Looking Back - November 2020

I spent some vacation time spent bagging towns in Vermont and a few races along the way.  I really wanted to do some longer racing but there have been few chooses out there.  I was reluctant to enter the Manchester half marathon as the entry fee ($102!) was a bit out there.  I submitted a projected time of 1:24 which I felt might be a bit aggressive considering the hilly nature of the course.  With two runners starting every 10 seconds I figured I'd have people to work with.  I ended up seeded 30th in the half-marathon and 22 marathoners also were seeded ahead of me.  The biggest drawback to the time trial start is that you can't race head-to-head so you can be beaten by someone you never see (I lost by 1 second to someone who started WAY behind me).

I saw my prime competition Jeff Walker who I'd beaten by a scant couple of seconds at the 10 mile.  He'd be starting a minute plus behind me so hopefully I wouldn't be seeing him. My goal was to get through the first 5 mile section on the West side of the Merrimack River in control. This course has a LOT of tough long uphills with absolutely brutal SHORT downhills.  I kept thinking "get to the 5m mark and see how you feel".  The tough little hill heading up to downtown got me to 5 miles right at 32 minutes which had me right on goal pace.

At 3 miles           At 9 miles

Six to 8 miles had some tough ups and another steep downhill leading into Livingston park.  I probably pushed it a bit too hard and was really feeling it on this section.  I hit 10 miles in a step over 64 minutes so I was still on pace  I got past Derryfield and was relieved by the downhill on Mammoth road.  I had nothing left so I didn’t have much of a kick.  I was happy to see that I was .4 under my projected time with an official time of 1:23:59.6.  I waited at the end of the chute to see Jeff Walker come in.  He got me by 10 seconds! 

 

Results M50+

1 1:23:49.4   Jeff Walker   M56    Westerly RI

2 1:23:59.6   Dave Dunham         M56    Bradford MA

3 1:29:20.8   Sean Snow    M54    Dunbarton NH

4 1:30:00.8   John Stanzel M59    Manchester NH

5 1:32:59.1   Mark Hecox   M56    Salem NH

After the race I visited “the folks” and dad surprised me with five pair of gloves!  What a funny coincidence!

Next up was the Run to the fall 5k cross-country race at Coe Brown academy in Northwood NH. The race was postponed due to an outbreak in Northwood.  Scott Clark sent out an email asking the "gang" who was up for meeting for a run.  I suggested that we meet up and race the course with whoever from our little group might be interested.  I met up with Scott at 6:30am at Tim's house and was happy to see Senior runners Jay Smith and Mike Barry turn up as well.  We did an easy mile jog over to the course start and dumped our race flats before continuing on for a 2 mile course preview that covered the basics of the multi-loop course.  The footing was very good, but WOW the course was tough with 250' of climb/descent.  We gathered up at 7am with temps in the mid-20s as the sun was just starting to get above the horizon.  It felt pretty fast as we zipped across the field and headed into the woods.  Tim went to the front and Scott and I hung on.  Tim was moving well and although in sight for the most part, I knew he had the win.  It was good to have him out front as the carrot and that helped me gap Scott.  I managed to keep it together and hit the 3 mile mark as Tim was crossing the finish line.  I managed to hold on with a 19:29. Scott came in about 30 seconds later and I got some finish pictures of the guys before we headed off for another 2 miles for a warm-down.

The following week (11/21/20) I headed back to Manchester for the “Jingle Bell 5k”.  There have been very few chances to race this year, so I've tried to take advantage of any opportunities.  This was another event managed by Millennium racing and would feature the time trial start format.  I've been seeding myself at the fast end of what I thought I could do figuring it someone caught me that'd be incentive to try to go with them.

I arrived a little early to give myself plenty of time, got my number and headed out to run the course again.  I switched into racing gear and did another easy mile before heading to the start line.  I was seeded 5th so there was only a 40 second wait after the start and I was off.  From the half to the mile I reeled in the 4th seed and passed him as I hit the mile in 5:48 which was about where I'd hoped to be.  I hit 2 miles in 11:32, but had trouble reading my watch and thought it was 11:42.  I was hurting but tried to work the slight downhill.  I was disappointed when I looked at my watch and saw "18:14".  It wasn't until after I'd done the course again for a warm-down and looked at the results to find that my watch actually read "18:04"!  I was shocked to see my official time was 18:02.5.  Damn!  I'd just missed breaking 18.  This was my fastest (non-downhill) time at 5k since September of 2018.

Jingle Bell Run 5k

1 17:03.4 Sean McCauley   M28    Canterbury, NH

2 17:19.6 Kevin Crowley    M35    Concord, NH

3 17:21.5 Mark Evans        M45    Bedford, MA

4 18:02.5 Dave Dunham    M56    Bradford, MA

5 18:26.5 Heather Stover   F33     Rochester, NH

6 18:48.7 Mark Laprade     M48    Bedford, NH

 

Next up was one of my favorites, the Chelmsford (and friends) Alumni Cross-Country race.  This was my 10^th time running over the last 15 years which ranks this 13^th on my list of “most times raced”.   Keith O’Brien has a lot of fun putting this race on and I’ve enjoyed meeting up with friends/rivals over the years.  I headed over a little early in order to run the course as a warm-up.  Scott Grandfield (who I’d invited) joined me as we checked out the figure 8 course.  O’b lined us up for the socially distanced pre-race photo and we were off.  Scott shot out to the lead and I tried my best to hang close.  My goal was to run around 6-flat pace.  Tony Ly (Lowell Tech & GLRR) was right behind me as we looped the soccer fields.  A few times I had to call out “left” or “right” to Scott as he was indeed having trouble staying on course.   Tony went by me around the mile (5:53) which is always the quickest mile with it being flat or down.  I reached 2 miles in 12:14 but was feeling ragged. I kept it together for the final loop around the school and reached 3 miles in 18:20 and with a kick of everything I had I hit the line in 19:30 for 6:06 pace over the 3.2 mile course.  I was pleased with the effort if not quite the time I wanted.  Scott had a solid run finishing over 30 seconds ahead with Tony half-way between us.  In all 19 finished the race which is pretty typical numbers for this race.  The awards ceremony is always interesting as O’B gives away a lot of unusual items.  I picked up 4 rolls of toilet paper.  Others got cookies, chips, soap, discount steaks, and a box of paper-clips. 

 

Here are a couple pictures from my random travels in Vermont this month

    

 

Looking back - November 2015

10 years ago (November 2015): I only raced twice this month as I began my comeback after prostate surgery.  I signed up for my ninth Winner’s Circle “Wild Turkey Trot”.  This was the third time I’d done the race at Pipestave (instead of Maudslay).  A little over 300 runners lined up on the baseball field for the “Braveheart” style start.  It is always a little crazy at the start with a 200 meter on the field before a sharp 90 degree turn. I lined up on the far left and took the first turn wide, staying out of trouble. By ¼ mile I found myself in 10th place and by ½ mile I’d moved up to 6th place.  Alliette moved into the lead and powered away from the field to win by 20 seconds.  I got really tired and struggled on all of the uphill sections (and there are a lot). I can’t complain with an 18:35 over this tough course, and I took first in the 50-59 age group.  Mom ended up winning the 70+ age group for the second year in a row.

1 1/3 TOP3-M Kevin Alliette           Methuen MA        34 M 17:22.3 5:36
2 2/3 TOP3-M Alex Demeule          Merrimac MA       18 M 17:43.7 5:43
3 3/3 TOP3-M Quinn Parker           Hampton NH       22 M 17:47.6 5:44
4 1/24 M1829 Andy Scott               Merrimac MA       24 M 17:57.8 5:47
5 2/24 M1829 James Macvarish       Braintree MA       20 M 18:09.7 5:51
6 1/36 M5059 Dave Dunham          Bradford MA        51 M 18:35.1 5:59
7 1/16 M1317 Kevin Bonanno         Topsfield MA       17 M 19:07.7 6:10
8 3/24 M1829 Bryce Parker            Hampton NH       20 M 19:16.6 6:13
9 2/16 M1317 Ryan Ducrow           Amesbury MA      16 M 19:26.1 6:16
10 1/23 M3039 Keith Leblanc         Amesbury MA      37 M 19:28.9 6:17
 

Next up was the Chelmsford Alumni XC race. Although I went to Billerica which is the fiercest of rivals for Chelmsford, I had the great fortune of befriending a number of Chelmsford runners. Keith O’Brien (CHS class of 1982) hosts this great little race on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Typically he gets 10-30 runners from the Merrimack Valley to come out and have a friendly race.  The traditional XC course features multiple loops around the ball fields, soccer fields, and the school itself. It comes out to exactly 3.25 on my Garmin. The race typically goes out at a reasonably easy clip then the tempo increase each mile until someone decides to race for the finish. I moved to the front and upped the pace to see who was up for it and O’B and Jason Bui went with me. By 1.5 I had dropped 5 seconds back I knew for sure I had no chance but I kept the effort “hard”.  I held on to take third place in 21:00.

1 Jason Bui                     20:24
2 Keith O'Brien                20:25                Chelmsford 1982
3 Dave Dunham            21:00               Billerica 1982
4 Bob Kearns                  22:00
5 Jim Burke                     22:13
6 Kyle O'Brien                 22:22                Chelmsford 1985
7 Mark Gallagher             22:31                Chelmsford 1982
8 Glen Turgiss                 23:12                Chelmsford
9 Richie Blake                 23:18                Tyngsborough 1990
10 Mark Blaisdell             23:28                Wilmington 1975
11 Scott Graham             23:55                Chelmsford 1976
12 Mark Suprenant           24:09
13 Steve Sartori               24:27                Lexington
14 Lee Panas                  24:44                Chelmsford 1980
15 Amy Molloy                 25:07
16 Kevin O'Brien              25:15
17 Melissa Joyce              26:06
18 Frank Georges            26:18                Lowell
19 Jill Lohmeier               26:25
20 Angie Anderson           27:10
21 Jim Rhoades               27:15
22 Jim Stronach              27:56                Tewksbury 1975

Looking back - November 2010

15 years ago (November 2010): I headed out to Oregon for the USATF trail marathon championships at the beginning of the month.  I spent a good part of the morning in the car trying to stay warm.  I went out much more aggressively than I normally would in a marathon.  After a couple of miles, I found myself alone churning out the climb as the miles slowly ticked by.  I must have been as high as 5^th or 6^th place when we hit the top because only a few guys passed me during the last 13 miles.  After the climb I tried to keep a steady pace as the trail was mostly flat for three or four miles before we started the long drop back down to Ashland.  I caught teammate Tim Van Orden just after 18 miles, he was struggling with an injured Achilles tendon and when I caught him, he was jogging backwards!  Tim gamely hung on and finished in a solid 3:08.  I was very happy with a 3:03:25. The bonus for me was winning a gold medal in the 45-49 and even better was taking 10th in the USATF overall. 

1 Max King M 30 2:41:24 M-Open
2 Mario Mendoza M 24 2:47:04 M-Open
3 John Tribbia M 28 2:47:55 M-Open
 
10 Dave Dunham M 46 3:03:25 M-45-49 CMS
13 Tim Van Orden M 42 3:08:03 M-40-44 CMS
14 Scott Dunlap M 41 3:09:00 M-40-44
 

Next up was a cross country race in Freeport Maine, the Whoopie Pie race.  The course was great, with lots of twists and turns.  I warmed up on the course and felt pretty decent doing some strides.  It was just above freezing and the wind was blowing when about 75 of us took off.  The local high school team took off; their knowledge of the home course and the narrow trail may have caused them to go out a bit too fast (or maybe just youthful exuberance).  I was in about tenth place when we hit the woods about 400m into the race.  Todd Coffin went by me about 800m into the race and I tried to keep him close.  I got as close as three or four seconds with less than 800 to go, then at 400 to go Todd glanced back and took off.  He was gone and increased his lead back up to ten seconds.  I was pleased with taking third in 17:38. 

1 Josh Zolla M 24 15:54 5:08
2Todd Coffin M 49 17:28 5:38
3 Dave Dunham M 46 17:38 5:41
4 Jorma Kurry M 39 18:03 5:49
5 Bennet Wade M 17 18:47 6:04
 

I followed this up with another cross country race (WRCR), this one at Maudslay State Park. I met up with Dave Quintal and we headed out and ran the course for a warm-up.  The start was crazy, but not as crazy as years past.  I worked my way around some of the kids who went out fast.  I moved up as high as 5^th place and was passed by just one guy (just after the mile).  I had a feeling that Dave wasn’t far behind and I know he has a lot more speed than me at the end of a race, so I kept pushing as hard as I could.  I was a little disappointed with the time (17:37) but happy with the effort.  Dave came in one place and 10 seconds behind me. 

    1 Patrick Ard    16:21  5:15
    2 Tom Leger     16:44  5:22
    3 Tim Murtagh  17:03  5:28
    4 Chris Kealey   17:10  5:31
    5 T Esponnette  17:19  5:33
    6 Dave Dunham  17:37  5:39  CMS 40+
    7 David Quintal 17:47  5:42  CMS 40+
 

Three days later I was headed onto the grass for another XC race.  This year was my fifth time running at the scenic grounds of the Andover Country club.  Temps were in the upper 30’s to low 40’s an hour before the start.  It was cool seeing a bunch of other teams warming up in big groups.  My plan was to try to stick with Jim Pawlicki for as long as possible.  400 lined up for the start and went off like crazy when the gun fired.  Jim pulled away a bit as we moved around the fast starters.  Dave Quintal went by at about ½ mile into the race and I went with him.  On the long back stretch around two-miles into the race I slightly gapped Dave and made a move on Jim. I caught Jim as we rounded the sand trap and green and headed onto the cart path.  On a longish downhill I tried to make a break but just couldn’t quite get away.  Jim caught back immediately and with a little over 800m to go Dave went by. Jim just edged Dave at the line and I rolled in 3 seconds later. 

1 Nate Jenkins    17:30    M30      5:01      SAC
2 Jim Johnson     18:21    M33      5:15      CMS
3 Bob Wiles        18:25    M33      5:16      CMS
4 Mike Quintal     18:30    M32      5:18      CMS
5 Joe Donnelly    19:04    M42      5:28      WRT
6 Ryan Kelly        19:21    M29      5:32      Acidotic
7 James Pawlicki 19:32    M36      5:36      CMS
8 David Quintal   19:33    M47      5:36      CMS
9 Dave Dunham  19:36    M46      5:37      CMS

Looking back - November 2000

25 years ago (November 2000): I was definitely trying to recover during this month after all the marathon’s and the ultra I had done over the previous couple of months.  My goal was to win the Hockomock Swamp Rat series and that meant I needed to be out there doing HSR races.  I kicked off the month (11/04/00) with the Weekend Before Hunting season 10.5 mile trail race in Sandown NH.  I was definitely still feeling the impact of the Cape Cod marathon from six days prior.  I have nothing in my training log about this just that I warmed up with Petey and Rob Smith.  I finished in third place running 1:10:11.  A week later I returned to Tewksbury for the 15k Turkey Trot.  I had the course record (46:37) but was not in that kind of form this year.  I went out with the lead pack (Dan Verrington, Chris Teague, and Eric Beauchesne).  Teague fell off at 3 miles, probably from the effort of winning the 5k (15:17) earlier that morning.  Dan took off at 4 miles and I went with Eric in pursuit.  I fell off after 7 miles taking 3^rd place in 49:29. Next up was the Feaster Five in Andover MA on Thanksgiving Day.   It was cold (23 degrees) and very windy.  I had a slow start out in 6^th place and slowly moved up to 3^rd place by 2 miles.  I closed on Dan Verrington but couldn’t quite catch him (25:12 to 25:14).  Three days later I ran a very icy 5 mile at the Monty Mountain in Leominster.  I didn’t get into an accident but did spin out the car on the way to the race.  I went out with Ramos for the first ½ of the trace but couldn’t stick with him taking 2^nd place in 27:02.                 

Looking back - November 1995

30 years ago (November 1995): I covered 378 miles with no days off and raced four times over the month. I started the month with a win at the “Four in the Fall” 4 mile race put on by the Winner’s Circle. I ran as easy as possible to get the win as I was doing an XC race the next day. I stuck with the lead pack for the first 3 miles then took the lead to win in 20:46. The next day I was off to Nobles & Greenough for a rolling, twisting, 5km cross-country race. I took the lead in the early going but sort-of teammate (CMS/Sev) Bill Bland blew by at the end and held me off. We both broke the old CR of 15:33, set by Dave Vona in 1992.

 
1 15:18 William Bland 26 M Boston CMS/Sev’s
2 15:19 Dave Dunham 31 M Bradford CMS
3 15:33 Jamal Prince 25 M Woburn CMS/Sev’s
 
A week later it was back to Franklin Park for the USATF NE XC championship held under windy, wet, and cold conditions. Our CMS team lost to the Boston Running club by a total of 29 seconds. I had a pretty crappy race finishing 36th in 32:09 in a field of 169.
 
1 Terrance Mahon 29:55 REEBOK ENCLAVE
2 Gary Griffen 29:58 NEW BALANCE COASTAL
3 Seamus McElliot 30:04 NIKE FLEET FEET
23 Mike Nahom 31:28 5:05 28 CMS
24 Scott Bagley 31:29 5:05 32 CMS
27 Gary Gardner 31:40 5:06 24 CMS
36 Dave Dunham 32:09 5:11 31 CMS
37 Dan Verrington 32:12 5:12 33 CMS
38 Craig Fram 32:14 5:12 37 CMS
 
 
I closed out the month with a solid run at the Feaster Five on Thanksgiving Day. The race started late due to a big bump in race day entrants (8,000!). It was cold (30’s) and windy but the times were hot (they had some $$$ for top finishers back then). I went into the lead fairly early and battled with Joe Rocha. It looked like a 2-man race right up until the final hill when George Yiannelis went blowing by us. He stormed to a win tying the course record (24:07) and I finished less than a second back with Rocha two more ticks behind.
 
1 24:07 George Yiannelis 24M Medford, MA
2 24:08 Dave Dunham 31M Bradford, MA CMS
3 24:10 Joe Rocha 30M Peabody, MA
4 24:28 Ethan Crain 23M Boston, MA
5 24:43 Christopher Bianchi 27M Medford, MA
6 24:48 Byrne Decker 28M Londonderry, NH CMS
7 24:54 Dan Verrington 33M Bradford, MA CMS
8 25:05 Scott Clark 29M Gilmanton, NH CMS
9 25:19 Rod Viens 28M Claremont, NH CMS

USATF New England XC championships

 I was hoping I was ready to return to racing as I hadn’t toed the line since getting injured back in mid-August.  The USATF NE cross-country championships was on my calendar for a while and I was (sort of) looking forward to this.  I put in a couple of workouts leading up to the race but was feeling sluggish as I have for these last 3 months.  On race morning I hit the road early to try and loosen up with a 3 mile run.  It was much slower than I’d hoped for as the effort and time did not match.  I was hopeful I’d feel better at Franklin Park.

 

I got to the race site a little early and had plenty of time to walk around a bit and check out the new course.  Construction at White Stadium meant some of the course needed to be rerouted. It really wasn’t much different from previous versions except we’d be on a bit more pavement and would be taking on Bear Cage hill three times over the 8km (5m) course.

 

It was nice seeing so many familiar faces setting up team tents and catching up on goings on.  Teammate Ernst Linder joined me for a loop of the course and Scott Mindel fresh off a 2:27 marathon the day before (!) caught us at 1.5 miles and ran with us and Tim Van Orden for another loop.  The course was in decent shape despite the rain overnight.  There was some standing water and a bit of mud but most of it could be avoided.  I’d be extra cautious on the turns as they tended to be slick.  I struggled through the warm-up again feeling that it was much faster than the 9+ minutes per mile we were doing.  I switched into Inov-8 trail running shoes which I hoped would give me enough support and more importantly keep me from slipping.  My main goal was to not get hurt and I also hoped to be under 35 minutes as that seems to be what my training and workouts would indicate.  A far cry from the 31:39 I’d run for 5 miles back in August!

 

81 runners made up the masters field (40+ age groups) and I found myself well back in the first 100 meters heading out into the Wilderness section of the course.  I kind of found my rhythm and passed a few people.  After ½ mile I would only pass another 3 people and that was before the mile.  After that, I ran the race alone with no one within 30 seconds of me. It was a little tough with the wind gusting to 30 mph, but mostly it was not terrible.  It just felt more like a run on my own than a race.  The XC championships tends to just draw the most serious of the serious runners so after a certain time there just aren’t many runners out there.  I figured I’d be running mostly alone so it was not a surprise.  One guy flew by me at 4 miles but other than that there was no passing one way or the other.  I only looked at my watch once (at the mile) as I felt like I was running as hard as I could and the time really wouldn’t make a difference.  I chugged into the finish in 35:18, well over my goal and way back in my age group.  I never felt good during the race and struggled to just keep going.  It was nice getting encouragement along the way and I gave what I had on that day.  I limped through a 1 mile warm-down and called it a day.

 

Our team had a solid race taking 4^th, but only 7 points out of first.  With three scoring and a small field the team scores were pretty low.  Teammate Erik Vandendries had a solid race taking 2^nd in the 60+ trailing only my college teammate Jason Cakorous.

 

60+ Team results

1 HFC           20

2 GSH           22

3 GLRR         24

4 CMS           27

5 BAA           36

 

60+ Individual results

1        31:12  Jason Cakorous      HFC

2        31:36 Erik Vandendries     CMS

3        31:54  Mark Hixson            GSH

4        32:10  Constantino Rago    BAA

5        32:50  Alejandro Heuck      GSH

6        33:41  David Westenberg   GLRR

7        33:44  Robert McCormack   HFC

8        33:58  John Barbour          GLRR (70+)

9        35:18  Dave Dunham         CMS

10      35:35  Barry Sussman        Notch

16      39:03  Ernst Linder            CMS

 

 

 

Looking back - November 1990

 

35 years ago: November 1990 - I covered 372 miles with no days off and only raced once during this month. I made it worthwhile with a 26th place finish at the Columbus Marathon. Columbus was the fall marathon to do this year as it was the National Championship and it was the same course that the Olympic trials would be conducted on in 1992. It was also the first date to qualify for the trials, which I did with my sub-2:20 time. I ran a fairly evenly split race slowing only a bit in the final 10k. 10km splits: 32:20 / 32:26 / 32:54 / 34:18