20 Years ago this week.

So here i am, hanging out at the Mt Washington Road Race. It was the first time i had ever been to the top of the "rockpile". All the runners i talked to along the way were amazed that i had never run in this race.

It might be a big deal that i never had run up the mountain, but there are other races. Back when i was quick, i was kind of hooked on this race in Connecticut called the Norwich Rose Arts Race. It was 10.57 mile race, seems Ct. never was much into traditional race distances and it was run the day after Mt Washington. I ran it a few times, in 1989 i came in as the defending champ but was not the favourite for the race. Mike Cotton, a very good CT. runner was proclaimed the race favourite. I was pissed off at that. I destroyed the field the year before so give me the honor of at least being the best runner here. I already knew i was going to win this race, not to be cocky, but i was going after the race favourite. When you have to race against all the Irishmen who come to RI, it just toughens you up that much more.

So off goes the race and off go i. Toy around with this guy til we hit the hills and drop the hammer. As a runner, you have to know your strengths, mine were running uphill. We hit the Canterbury Turnpike and the race was over. Mike was a good runner but i was better that day. I was going for John Flora's course record, but the heat of the day was just too much. The race win was good anyway. Click on the newspaper article to read the race report.

I had always thought back then than Mt Washington would be a great race to run and i wish that i had done it. Would have been interesting to see how well i could have done then. Hopefully i find out next year just how it is to run up the mountain. I look forward to pushing myself to the summit, just not to the level i was once at. The competitive urge will always be there though, so here goes nothing, i will run as hard as i can up the hill next year, i hope!

Pictured in the shot is Glen Guillmette, Al Pettinichio, Eddie Tarczyk, Mark Mitsmenn, Kevin Maguire and Me. This was the first year of the Tuesday Night Turtles. Notice our race outfits, fluorescent green shorts, you could see us coming a mile away. Life was good.