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

August

 

Pretty decent month even with the ankle/foot woes (and additional problems with migraines and a ramp up of palpitations). I ended up racing three times which is the most for any month this year (I've only raced 10 times).

New England road championships

I wasn’t planning on running the USATF NE 8km championships (North Shore RunFest, Salem MA), but CMS was running short of a full team in the 60+ (and 50+). Prior to this race I’d run 192 New England championships since 1987, but I had only run three last year and had not done a road championship since the 8k champs last August.

 

USATF New England championships I’ve run:

Indoor Track           10

Outdoor Track          2

XC (cross country)   12

Road                       145

Mountain                 15

Trail                          8

Total                       192

 

I gave myself plenty of time to get to the race as Salem isn’t the easiest to get to and parking can also be an issue. I planned out my parking spot so that I would be on the outside of the course to ensure I wasn’t stuck post-race. It wasn’t all that inconvenient as I was within ¼ mile of number pick-up and the starting line. I saw so many familiar faces during pick-up and during my warm-up on the course. CMS had a tent near the starting line, but I just stopped by to say “hi” since I would just be keeping my gear in the car. I got many warm hugs from friends I had not seen in quite a while. I did not feel very good on the warm-up, funny but Dan Vassallo and company went blowing by just as the speed enforcement sign registered me as traveling at 4 mph! I know I was going faster than that but boy was that embarrassing. Dan later made my day by introducing me to a friend “I’d like you to meet Dave, he is a real guy”. I headed back to the car for some hydration and changed into race gear. It was warming up quickly and seemed very warm in the sun. It had shot up to 75 degrees and had that feeling like you needed a drink right after you finished having a sip. I brought a bottle of water with me as I did another mile and got to the starting line with 5 minutes to go. I counted back 20 rows figuring that’d be around 300^th place, which is where I thought I’d be if I could break 33 minutes (which was my goal).

 

Nearly 800 took off at 9 a.m., and it was something of a mess back where I was. The first 1km (.6 miles) loop featured five turns, very narrow streets, some speed bumps, a few cars that got stuck in the road, a coned lane that was WAY too narrow, and a huge dead rat! It was very tight where I was and my goal was to not take a spill in the congestion and the obstacles. I made it safely then picked it up trying to find a groove. Two annoying guys were chatting right behind me until I pulled away after 2 miles. Nothing is wrong with doing a workout at a race but just shut up. No one is impressed that you can chat while racing. Anyway, I found my groove and was consistent in my pace losing just a couple of seconds on the small climbs. After 2 miles I focused on the group in front of me aiming to get up with a couple of the 60+ age group runners I could see ahead. I picked off about 20 people from the mile to the last ¼ mile of the race. I think five guys went by me in the last ¼ mile as they kicked for the finish. I had no kick, although it sure felt like I picked it up (the last mile was my fastest). I was disappointed when I saw the clock and it was already over 33 minutes. My official time was 33:09 which is my fastest 5 miles this year but disappointing, nonetheless. I was happy with how consistently I ran, the splits were very even, I just can’t seem to get going any faster. Mile splits: 6:37, 6:35, 6:37, 6:38, 6:34. I was 251^st out of 788 and 10^th of 62 in the 60+ age group.

 

Pl       Time   Name                      Age    Pace   Team

1        28:32  Gregory Picklesimer M60    5:42   SRR

2        29:51  Scott Grandfield                 M61    5:58   GSH

3        30:30  Norm Bouthillier                M61    6:06   Whirlaway

4        30:44  Charlie Bemis          M63    6:09   Whirlaway

5        31:56  Alex McHenry                    M61    6:23   Green Mtn

6        32:13  Constantino Rago              M64    6:27   BAA

7        32:17  Christopher Smith    M60    6:27   SRR

8        32:40  Barry Sussman                  M61    6:32   Notch

9        33:07  David Teszler          M60    6:37   Heartbreakers

10      33:09  Dave Dunham                   M62    6:38   CMS

11      33:23  Tony Bates              M67    6:41   Green Mtn

12      33:37  Nick Persampieri                M66    6:43   Green Mtn

13      33:51  Daniel Healey                    M65    6:46  

14      34:06  Richard Jordan                  M63    6:49   Notch

15      34:48  Terry McNatt           M61    6:58   CSU

 

My warm-down after the race consisted of a mile on the busy roads of Salem with a bonus stop at the Bewitched statue which is a virtual Geocache. After that I headed to Peabody for a very short hike to visit the town high point and then on to Lynnfield for a longer (3/4 mile) hike on the trails of the Bow Ridge Conservation Area & Kallenberg Quarry which featured a bunch of mountain biking trails that took me to the highest point in town.

 

 

Week Ending 08/30/26

 Made it through the week :-)

Foot and ankle really bugging me this week and also wearing a Zio monitor to find out more information about the heart palpitations I've been having. Hope to get results quickly but Dr said "keep doing what you're doing". Got in a race this weekend and decent mileage despite the grumpy foot. The only regret was missing the Sunday ride.

Week - 87

Month - 370

Year - 2,805

Life - 169.805

Camping and baseball

Earlier this month I checked the box on two “to do” items. I was hoping to do some camping this month and also wanted to catch a game at the Lowell Spinners. I was surprised to find I could get both of these in one event! The Spinners had a camping night. What a cool event, with a car show before the game, a train ride around the ballpark, then a fun time watching the Spinners beat Worcester. After that it was time to set up tents in the outfield and catch a movie on the big screen. What a full day of fun!

Prospect Acres Ranch - 2 hour race

 I had nothing planned for this weekend and saw a flyer for the Prospect Acres Ranch Ultra. I’d done a couple of snowshoe races at Prospect Acres and wondered what the trails would be like without a blanket of snow. I was not thinking of doing an Ultra (anything longer than a marathon) but the 2 hour version with a 7 a.m. start fit very nicely into my schedule. I was planning on running 10 miles anyway and figured a few more miles would be okay. I also liked the idea of the multi-loop format. Everyone would be doing the 2+ mile loop as many times as possible in the chosen timeframe (2, 4 or 8 hours). I would not be “racing” it in that I was planning on running at training pace and not as fast as possible. 
Although I’m averaging over 12 miles per day so far this year, prior to this day I’d only run over 10 miles in a single run one time this year (back in March). In all, I’ve only done 14 runs over 8 miles this year which is less than twice per month average. So, I was a little nervous about my planned 6 loops (12.6 miles). I was also a little concerned about the footing as I’ve avoided rough footing in deference to my arthritic ankles. I’d taped them up but knew I’d be paying the price after the race. I arrived 30 minutes before the start as I wasn’t planning on doing any warm-up as my goal pace would be 9’s which is generally an easy pace for me. Of course 9’s on flat pavement is different from 9’s on grass, roots, ups, downs, and twisty trail. I took a few minutes to check out the last 200 meters of trail to get a general feel for what I was in for and then decided to put on trail shoes. I would need the better grip although the trail was dry, the grass fields were damp and there would be some slick roots to deal with. The only rocks on the trail were the big rock pile that we’d climb over at the end of each lap.
 
The race director gave a brief description of the course and how it was marked and reminded everyone to sign in at the end of each lap as that was how the scoring would be done (you would be timing and tracking yourself over the 2, 4, or 8 hours). About 20 of us took off at 7 a.m. with temperatures in the mid-60s, a bit of humidity, and cloudy skies. I moved into the lead after we circled the field and headed onto the single-track trail. The climbing went on for the first ¾ of a mile with most of it in a tough ¼ mile stretch that averaged 7% grade. After that I looped around the upper grass field and had a short stretch of mostly flat running. Even the flat stretches (which were few) had a lot of bumps to navigate. You really had to pay attention at all times to not take a bad step. There were a couple of quick downhills in the second mile. I took them cautiously and had the opportunity to recover a bit from climbing. With ½ mile to go there was a final climb at 4% grade and then a straight shot for the final ¼ mile back to the start/finish. I came through the line a little faster than my projected 9 minute pace and felt pretty good. Now I knew the course and would just be concentrating on not getting hurt and keeping the effort even. My next five laps would not vary by more than 11 seconds as I dialed in to a pace that felt good. The fifth lap seemed the hardest as I was getting beyond the length of time I’d usually be on my feet. As I lapped people they were very nice to give encouragement, although I felt funny doing the “sprint” event while they were all doing an Ultra. I think I ended up lapping almost everyone, and a couple of walkers multiple times. They were certainly hardcore to be out there for that amount of time!
 
I ended up finishing six laps (12.6 miles) in 1:51 (8:50 pace) and did another .4 mile to get 13 miles for the morning. Then it was off to Concord for a nice 2 hour bike ride. Great start to the weekend!
 
          Full lap          Pace   climb  short climb
1        18:38  8:52   2:46   1:48
2        18:18  8:43   2:34   1:46
3        18:09  8:39   2:34   1:47
4        18:09  8:39   2:34   1:45
5        18:18  8:43   2:34   1:48
6        18:07  8:38   2:34   1:46