  I hung around with the lead pack through 2 miles but couldn’t hang on as Bagley took the win in 24:12, I placed 4th in 24:23.  I doubled up on the next weekend picking up $300 for second place at the Saucony Peabody 4.5 mile on Friday night (22:31) and then setting a course record (24:31) at Wachusett mountain the following morning (05/25/96).

 

No comments: