Thursday, February 15, 2024

15 years ago – February 2009

I had a decent month running 305 miles with zero days off and SIX races!  I started the month running the Lynn Stew Chase which is one of my favorites (it is the third oldest 15km race in the country).  I had a good 8 mile race but completely ran out of gas the last 1.3 miles.  I was happy to run right around 6 minute mile pace for 22nd place in 56:34.  The following weekend I tried a snowshoe double (Sidehiller & Hallockville).  I basically ran alone at Sidehiller (2 minutes behind Kevin Tilton and Jim Johnson and 3 minutes ahead of fourth place).  No complaints about my third place finish over 4.1 miles in 33:53.  The next day I headed out to Hawley and had a tight race with teammates Tim Mahoney and Ben Nephew.  Ben took a wrong turn and went a little long, then we all went a little long but recovered.  Ben took 1st in 43:05 and I was 7 seconds back with Tim close behind.  A week later I was back on the roads in my home town (Bradford) for the Valentines 5mNate Jenkins won in a solid time of 25:22, my long-time training partner Dan Verrington was top master in 27:32.  I rolled in well over a minute behind Dan placing 9th overall and 2nd in the 40+ with a 28:49.  The next weekend I headed back out to Western MA for the USATF NE 10 mile road championships.  I was hoping to break 60 minutes and met my goal (just barely) running a 59:56 taking 16th in the masters and 77th place overall.  I closed out the month with a rare victory.  I took it out hard at the Hawley Kiln 4.6 mile snowshoe race and managed to get to the single-track with a lead.  The snow was very tough on the single-track with a lot of post-holing.  I pulled away during that section and managed to hold on for a 1:24 win in 38:32



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