Looking back - November 2007

I raced three times in November of 2007 and felt like I was getting into decent shape.  I returned to Slattery’s for the first time in MANY years.  I ran a lot of the race with second place female runner Heidi Westerling and was able to gap her on the final tough hill.  I ended up finishing 16th, and 3rd 40+ with a new master’s personal best of 27:52.  A few days later it was back to Newburyport for the excellent Thanksgiving race.  I took 14th out of 958 over the 5k course under excellent conditions.  I was third in the 40+ age group running 17:29.  The next day I ran at the Chelmsford Alumni XC race.  I was the top Billerica finisher. The Chelmsford boys took it out very relaxed for the first 2 miles then took off.  I ended up finishing 4th in 18:56.

 On 11/11/07 I passed 100,000 miles.  During my first practice in December of 1978 Billerica track coach Mike Granfield handed out blank training logs.  He told us it was important to keep track of your mileage.  I took that to heart and logged every mile.  I’ve added a bunch of excel spreadsheets as well but still take out a new log book every year and fill it out every day.  When contacted by the local paper about the 100,000th mile Mike noted “I always tried to stress the importance of knowing where you’ve been, so you know where you are going.”  The 100,000th mile was a blast.  I started the day needed nine miles.  About a dozen guys joined me for an 8 mile run which ended back at home.  At that point at least 20 people joined in as we ran ½ mile down the road then back (sort of a victory lap).  I then had one of those moments you rarely get in life with about 100 people gathered.  I was able to thank many of the people who have helped me along the way.  Although a lot of the training is done alone you are never really alone.