double d mountain runner: Looking back

20 years ago – May 2004: I covered 286 miles with five days off during this month. I missed the days due to a torn calf muscle post-Wachusett Mountain that cost me 6 weeks in the boot. The month started off okay with a fourth place finish at Prospect Mountain (Morse won in 34:53) running 38:03. A week later I ran the “Fit 4 kids” 5k in Exeter where I took 11th place with a 16:53. A week later I finished 9th in 27:33 at the Wachusett Mountain race and that was pretty much the end of my year with the calf issue.

15 years ago – May 2009: I got in a decent mileage month (361) with no days off and five races. I started the month with a win at the 3 mile “Bear run” trail race in Carlisle. I was alone from the start but ran scared and won by 29 seconds over the three mile course in 17:09. A week later I was back at the Bedford Rotary 12k which again was the host of the USATF New England championship. I had a good back-forth fight with longtime rival (CSU) Terry McNatt. He beat me but I had a decent race setting a masters PR running 41:45. The following weekend I tried a double race, running the Wachusett Mountain race on Saturday. It was a new course with some tricky footing on the downhill part (it also didn’t go to the summit). I finished in 9th place and was 3rd master. The next day I ran the Trav’s trail race, which was one of my favorite races. I took 9th place (2nd master) in 16:43. The final race of the month had me back at Pack Monadnock, a race I truly dislike but have done more than a dozen times. I went out a bit too fast (30:32 at the half) and that may have hurt my climb. I took 9th place in 1:07:36 and was top master.

2009 High Point adventures: Eric Morse came up with the idea of visiting (bagging) a few states he had yet to run in. I’m always up for an adventure so I signed on immediately and as soon as Al Bernier heard about it he was in as well. Eric laid out the basics of what he wanted to see, and I did a bunch of research to figure out how to maximize our time and not only get the four states (ND, SD, MT, & WY) but also get some other interesting locations. There were so many things to do and we tried to cram it all into a little more than four days.