Looking back - Januray 2004

 

Looking back - January 2004 (20 years ago)

I was coming back from a hamstring injury during this month and managed 304 miles (just under 10 miles per day) while racing four times.  I started off the year with a small trail race at the Merrimack River.  It was supposed to be a snowshoe race but we didn’t have snow.  The trail was in good enough shape for non-snowshoe running so 20 of us did so.  I ran tentatively, deciding just before the start to run, and placed 7^th.  Teammate Richard Bolt took the victory. Two weeks later I headed out to Adams for the Greylock Glen snowshoe race.  I got buried, finishing 7^th in 27:29 for the 5k loop.  A week later I headed up to Essex Junction Vermont for the USSSA qualifier.  It was brutally cold and the course was a dead flat loop with a lot of ice.  I ran 44:43 for the 5.8 mile course and placed 8^th out of 38 finishers…but I did qualify for nationals.  The next day I went out to Pittsfield and was running in 5^th place with about a mile to go when I went off course.  I got back but not before I lost a dozen places.  I made up some of those, rolling into the finish in 13^th place.