Looking back - 15 years ago

 15 Years ago: July of 2007 was a good month of running and racing with 370 miles with no days off and five races.  I started the month at the 2nd annual Loon Mountain race in Lincoln NH.  Teammate Paul Low “jogged” the course for a win in 47:50.  I finished two minutes later but more importantly 11 seconds up on Dan Verrington.  Dan and I were back and forth during the race, I didn’t beat him for good until the final downhill to the gondola.  A week later I did a very rare “double” weekend and much rarer was getting a win.  It was an unusually busy weekend as I drove to Windsor Vermont for the Ascutney Mountain race.  I topped the field of 133 finishers running my fastest time as a master (age 40+) with a 31:32.  I ran with teammate Tim Mahoney through the mile then gapped him and held on for the win.  Literally right after the race I drove to Logan Airport (Boston) and flew to San Francisco.  I didn’t get to sleep until 10pm West Coast time (1am for me).  I was up early for the Mt Tam Trophy race which was a selection race for the USA Mountain running team.  I knew I didn’t have a chance to make the team but I was looking forward to running over parts of the Dipsea course which I hadn’t raced at in a number of years.  I ran well on the climbs but got buried on the descents.  In the end I mustered a 9th place finish but I was 7 minutes behind the winner (and the top master).  I spent 30 minutes post-race cleaning up and then zipped to the airport to head back to Boston.  In all I spent more time on the planes than I did in California.  The following weekend (07/21) I ran the Bill Luiti 5 mile in Concord NH.  This was the final race in the Capitol Area Race Series (CARS) and Dan Verrington and I were in 1st and 2nd place respectively.  I had an “okay” day taking 16th in 28:13 and Dan took 2nd in the 40+ in 27:13 (Craig Fram ran a very quick 26:27).  I closed out the month at the Loco Almost Free trail race in Nashua.  A field of a little over 100 runners took on the uninspired out/back 2.6 mile course on the main dirt road at Beaver Brook (the BB association would not allow us to use the many other trails in the area).  It took me nearly a mile to get into the lead on the mostly downhill first half of the course.  After the turn I was able to move ahead by 40 seconds for the win in 14:38.