December 1995

 30 years ago (December 1995): December 3,1995 the Central Mass Striders team were the top Association team at the USA XC national championships which were held in Franklin Park. Scoring was split into “national” and “association” with national teams able to have athletes from all over the country (mostly shoe companies) and association teams where all athletes had to be from the same region.  I had a lousy start to the day spraining my ankle during the warm-up at Franklin Park.  The race itself went okay despite mud and frozen puddles over the 9.855 km course (6.12 miles).  I was our second scorer three seconds and five places behind Eric Morse.  We had some serious depth back then with our top four within 15 seconds and our top seven within 55 seconds.  I got a lousy start on the CMS squad but passed Scott Clark at ¾ mile, went by Bianchi & Prince at 1.5 miles and was actually the top CMS runner at 3 miles.  Bagley got me soon after and then Morse absolutely FLEW by.  I ran back and forth with Chris Magill and thought I had a shot at Morse but couldn’t quite get back to him.

1       28:49  Brad Schlapk         Brighton, MA             New York Athletic Club - National      

2       28:50  Ruben Reina         Fayetteville, AR          Foot Locker Athletic Club              
3       28:53  Terrance Mahon                                   Reebok Enclave - National              
4       28:56  Brian Baker           Fayeteville, AR          Team New Balance - National            
5       28:58  Bob Kempainen     Beaverton, OR           Nike 'A' - National                    

65         30:15    Eric Morse         Moretown, VT     Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc

70         30:18    Dave Dunham    Bradford, MA      Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc
77         30:25    Scott Bagley       Holden, MA        Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc
85         30:30    Mike Nahom       New Milford, CT  Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc
121       31:04    Nathaniel Halsey Wellesley, MA     Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc
163       31:32    Scott Clark         Gilmanton, NH    Central Mass Striders 'B' - Assoc
192       31:55    Gary Gardner      Keene, NH         Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc
216       32:20    Rod Viens          Claremont, NH    Central Mass Striders 'B' - Assoc
246       32:50    Dan Verrington   Bradford, MA      Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc
275       33:24    Tom Anderson    Keene, NH         Central Mass Striders 'B' - Assoc
373 finishers

USA XC championships (30 Assoc teams)
1    328   Central Mass Striders 'A' - Assoc      
2    335   Club Northwest - Assoc                 
3    348   Boston Running Club 'A' - Assoc        

My only other race during the month was the Rocket City marathon (12/09/95).  I was in a big pack through half-way in 1:10:15. It was a windy day (37 degrees and 25 mph winds) and when we turned into the wind at 15 miles the pack broke up and the field started to “snake” across the road as the leader would move to drop anyone drafting.  It was kind of funny as we ran from one side of the road to another.  By 17 miles I fell off the back as Dan Verrington moved up.  I ended up running with Fernando Braz and went back and forth with him over the last four miles.  CMS ended up putting three in the top 10 (Dan, me, Byrne Decker).

1 2:20:43 David Honea      Raleigh, NC

2 2:23:58 Bruce Raymer    Toronto, CAN

3 2:24:31 Dan Verrington  Bradford, MA           CMS

4 2:24:59 Selwyn Blake     Columbia, SC

5 2:25:24 Randy Damkot   Sheboygan, WI

6 2:25:27 Chris Chattin      Columbia, SC

7 2:25:37 Fernando Braz    Peabody, MA

8 2:25:39 Mike Harrison     Virginia Beach, MD

9 2:25:41 Dave Dunham    Bradford, MA CMS

10 2:26:07 Byrne Decker   Londonderry, NH     CMS

21 2:31:12 Scott Clark       Gilmanton, NH         CMS

31 2:36:55 Reno Stirrat     Spartenburg, SC

27 2:34:12 Vin Connelly                         CMS

   Top 5 30-39 Dan Verrington (1), Fernando Braz (4), and me (5

December 1990

 35 years ago (December 1990):  I raced three times over this month while running weeks of 104, 97, 90, 95, and 92.  On December 2,1990 I put together a team for the Mill Cities Relay.  We were all members of the Winners Circle Running Club (in order to get into the race, you had to be members of an invited club so we joined WCRC, the bonus was that WCRC offers lifetime memberships).  We all wore Mike Beeman Total Sports singlets which definitely caused a stir.  We ended up taking third in 2:32:15, behind GLRR 2:29:45 and WCRC 2:29:55.  I ran the long leg (9.6 miles) and ran the fastest time of the day with a 48:23. GLRR’s Rachid Tbhai ran 49-flat and WCRC’s Buddy Bostick ran 49:30.                                                                      

My splits were 454/505/505/507/501/505/500/504/502.  Definitely one of my favorite teams to be on with Big Mike Beeman, Bob Bradford, Steve “Petey” Peterson, and Artie Demers.

Course map/splits:  Mike B 5.6m 31:20, Bob B 6.6m 37:30, Petey 1.5m 7:42, DD 9.6m 48:23, and Artie 5.2m 27:20.

Next up on 12/08/90 was the Whitinsville relay where I teamed up with Petey and Spinney.  We won going away with Petey running 21:02 for 3.79 miles, Spinney ran 24+ for 4.6 and I struggled on the hilly 5.16 mile leg running 27:27 (for fastest time of the day on that leg). I finished out the month on 12/16/90 with a very short 4 mile race (3.8?) in Lowell MA.  The Christmas run had some cash and my former U-Lowell roommate Dennis Simoniatis showed up (he had won the year before).  He took the win in 18:25 and I got 2^nd place in 18:45. Art Demers took 3^rd in 19:10 followed by Jim Quadros and Petey in fifth (in a Santa outfit).  Peg Donovan was first female in 7^th place overall.

December 1980

 45 years ago (December 1980):  I kicked off my Junior year of indoor track at Billerica Memorial High School at the Falmouth Invitational (Falmouth MA) on 12/13/80.  Oddly they decided that the 2-mile would be run outside (I think to save time and because the weather was good).  I finished 2^nd running a 9:57. Next up (12/22/80) was a dual meet against Haverhill at the Methuen fieldhouse.  I ran what I called an “easy run” of 10:03 with splits of 5:03 & 5:00 to win the 2 mile event.  On 12/27/80 I again ran “as easy as possible to win” taking the 2-mile (10:07) at the 5^th annual Methuen Invitational Christmas track meet and then anchored the mile relay running a disappointing 60-flat as our team ran 3:54 for 4^th place.  Wilmington’s Carl Borgeson was 2^nd in the 2m in 10:11.6 and teammate Mike Busnach took third in 10:12.  The final race of the month was a dual meet against our biggest rivals (Chelmsford) at the Andover fieldhouse.  I had a back and forth battle with Tom Chamberas in the mile with Tom taking the win in 4:40 as I took second in 4:41. From the Lowell Sun: “The individual highlight of the meet was the showdown between distance aces Tom Chamberas (Chelmsford) and Dave Dunham (Billerica) in the mile run.  The head-to-head battle lived up to expectations with Chamberas flashing across the line in 4:40.0 to nudge Dunham 4:41.4 by two steps”.

 

Mill Cities Relay

 I signed on for my 15th Mill Cities Relay when I heard our same team from last year would be taking on the 27 miles from Nashua to Lawrene.  The group (Kevin Christie, Mark Blaisdell, Dave Lapierre, me, and Fil Faria) seemed excited to get back to it after winning the age 60 division last year. I had asked to be placed on the first leg as my knee and ankles were probably not up to the task of the long leg. Unfortunately as we got closer to race day both Kevin and Mark were dealing with injuries. I moved to the 9.8 mile fourth leg which I'd done 8 times since 1987.

Time to adjust my goals! Based on my recent racing (and training) I was looking at running about 5 minutes slower than I'd run last year.  I'm about 30 seconds a mile slower than I was last December (ouch).  I thought if I had a very good day I might be able to keep it closer to 15 seconds which would have me just slipping under 7 minute pace.  Goal set.

D-la and I met up a bit before 8am at the start of my leg and I drove him over to the start of his leg. We bumped into many familiar faces (Dan V, Emer, Tom H, many GLRR teammates).  I even bumped into Shawsheen Tech coach who was volunteering, we got to talking and he told me he had golfed with my dad randomly.  Small world. D-la and I did a 3m warm-up then with a few minutes to go before Dave's predicted start time I hit the road.

I quickly switched into race gear and did another mile to loosen up. I got to the line right at the predicted start time and then the waiting game began.  Unfortunately, Kevin pulled during his leg. He managed to finish but that put us more than 15 minutes behind schedule.  I did not know this at the time and had to be on the line and ready.  That meant about 20 minutes getting very cold standing on the line.

Finally D-la came into sight and he slapped the baton onto my wrist and I was off. I felt fairly comfortable starting but shocked at the 1/2 mile split on my watch (3:39), a lot slower than I'd hoped. I picked it up (or so I thought) and my 2nd 1/2 mile was also 3:39. I hoped I'd be faster than that but felt I was at the pace I could maintain.  The next mile was covered in 7:02, much closer to what I'd hoped. The next mile was sub-7 and that included one of the only hills in the race (up to University Ave). I'd been counting runners as I caught them to give me something to shoot for and on the way down the hill I was passed by the 2nd person to get me.  I tried to latch on but failed. The very messy snowy icy transition from the road to the Riverwalk was tricky.  I went very slowly and the guy who'd passed me went even slower.  I nearly got back to him.

The Riverwalk section was nice and just after 4 we exited it with a steep little hill, the last bump on this leg. The only aid station was right after that and I was surprised when the guy who'd passed me stopped for water.  I grabbed one on the fly and went by him.  He went back by me about 1/2 mile later (I didn't count that as a runner passing me since he'd already done so). I had another runner go by me between 5 and 6 but no more. I ended up passing 24 runners along the way (D-la passed 25 on his leg!). I kept it together over the final miles and checked my total time at 8 miles and saw I was very close to sub-7's. I closed okay and didn't have any issues (last year I had a hip muscle strain in the final mile).

I passed off to Fil and then carried on for another 1/4 mile to get a full ten miles. I was happy to see that I got in under 7s with a 1:09:56 for 10 miles.  Another MCR in the books!  Always a stressful race, especially as I get older and have to worry about getting hurt trying to compete.  I may limit my racing even more in 2026 as I don't want to miss out on training.  Training itself is fun!

D-la drove me back to my car and I headed north for a chilly (but fun) 1.5 hour bike ride for a "warm" down. A very fun day indeed!

Week Ending 12-07-25

 Some dicey footing this week with black ice and then snow.  Also some very chilly runs (8 degrees on Friday).  I made it through without falling and made it through the Mill Cities Relay long leg without having any parts fall off.  I'll call that a success.

Week - 85

Month - 85

Year - 3,924

Life - 166,700

Mill Cities - my history

This weekend I hope to make it through my 15^th Mill Cities Relay.  It is always a fun event, put on by local clubs for local clubs.  This will be my second year on the GLRR 60+ squad.

#	Date	Leg	Dist	Time	Pace	#of teams	Team	Notes
1	12/6/1987	4	9.6	0:48:05	5:01	30	GLRR	Very cold day, took it out in 14:40 for first 3m
2	12/4/1988	2	6.6	0:33:30	5:05	73	GLRR?	I think I was on the GLRR “B” team - 2:28:03 for 2nd behind GLRR A in 2:25:27
3	12/2/1990	4	9.6	0:48:23	5:02	77	WCRC	Mike Beeman’s Total Sports All-Star team, Mike B, Bob B, Petey, me, Artie - 3rd pl 2:32:14
4	12/6/1992	5	4.6	0:22:09	4:49	50	WCRC	Mike Beeman's Total Sports All-Star Team, Teammates included Scott Spence, Steve Peterson, Artie Demers, and the great Mike Beeman
5	12/4/1994	3	2.3	0:11:29	5:00	120	Dave’s	Dave Camire’s All-Star team (everyone named "Dave" = LaBrode, Camire, Tyler, Lapierre)
6	12/8/2002	4	9.3	0:54:10	5:49	122	Rogue Runners
7	12/5/2004	4	9.4	0:54:35	5:48	119	WCRC 40+	First time on a Masters team
8	12/3/2006	4	9.4	0:55:19	5:53	142	WCRC Mixed 40+
9	12/8/2013	2	4.75	0:28:58	6:06	199	GCS	48th place, 3:01:12, 12th Male Masters team
10	12/7/2014	4	9.5	0:55:40	5:52	210	GCS 50+	First time on a Senior team, 2nd to WRT 2:36 to 2:41
11	12/6/2015	5	4.75	0:27:31	5:48	229	GCS 50+	Winning Senior team! 19th overall 2:44:53
12	12/3/2017	4	9.6	0:57:29	5:59	217	WCRC Mixed 50+	We took 64th place overall in the relay and 6th in the mixed 50+ scoring, out of 16 teams.
13	12/4/2022	1	5.62	0:33:53	6:02	175	WCRC	Maybe my best run of the year!
14	12/8/2024	4	9.8	1:05:42	6:42	218	GLRR 60+	1st 60+ team by 10 minutes