Looking back 2006

 20 years ago: I mixed it up on the trails and mountain during May 2006. I was competing in a trail series along with the start of the mountain series, so there was plenty of fun stuff.  I started the month (05/07/06) with a return to 7-Sisters. A very tough trail race that I had last attempted in 1991. My goal was to not get hurt, which is not an easy goal to meet on this super-technical 12 miles traversing the Holyoke range (and then coming back). I managed to make it through pretty much undamaged taking 17^th place in 2:07:01. 

1 Paul Low              M32    1:42:06

2 Leigh Schmitt       M33    1:48:15

3 Dmitry Drozdov    M34    1:50:19

4 Ben Nephew                   M30    1:52:03

5 Matthew Estes      M32    1:52:08

7 Paul Young           M40    1:58:06

16 Dan Verrington   M43    2:06:57

17 Dave Dunham     M42    2:07:00

25 Kelli Lusk (1^st F)  F36     2:15:41

 

The next week (05/13/06) I headed to the uphill road race in Lake George NY.  This 5.67 mile road course climbed Prospect mountain. I lost 30 seconds to the leader on the first flat mile and stayed 30 seconds back the entire way to take 2^nd place in 39:09. 

1 Matt Mallet           M30    38:38

2 Dave Dunham      M42    39:09

3 Pat Hamel            M32    39:38

 

A week later Dan Verrington and I headed to Saratoga NY for the Mudslinger 5 mile trail race.  I was in 2^nd from 1.5 miles on with Dan about 5 seconds ahead.  I missed a turn in the last mile and lost over a minute and barely outsprinted some guy for 2^nd place in 30:47. The final weekend (05/27 & 05/28/06) had me doubling up with Wachusett mountain on Saturday.  I took fourth place in 28:01 but really should have been 8^th place as four of the top guys somehow managed to go off the very well marked course. The next day I finished in 10^th place (2^nd master) at the Trav’s trail run in 16:50 over the 3 miles of cross-country racing.

Looking back - 2001

 25 years ago: May of 2001 saw me on the mountains roads and cross-country as I prepared for the “big” race up Mt Washington.  I started the month (05/05/01) on a shortened version of the Mt Kearsarge hill climb.  The race was cut to 5m due to unsafe road conditions on the mountain.  Basically, it became a tough 5 mile run. The following week (05/12/01) I directed a race at Windblown Ski area in New Ipswich NH.  The race was a qualifier for the US Mountain running team and I devised a course that I could do well on (steep climbs and long gentle donwhills). Eric Morse was out in front alone after one loop but somehow got lost on the second loop. Dan Verrington and I tied, thinking we had the second and third spots and were surprised to find that we tied for the win.

1 Dan Verrington     41:08

2 Dave Dunham      41:08

3 Mike Casner         42:21

1F Nikki Kimball       47:51

2F Suzie West          50:27 

The following week (05/19/01) we shifted gears again, this time running the USATF NE 12km championships in Bedford NH. David Hinga stopped at two different times during the race but was still somehow able to win.  I finished in third place (37:44). During the final weekend of the month, I ran two races.  The first (05/26/01) was a second place finish at Wachusett Mountain. Morse beat me by over 30 seconds.  The next day I ran a fast 15:18 at the Trav’s trail race.  It was only fast enough for second place as I lost the lead and the win in the last ½ mile uphill.

Looking back - 1996

 30 Years ago: I had a busy month with a couple of road races and some mountain racing.  I started the month (05/05/96) in Worcester at the CMHC 10 mile.  It was a bit warm (65) and windy (10-20 mph) for the field of about 500.  Scott Bagley took it out hard in the first mile and was uncatchable, winning in 50:29. I took second ($1,500) in 50:39 with Eric Morse third in 50:49. 

Bagley, Gardner, Me, Morse, Casner (with Fram tucked in to my left)

 

The next week I was off to the very first USATF NE mountain series race (05/11/96) at Kearsarge Mountain (Warner, NH).  Dan Verrington and I ran together through the tough first 5 miles in drizzle and fog and then I broke away on the mountain proper to take the win and set the course record in 51:23. Dan took second in 52:26. Next up (05/19/96) was the USATF NE 8km championships at Agawam (MA).  I felt lousy in part due to the 85 degrees and humid conditions.  I hung around with the lead pack through 2 miles but couldn’t hang on as Bagley took the win in 24:12, I placed 4^th in 24:23. CMS took the top 6 places and put 7 in the top 9. I doubled up on the next weekend picking up $300 for second place at the Saucony Peabody 4.5 mile on Friday night (22:31) and then setting a course record (24:31) at Wachusett mountain the following morning (05/25/96) teammates Mike Casner (25:35) and Richard Bolt (25:40) filled out the podium and Bob Hodge was top master in 5^th place (27:32).

 

Riverside 8km – USATF NE Championships 05/19/96

1 Scott Bagley                   24:12

2 Mike Nahom                   24:18

3 Craig Fram           24:23

4 Dave Dunham      24:31

5 Sandu Rebenciuc  24:39

6 Eric Morse            24:45

7 George Yiannelis  24:54 (BRC)

8 Dan Verrington     24:57

9 Ed Sheehan                    25:24 (BAA)

Looking back - May 1991

 35 years ago: I made the most of racing in May of 1991 with only four races, but I covered 45 miles and got two wins in those races.  My first race of the month (05/05/91) was the NEAC (now USATF NE) 10 mile championship in Worcester.  Scott Bagley seemed to have the race in hand at 8 miles, at just after 9 Dennis Simoniatis and I went by and took Dennis in a sprint with both of us timed at 49:36 (one of those rare days when everything comes together.  

A week later (05/12/91) on a hot and humid day I won the Lawrence Eagle Tribune 10 mile in 54:28. Teammate Dave LaPierre was second in 57+. The next weekend (05/19/91) I hit the trails taking on the Soapstone Mountain.  I took the lead at the start and promptly led the top 25 people off course at the top of the mountain. We had to plow through the rest of the field on the descent, and I finally got back into the lead after a few miles. I ended up losing the race by a couple of ticks over Brit Andy Moffat.  

1 Andy Moffatt 1:28:32 2 Dave Dunham 1:28:34 5 Stephen Peterson 1:32:52 20 Scott Spence 1:42:05

 

I finished off the month (05/26/91) with a trip out to the US 20km championships in Wheeling WV.  It was a brutal day with temps in the 80’s and 90% humidity.  Times were slow (winning time was 1:03:07).  I ended up finishing 3^rd U.S. with a 1:05:31 (8^th place overall) this is my best finish in a road U.S. championship.

Looking back - April 1981

 45 years ago: I was busy back in May of 1981, racing seven times over the course of the month.  I kicked off the month (05/03/81) with a rare road race.  I’m not sure why I chose to do this, especially with it being the day before a dual meet against Methuen. I ran 24:38 to take second place at the Dunster Street race in Cambridge (won by BAA’s Brian Pickell in 24:04). The next day I won the 2 mile in the dual meet (10:04) and ran the 4x400 relay (55.6). The next weekend (05/09/81) I traveled to White Plains NY for the Loucks Games where I took third in the 3200m (metric 2m) in 9:24.8. The pace was very unusual for me with a big negative split (2^nd mile faster than the first) running 4:48 and finishing in 4:36.  A week later (05/16/81) I was victorious at the Northern Area Championships running 9:26.9, with nearly opposite splits of the week before (4:38/4:48).  I got sick in the closing weeks of the month and ran a disappointing 9:45 at the Sate Class meet (fourth place) and a 4:31 (2^nd place) at the MVC league meet to close out my High School junior year of track.

Week of 05/03/26

 Decent week with a workout and some quick days. Two weeks until the next race.

Week 90

Month 36

Year 1,468

Life 168,468

April

 Closed the book on another month with 381 miles over 30 days. I got back to racing, workouts, orienteering, and had the most triples (three runs per day) and fastest average pace per mile (workouts and races help with that!). Biking got a lot more enjoyable this month as less layers were required. I’m looking forward to more biking and less layering in May.

 

	Zero	Single	Double	Triple	>3	Total days	Total runs	Dist	Avg per Day	Avg per run	Total time	Pace	ISS
January	0	4	9	18	0	31	76	395	12.74	5.20	57:38:12	0:08:45	9
February	0	8	13	7	0	28	55	250	8.93	4.55	36:35:08	0:08:47	0
March	0	3	9	15	4	31	82	406	13.10	4.95	58:50:20	0:08:42	5
April	0	4	4	22	0	30	78	381	12.70	4.88	54:14:23	0:08:33	4
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Totals	0	19	35	62	4	120	291	1,432	11.93	4.92	207:18:03	0:08:41	18
Percent	0.0%	15.8%	29.2%	51.7%	3.3%
	Avg runs per day		2.43		Avg Wk	83.5
					Projected Year		4,355.67