Looking back - Sept 2006

 20 Years ago (Sept 2006) – I raced four times over this month, three of those races were within 24 hours.  I kicked off the month (09/04/06) at the Greylock mountain race.  I was having trouble with a sore toe (Morton’s neuroma) and was still recovering from the trail 50km champs a couple of weeks prior.  I basically ran the race alone finishing fourth, four minutes behind the winner and 1:30 ahead of fifth place.

1 Jon Korhonen M23          54:28

2 Andy McCarron M23        55:25

3 Kent Lemme M39  56:26

4 Dave Dunham M42         58:47

5 Donald Pacher M34         60:17

 

Next up (09/15 & 09/16) was the Reach the Beach relay a 200+ mile race from Bretton Woods to Hampton Beach with the “Loco Banditos” team.  I’d done this race once before running the anchor leg, this time I’d have a totally different experience by running the lead-off leg.  Each runner would do 3 legs as we rotate through twelve runners.  I got to kick things off at 2:30pm on Friday with a climb up and down over 900’ at Bretton Woods.  I completed the 3.1 mile leg in 18:55 then drove to the end of the next leg for a 2 mile warm-down.  We followed legs until our six guys (two vans each with 6 runners) were done.  After that it was off to my next leg which was in Madison.  I had a 3.8 mile leg that 150’ of climb and was held in dense fog in pitch black darkness.  I managed a 23:49 for the leg, did a quick 2m warm-down, then we headed off to Bear Brook state park for a couple of hours sleep.  I had an early morning long leg of 9.1 miles with about 400’ of climb/drop which I completed in 63:05.  It was a tough final leg for me.  After a 1 mile warm-down we followed all of our legs until our team finished.  We covered the 210 miles in 24:08 narrowly missing the magic 1 day mark (average pace 6:54 per mile).  We ended up taking 7^th overall and topped our age category.

Looking back - Sept 2001

 25 Years ago (Sept 2001) - I only raced twice in this month, I was trying to recover from my Ultra-running exploits. The first race was the Pisgah Mountain 50km trail race in Chesterfield NH. Ben Nephew gave me grief for all the gels and water I was carrying (he was shirtless and carried nothing), but I was worried about a DNF after the disaster at the World 100 km. I took no chances, basically running the race alone in third place. I caught Leigh Schmidt at 26 miles but never saw Ben. I took second place in 3:56:11. Two weeks later I went to the always surprisingly fast Eliot Maine 5k (certified) and finished in 10^th place with a 15:33 (4:55/9:58).  35 guys broke 17 minutes!

 

09-16-01 – Pisgah 50km trail

1        3:46:20         Ben Nephew M26    Course Record

2        3:56:12         Dave Dunham         M37   

3        4:01:27         Leigh Schmitt M29   

4        4:36:52         Bob Dion       M46   

6        4:45:04         Nikki Kimball F30    

7        4:45:04         Paul Young   M36   

 

09-30-01 Eliot Maine 5k

1        14:42  Rusty Snow             31      Randolph, MA

2        14:47  Michael Digennaro   23      Essex, MA

3        14:48  Eric Morse               36      Berlin, VT

4        15:04  Guy Stearns            42      New Castle, NH

5        15:12  Wilson Perez           23      Keene, NH

6        15:13  Michael Payson                  38      Falmouth, ME

7        15:21  Alan Bernier            27      Exeter, NH

8        15:30  Paul Johnson           24      Gorham, ME

9        15:31  Casey Carroll           30      Dover, NH

10      15:33  Dave Dunham                   37      Bradford, MA

22      16:14  Byrne Decker          34      Yarmouth, ME

 

Looking back - Sept 1996

30 years ago (Sept 1996)- I kicked off the month with a less than stellar run at the World Mountain running championships.  It was foggy and 50s on the muddy single-track in Telfes Austria and the course seemed to get steeper the higher you got.

1        56:21  Antonio Molinari                Italy

2        58:42  Severino Bernardini Italy

3        59:25  Helmut Schmuck               Austria

4        59:27  Peter Schatz            Austria

5        59:28  Aaron Strong           New Zealand

19      1:01:28         Dave Dunham        

41      1:03:58         Mike Casner 

45      1:04:14         Dan Verrington       

47      1:04:21         Eric Morse    

72      1:07:25         Peter Heck   

93      1:09:43         Lyndon Ellefson      

 

On 09/07/96 I took the win in 15:12 at the ULowell Alumni cross-country race over the Chelmsford High School course.  A week later I ran a 10.7 mile leg for the winning CMS team at the Lake Winni Relay.  I had a tough battle with Bob Winn (Ghosts of Pease) for 7 miles before pulling away to a 55:10 first place on my leg (5:09 pace for the moderately hilly leg).

 

65.9 Mi. Around Lake Winnipesaukee, NH (148 teams)

    1   CMS - X                                                5:39:14  5:09

    2   GHOST OF PEASE MENS OPEN               5:52:42  5:22

    3   LIBRA ATHLETIC ASSOC                        6:08:32  5:36

    4   GATE CITY STRIDERS MASTERS             6:17:42  5:44

    5   WILLIMANTIC AC                        6:18:50  5:45

 

On 09/19 I made a rare trip inside of Route 128 for a night race in Boston.  Lisa Doucett had convinced me to run this race which was in support of the Combined Federal Campaign.  It was windy and in the 70’s during the race (field of 180) and I won by a little over a minute.         

1        15:53  Dave Dunham         M35    Bradford        MA

2        17:18  Garth Shaneyfelt     M25    Brookline      MA

3        17:24  R Naser                   M35    Dedham        MA

4        17:47  Adelmo Couto         M35    Cambridge    MA

5        18:57  Joel Branosky          M25    Stoneham     MA

My final race of the month (09/29/96) was the USATF NE ½ marathon championships in Newport RI.  Craig Fram and I had been battling back and forth all year and were very close in points for the lead in the grand prix series.  I stayed behind the lead pack until just after 7 miles before moving toward the front.  I couldn’t shake Craig until ½ mile to go but got the win by 13 seconds.                                                                                  

1        1:06:48         Dave Dunham                   32      Bradford, MA CMS

2        1:07:01         Craig Fram              38      Plaistow, NH  CMS

3        1:07:22         David Marcus           26      Somerville, MA        BRC

4        1:08:38         Eric Morse               31      Barre, VT      CMS

5        1:08:47         Edward Sheehan               39      Somerville, MA          BAA

6        1:10:21         Wayne Jacob           41      Mystic, CT     CMS

7        1:10:45         James Garcia           38      Westford, MA CMS

8        1:10:54         Kyle Caydle             31      Newport, RI  BAA

9        1:10:58         David Raung            41      New London, CT      CMS

10      1:11:09         Gabriel Heimlinger   30      Boston, MA   GLRR

                                                                     

Week Ending 09/06/26

 Got my consult for rheumatology and will try a couple of things later this month to try and address the arthritis in my ankle and foot. Troubled all week with the foot/ankle and left knee (MCL). Definitely feeling the impact of racing last week. Plan to take it "easy" for a few days while I'm on vacation this coming week.

Week - 82

Month - 69

Year - 2,891

Life - 169,891

A few pics from the race last weekend...

Looking back - Sept 1991

 35 Years ago (Sept 1991)- I raced five times for a total of 41 miles in September of 1991. I started the month of with a Labor Day run (09/02) with a field of 1,811 at the New Haven 20k. I took 9th place in 1:01:48, winning $100 for my sub-5 minute pace effort. The race was won by Bob Kempanian in 60:17. Eric Morse took fourth 30 seconds (60:47) back.

1        1:00:17         4:52   Bob Kempainen       NH      $2,500

2        1:00:33         4:53   Chris Fox                 MD     $1,500

3        1:00:43         4:54   Driss dacha            MOR   $1,000

4        1:00:47         4:54   Eric Morse               VT      $750

5        1:00:58         4:55   Khalid Karyani         MOR   $500

6        1:01:02         4:55   Tom Wood               CO      $400

7        1:01:26         4:57   Budd Coates            PA      $300

8        1:01:43         4:59   Darrell General        MD     $200

9        1:01:48         4:59   Dave Dunham         NH      $100

10      1:01:56         5:00   Robert Quinn          CAN    $50

 

A few days later (09/06) I was off to Manchester NH for the Millyard 8km race.  The course was an unusual 3 loop effort, maybe to find flat ground? Larry Sayers was the winner in 24:07 and I took second in 24:26 in a field of 450.

 

1 Larry Sayers         24:07

2 Dave Dunham      24:26

3 Scott Clark 24:29

4 Mike O’Brien         24:32

5 Art Sorrell 24:38

6 Rob Edson 25:38

14 Petey       26:57

 

 

The next day I tried my hand at a short cross-country race. Pine Manor College hosted a 3 x 3km XC relay. I ran 9:07 for my leg. Bob Hodge and Mike Woodman also ran for the team, but we lost to BAA 28:02 to 28:07.  The following weekend Steve Peterson and I did a 30 mile long run during my 110 mile week.  We started “slowly” running a 7:54 opening mile and 72:02 for the first ten.  The tempo increased and our next 10 was 69:57 (2:21:59).  The final 10 took us 69:53 for a total of 3:31:52.

 

The next weekend (09/22) I was back on the roads at the New England 15km championships. I felt "crappy" and hung on to a big pack for the first 3 miles of hilly terrain (Webster MA). CMS's Rick Dorion won in 46:31 and I was 2nd in a disappointing 46:52.

1 Rick Dorion          46:31

2 Dave Dunham      46:52

3 Jon Corso   47:08

16 Art Demers         50:02

 

A week later (09/29) I closed out the month with a win at the Marshfield 20km road race. I may have been a bit tired from the Pogues concert the night before?  The race was part of the Hockomock Swamp Rat series. I ran 1:04:50 outkicking Craig Fram in the final stretch. 5km splits were pretty even over the "rolling" course= 16:12, 16:06, 16:15, 16:17.

1 Dave Dunham      M27    64:50

2 Craig Fram M30    64:56

3 Mike Woodman     M26    66:58

4 George Rose        M30    67:27

5 Tom Carroll M41    68:35

Looking back - 1981

 

45 Years ago (Sept 1981) - I kicked off my senior year of Cross-Country at Billerica high school with four consecutive wins and four course records in September of 1981. On the 15th we beat Lowell at home with a sweep of the top five spots (15-40). I was first in 15:17 over what I recall was an XC course in name only. I'd estimate that at least half of the course was paved. A week later (09/21) we suffered a tough loss to Chelmsford on our home course, losing by a scant point 27-28. I lowered my course record to 15:07 on this day and some familiar names from Chelmsford ran quite well that day (Scott Spence 16:03 & Keith O'Brien 16:28). Four days later (09/25) we took on Wilmington on their course where I set a record winning in 12:47, we beat them 18-37.  Three days after that (09/28) we raced at Austin Prep where I ran 12:00 for a new record on their 2.4 mile course. We won this meet as well, beating Austin 22 to 33. In all we finished with 5 wins and 1 loss in the MVC west division.

Loss 28-27 Chelmsford 09-21-81

1 15:07         Dave Dunham         Billerica

2 15:47         Mike Busnach          Billerica

3 16:03         Scott Spence           Chelmsford

4 16:26         Dave Kelts               Chelmsford

5 16:28         Keith O’Brien           Chelmsford

6 16:40         Bernie Brown           Billerica

7 16:53         Dave McCarthy        Chelmsford

8 16:58         Dave Willman          Chelmsford

9 17:12         Jim Sullivan             Billerica

10 17:31       Kevin Healy             Billerica

 

Billerica’s 7^th man was Freshman Gary Disarcina who went on to play professional baseball for the California Angles from 1989-2000.  His career stats: Batting average .258, Home runs 28, Runs batted in 355.

 

Cathy Norton cheers me on as I run on a rare “grass” section of the Billerica home XC course