20 years ago: January 2005 – No races during this month, I was recovering from a hip injury from a 50k I did the month before. I didn’t start running until January 26 after 6 weeks off. Ugh.
15 years ago: January 2010 – I got in a bunch of double-race weekends this month, mixing in some road with a lot of snowshoe. I started the month at the Salem MA Frosty Four (pictured left). I kind of got stuck out there alone and struggled on the one hill which also happened to have a lot of snow on it. No complaints with a fourth overall and a masters win.
1 Mike Quintal M3039 31 M N Andover MA 21:22 5:21
2 Alex Gomes M2029 21 M Peabody MA 21:40 5:25
3 Dave Dunham M4049 45 M Bradford MA 22:22 5:36
4 Brett Rickenbach M3039 34 M Danvers MA 22:52 5:43
The next day was a 4.5 Km race at Beaver Brook in Hollis, NH. I was pretty sore (foot and shin) but wanted to race as many snowshoe races as possible in 2010. Double-J and I did a warm-up on the roads. The course was dusted with some powder and the base seemed to be a solid sheet of ice. This meant it would be fast. I was hoping for a top five finish and get out of the race no more injured than I entered it. I hit the turn in 8:33 and was a bit surprised to see that Steve Wolfe was only 7 seconds back! I'd beaten him at Prospect last week by 2:14, but it would take a lot to best them in this race. I kept thinking "get to the uphill then kick", but when I finally got to the uphill I had no kick. I struggled in to take fourth in 17:10. Steve kept it close for the 40+ title finishing a scant 12 seconds back.
1 15:48 Jim Johnson CMS 32M Salem NH
2 16:24 Tim Cox aR 36M Northwood NH
3 16:43 Robert Jackman TNT 27M Warwick RI
4 17:10 Dave Dunham CMS 45M Ward Hill MA Top of Turner
5 17:22 Steve Wolfe aR 45M Merrimack NH
Next up was the Turner Trail race (Pittsfield MA 01/09/10). Not much to say about this, I had a good race on the climb and held on for the descent. It was basically climb on one side of the hill and come down the other. The warm-up and warm-down with a big CMS contingent was fun.
1. Jim Johnson 32M 45:10
2. Corey Watts 21M 46:42
3. Dave Dunham 45M 46:59
4. Tim Van Orden 41M 48:20
5. Matt Westerlund 37M 48:50
6. Tim Mahoney 30M 49:20
The following week I headed out to Western Mass for the weekend. First up was the Greylock Glen. Over 100, including some fast road runners, took off for the 3.5 miles of racing. I felt like I was sprinting all-out to the bridge. I was in 6th as we started the climb but was passed almost immediately by Ross Krause (Wildman race winner). I ended up holding on but got schooled by TiVo in the 40+ category. 120 finishers was a great showing for a race at the very edge of MA.
1 Jim Johnson 32M CMS Polar Bears 25:31 6:42
2 Mark Miller 29M BAA 26:21 6:56
3 Greg Hammett 32M CMS Polar Bears 26:45 7:02
4 Tim Van Orden 41M CMS Polar Bears 27:02 7:06
5 Dave Dunham 45M CMS Polar Bears 27:48 7:18
6 Ross Krause 30M 28:09 7:24
7 Tim Mahoney 30M CMS Polar Bears 28:18 7:26
8 Paul Bazanchuck 55M WMM 30:33 8:02
After much debate about Brave the Blizzard (Guilderland, NY) having snow, JJ and I headed off with assurances from the race
director that there would be a race, it wasn't going to be pretty but it was going to happen.
On the Summit of Berlin Mountain
On race morn we were among the first to arrive. My goal was to keep Tim V in sight for as long as possible. Justin Bishop led for most of the race with JJ and TiVo keeping him moving, they all came in within 13 seconds. I rolled in later that day to take fourth for the second consecutive year.
1 Jim Johnson M32 24:44 06:41
2 Justin Bishop M28 24:53 06:44
3 Tim VanOrden M41 24:57 06:45
4 Dave Dunham M45 26:58 07:17
5 Ahmed Elasser M47 27:39 07:28
I had some injury issues (foot) after this and was just able to bounce back by the end of the month to take on the Sidehiller’s race in Sandwich NH. It was a qualifier for Nationals which was one of my goals. CMS had a great turnout at the race taking eight of the top 16 spots. I took 10th place overall and was tops in the master’s category.
Place First Last City, State Age Team Name Time
1 Kevin Tilton Conway, NH 28 CMS/Inov-8 31:08
2 Josh Ferenc Alstead, NH 28 BAA 31:20
3 Jim Johnson Salem, NH 32 CMS/Inov-8 31:25
4 Peter Mallett Manchester, NH 26 CMS 31:47
5 Charles Therriault Newmarket, NH 24 Acidotic 32:12
6 Ben Nephew Mansfield, MA 34 CMS/Inov-8 32:32
7 Bob Jackman Warwick, RI 27 TNT 33:25
8 Tim Cox Northwood, NH 36 Acidotic 33:44
9 Danny Ferriera Concord, NH 27 Acidotic 34:01
10 Dave Dunham Ward Hill, MA 45 CMS/Atlas 34:04
11 Steve Wolfe Merrimack, NH 45 Acidotic 34:05
12 Eric Morse Berlin, VT 44 CMS 34:44
13 Jim Pawlicki Beverly, MA 35 CMS 34:51
14 David Principe Cranston, RI 43 TNT 35:03
15 Stan Snow Dunbarton, VT 43 GSRT 35:05
16 Dave Quintal Salem, NH 46 CMS 35:33
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