Elite field announced for Boston

Thanks so much for this article. I ran indoor HS track at the Armory from 1958 to 1962.

After getting caught up reading the news articles while transferring them over to the new site, I started to get an idea of what a special place The Armory is. I look forward to my first trip there, whenever that will be. I'm glad you're there to record and report on all the events and happenings, Doug!

I ran in the armory from the early 1960s until the early 80s. I'll never forget the splintery floor, which if you fell on they would be picking splinters out of you for....Then there was the smell of hotdogs if you opened the East doors separating the track from the lobby (where the shoe store now is or at least it was there in 2008 the last time I was there. There was that long straightaway a level below the track where you could warm up (no girls track in those days) You could check your clothes bag for a quarter. Walking up the stairs from the entrance on the 168th Street side you could smell the rich odor of Atomic Balm or so other wintergreen analgesic. That would automatically begin to give meet the prerace jitters. For years after that whenever I smelled wintergreen I would immediately feel anxious.

But what I most remember is the competition. My first race was a novice 1000 in 1961. As a skinny high school frosh who had only been training for weeks I figured how hard could a "novice" race be? Well it was really tough. Winning a medal in a novice or varsity race would move you up to open races. It was extremely difficult to medal against the CHSAA, PSAL, and various suburban communities who came to race. It was a great experience. I was so pleased when it reopened as a track facility in 1994. The banked track brought many more teams. It was so fast that I told me kids that there was a gigantic turntable underneath that moved the track in the same direction as you were running to ensure fast times.