July 2016

 July 2016 (10 years ago):  I started the month with the USA Mountain running championships at Loon.  I got out well and

 

Erik Vandendries and I would yo-yo much of the race.  I’d close on him on the downhill and he’d pull away on the up.  We reached the gondola with 10 seconds between us. I put 30+ seconds on Erik (although I didn’t know it at the time) and hit the final 1 kilometer of tough climb in the lead of the 50+ age group.  I ran as hard as I could crossing the line in 1:00:13 and collapsing to the ground after.  Erik came in a few seconds later and Jeff Hunt rounded out the top three in the 50+.  CMS swept the medals!!!

 

Teams

          Open (6 teams, 5 score)             

1        CMS    4:51:03                                      

2        Acidotic         5:10:50                                      

                                                           

          40+ (8 teams, 3 score)                         

1        CMS    2:56:10                                      

2        Acidotic         3:14:12                                      

                                                           

          50+ (7 teams, 3 score)                         

1        CMS    3:01:55                                      

2        Acidotic         3:41:01                                      

 

Top 15 50-54                                     

1        1:00:13         Dave Dunham         MA      CMS   

2        1:00:37         Erik Vandendries     MA      CMS   

3        1:01:03         Jeff Hunt       MA      CMS   

6        1:04:48         Dan Verrington        MA      CMS   

8        1:05:32         Ed Sheldon   NH      CMS   

15      1:14:09         David Lapierre         MA      CMS   

                                                           

                    Overall                                     

1        0:49:11         Joseph          Gray   CO      Club NW      

2        0:50:17         Brett   Hales  UT               

3        0:50:36         Matt    Daniels         CO      Hudson        

 

Next up was the Cranmore Hill Climb –This was the 11^th time racing at Cranmore and every year has featured a different course.  It was foggy and only about 60 degrees when I arrived in North Conway. 

 

Nearly 200 of us took off in the drizzle and fog of a not typical July morning.  I had teammates Erik Vandenries and Ed Sheldon in my sight a few steps ahead.  The second time up the killer quarter mile (I did it in 5-flat) I was working it a LOT harder than the first lap.  Nothing much changed on the second descent. I managed to stay on my feet and hold position to take 6^th place in 57:37 (5.85 miles with 2,400’ of climb/descent).  This was probably the best Cranmore course I’ve ever run.  By best I mean it had just about everything you could want in an up/down Mountain race.  Also, as I crossed the line they were playing Social Distortion (99 to life) and the next song was the Cure (Fascination street), no race is going to top that!

 

Top 5 50+

50+    Pl       Time   Name            Age    City    State  Team

1        6        57:37  Dave Dunham         52      Bradford, MA CMS

2        12      1:00:37         Brian Ruhm   51      Nashua, NH   GCS

3        14      1:00:52         Ed Sheldon   51      Hooksett, NH CMS

4        18      1:01:48         Erik Vandendries     51      Chestnut Hill,CMS

5        20      1:04:01         Rick Chalmers         54      S Portland, ME          Dirigo

 

Overall

Place  Time   Name                      Age    City, State     Team

1        53:06  Matthew Veiga                  29      Lynn, MA      CMS

2        53:55  Tim Van Orden                  48      Bennington, VT       CMS

3        54:20  Andy MacGibbon                20      Goffstown, NH        

4        56:02  Christopher Chromczak      31      Delmar, NY  

5        57:10  Patrick Caron           19                MA     

6        57:37  Dave Dunham                   52      Bradford, MA CMS

7        58:39  Craig Nale               32      S Portland, ME        

8        58:51  Steve Brightman                47      Providence, RI        

9        59:23  Patrick Conway                  39      Anchorage, AK       

                                                        10      59:43  Jim Boule                49      Campton, NH aR

 

 

My final race of the month was the Lynn Woods Cross-Country Series.  It had been four years since I last raced at Lynn Woods.  I really needed to get some leg turnover as most of my racing over the last 2 months had been Mountain running. I did my warm-up checking out the 2.3 course and was surprised at how tough it was.   I took the lead right away and could hear footsteps right behind me. The guys behind me stayed right on me during the single-track.  We hit Dungeion road and two kids from Marblehead blew by, along with fellow “senior” runner Jason Barnes.  After passing the Stone Tower and hitting the 130’ drop I pulled ahead of Barnes but didn’t close on the leader.  I was happy with the effort although the pace was “slow”, it was a shock to my system for sure! 

 

Lynn Woods Summer Cross Country                 Lynn, MA July  27,2016 6:40 PM  2.3 Cornell to Stone Tower Trail       138 Finishers

   Pl    Name                    S Ag   City, St                  Time    Pace 

    1 Oliver Jacob               M 17 Marblehead, MA        15:12  6:37

    2 Dave Dunham  M 52 Bradford, MA            15:21  6:41

    3 Jason Barnes              M 53 Salem, MA                15:27  6:43

    4 Ian Strothers    M 16 Marblehead, MA        15:32  6:45

    5 Tony Mwangi   M 17 Lynn, MA                  17:20  7:32

 

Week Ending 07/19/26

 Pretty happy about this week, may have turned around from the post-migraine. Got in a little workout, a race, and my third longest ride of the year. Also, got an MRI for my foot/ankle and hope to get results soon...

Week - 88

Month - 229

Year - 2,283

Life - 169,283

July 2011

 July 2011 (15 years ago): I was recovering from injury and only raced once.  I went to Carver MA for the USATF NE 5m championships.  It was very hot and humid (mid-80s) and breezy.  The race had very little in the way of water-stops and the ones they had were poorly managed.  My goal was 5:40 pace in deference to the weather and my lack of racing.  I met my goal and scored for the team (4^th man) as we placed second in the 40+.

 

33rd Annual Carver Cranberry 5 Miler Road Race

1 24:42 4:56 1 16-29 Kevin Johnson Ludlow,MA GSH

2 25:03 5:01 1 30-39 Justin Freeman New Hampton,NH RUN

3 25:15 5:03 2 16-29 Dan Vassallo Reading,MA Addidas

Some CMS and the CMS 40+ team

7   25:36 5:07 4 30-39       Jim Johnson             Salem,MA      CMS

32 27:07 5:25 4 40-49       Greg Putnam            Wakefield,MA          CMS 40+

34 27:14 5:27 5 40-49       Joe Shairs                 Peabody,MA CMS 40+

38 27:31 5:30 7 40-49       Dan Verrington        Bradford,MA CMS 40+

52 27:53 5:35 19 30-39     Jim Pawlicki             Beverly,MA    CMS

57 28:20 5:40 13 40-49     Dave Dunham         Bradford,MA CMS 40+

60 28:32 5:42 14 40-49     David Quintal          Salem,MA      CMS 40+

68 29:01 5:48 16 40-49     John Pajer             Leicester,MA CMS 40+

July 2006

 

July of 2006 (20 years ago):  I raced nine times over the month of July while also covering 380 miles in training and finished off the month with a running of the “Pemi-Loop” bagging 11 Four thousand foot peaks in a fell swoop.  I started the month running the Finger Lake Fifties, but I did the 15km (not the 50k or 50m).  I got plenty of running!  The race was kind of unusual as you went through a bunch of gates that had to be closed to keep the cows from wandering!  In the early going the pack would come to a gate and Dan Verrington would open the gate and let everyone through then lock it up.  He ended up pulling away around 4 miles and I ran alone from that point on taking 3^rd place in 1:54:17, Dan won in 1:51:30.

 

Three days later I ran the Carson memorial 2m in Chelmsford.  Tom Doody topped the master’s field running 9:55 and Dan was 2^nd in 10:05.  I took 5^th (and 22^nd overall) in 10:40. Four days later I was back in the mountains running Cranmore, a 2 loop monster course with 2,400’ of climb/descent.  I took 4^th in 50:23, close behind Dan who won the 40+ with a 50:11.

1 David Hunt           48:15 Fryeburg ME WMM  M 20 M19-39

2 Tim Livingston      50:07 Conway NH   WMM M 31 M19-39

3 Dan Verrington     50:11 Bradford MA CMS    M 44 M40-49

4 Dave Dunham      50:23 Bradford MA CMS    M 42 M40-49

5 Patrick Rich          53:39 S Hamilton MA         CMS    M 29 M19-39

6 Todd Callaghan     53:56 Somerville MA          PR Mse         M 36 M19-39

7 Donald Pacher      55:31 Bennington VT                   M 34 M19-39

8 Jeremy Huckins    56:24 Loudon NH    CMS    M 23 M19-39

 

Five days later (07-13) Dan and I were back out there racing again, this time in Haverhill on a Friday night.  Dan took the overall win in the YMCA 5k road race (16:39) and I took 5^th nearly a minute back (17:33).  Two days later I was race directing the Mt Ascutney road race in Windsor VT.  Although I wasn’t an official entrant, I ran the 2^nd fastest time of the day (33:42) behind Paul Low’s winning time of 29:39. I ran at 7am then put the race on at 9am.

 

The following Friday it was another night race in Haverhill.  This time Dan and I ran the Sapienza race which had moved dates and changed distance (to 4 miles).  It was hot and humid after a downpour during my warm-up.  I ran 22:20 to take 6^th, again nearly a minute behind Dan.

    1 Roberto Santoro         M2029 QUINCY MA                               20:41  5:11

    2 Ryan Miller                 M2029 HAVERHILL MA                          20:45  5:12

    3 Matt Germain   M2029 HAVERHILL MA                          20:52  5:13

    4 Dan Verrington M4049 BRADFORD MA                          21:22  5:21

    5 Chris Apkarian  M0119 NEW DURHAM NH                      22:05  5:32

    6 Dave Dunham  M4049 BRADFORD MA                          22:20  5:35

 

Two days later (07/23/06) it was off to Portsmouth (with Dan) for the Loco road miles.  They had multiple heats, so of course we signed up for multiple races!  First up was the master’s mile which Dan destroyed with a 7 second win in 4:39. I took fourth place.  We had just enough time to jog back up the course to the start and then were off again in the Open mile.  We were surprisingly consistent with Dan slowing only 2 seconds (4:41) and I slowed 4 seconds to a 4:57. We definitely surprised some by racing twice.

Masters Mile

    1  4:39 Dan Verrington  44 M    CMS       

    2  4:46 Eric McKenna     40 M                                

    3  4:51 Don Tuttle         49 M                                

    4  4:53 Dave Dunham    42 M    CMS       Splits: 70/73/77/73

 

Open Mile

    1 4:19 Cory Thorne       19 M                             

    2 4:29 Rich Marion        44 M     BAA 

    3 4:32 Aaron Binkley     29 M                                

    6 4:41 Dan Verrington   44 M    CMS       

   10 4:57 Dave Dunham    42 M   CMS     Splits: 72/74/77/74

 

I wrapped up the month taking a shot at a win at the Lynn woods summer series (07/26/06).  I thought I’d have a good shot in the “short” race as most of the CMS guys ran the 5.5 mile race.  When we split off from the longer course Al Bernier was in the lead and took the win 13 seconds ahead of me.

 

2.5 Miles

1.  Alan Bernier                14:40  CMS

2.  Dave Dunham             14:53  CMS

3.  John Davis                  15:17

5.5 Miles

1.  Dan Verrington           32:07   CMS

2.  Joe Shairs                  32:40   CMS

3.  Jim Pawlicki               34:38   CMS

 

I closed out the month with a visit to the Pemigewasset wilderness in the White Mountains.  Eleven hours in the wilderness bagging Bondcliffs (4265), West Bond (4520), Mount Garfield (4480), Mount Lafayette (5240), Mount Lincoln (5089), Mount Guyot (4560), Little Haystack (4760), Mount Liberty (4459), Mount Flume (4328), South Twin (4902), Galehead Mtn (4024).