Looking back - June 2000

 25 Years ago (June 2000): This month kicked off a 7 week stretch where I put in 12 races. During June of 2000 I covered 412 miles and raced four times. I started the month off taking it out hard (4:39) at the Miltner’s shoe 5k in Rochester NH.  This did not discourage teammates Dan Verrington and Richard Bolt who hung close. Dan worked his way by and went on to top the field of 244.

 

1   15:11  4:54 Dan Verrington    37 M BRADFORD MA

2   15:17  4:56 Dave Dunham      36 M BRADFORD MA

3   15:22  4:57 Richard Bolt         29 M MANCHESTER NH

4   15:43  5:04 Scott Clark 34 M GILMANTON NH

5   15:46  5:05 Mike Brady           40 M NEWMARKET NH

6   16:21  5:16 Kevin Beck 30 M PENACOOK NH

7   16:44  5:23 Ernest Brake        39 M NORTH SUTTON NH

 

The following weekend I doubled up, kicking off the weekend at the USATF NE 10k championships in Portsmouth NH. It was very hot. I found myself in fifth place in the early going. After a fast 4:48 and 4:54 we settled into a more reasonable pace for the conditions (5:04, 5:06, 4:59) before the kicking commenced. Donahue took the victory, and I came home with a 4:54 last mile to take third place.

 

1 30:24 4:54 Mark Donahue         41 M Newport RI     CMS

2 30:36 4:56 Pete Hammer          33 M Newton Ma     BRC

3 30:57 4:59 Dave Dunham         36 M Bradford Ma    CMS

4 31:04 5:00 Craig Fram    41 M Plaistow Nh     WHIRL

5 31:15 5:02 Eric Morse               35 M Berlin Vt                   CMS

6 31:30 5:05 Dan Verrington        37 M Bradford Ma    CMS

 

16 32:25 5:13 Richard Bolt 29 M Manchester Nh          CMS

19 32:44 5:17 Scott Clark  34 M Gilmanton NH CMS

20 32:54 5:18 Byrne Decker        33 M Yarmouth ME  CMS

21 32:58 5:19 Rod Viens   32 M Sunapee NH    CMS

22 32:59 5:19 Joe Shairs   32 M Peabody MA    NSS

30 33:18 5:22 James Pawlicki      25 M Beverly MA     GBTC

39 33:38 5:25 Ben Nephew          24 M Malden MA      GBTC

50 34:16 5:31 Mark Behan 37 M Newton NH     WHIRL

 

The next day I headed up to Wilton NH for the Pack Monadnock 10 mile. I thought I’d take it easy, but Eric Morse showed up and both of us were looking for the win. Eric took it easy for the first four and I just hung with him. Mike Casner ran with us through 7 miles. We could see Fergus Cullen a minute ahead and at 7 Eric took off in pursuit. I just couldn’t go that fast. Eric caught Fergus at 8.5 and went on to win in 1:01:25. I slipped by Fergus with about a tenth of a mile to go to take 2^nd place in 1:02:01 with Fergus third 12 seconds later. Eric and I still hold the top 6 times run at Pack.  I have the two fastest LOSING times (thanks to Morse).  Eric Blake is the only other person to crack 1 hour at Pack.

All-Time Fastest at Pack

Rank   Time             Pl       Year   Name                      Age    City, St                   Club

1        58:35            1        1999   Eric Morse               34      Berlin, VT          CMS

2        58:49            2        1999   Dave Dunham                   35      Bradford, MA      CMS

3        59:07            1        2001   Eric Morse               36      Berlin, VT          CMS

4        59:13            1        1996   Dave Dunham                   32      Bradford, MA      CMS

5        59:30            1        1992   Dave Dunham                   28          Londonderry, NH CMS

6        59:40            2        2001   Dave Dunham                   37      Bradford, MA      CMS

7        59:55            1        2010   Eric Blake                31      New Britain, CT         

8        1:00:12                   1        1997   Eric Morse               32      Berlin, VT          CMS

9        1:00:53                   3        2001   Craig Fram              42      Plaistow, NH      WRT

10      1:00:58                   1        2002   Craig Fram              43      Plaistow, NH      WRT

 

The following weekend (06/17/00) nearly 900 finished the Mt Washington road race with 80 degrees and high humidity at the base and 50 degrees with 30-50 mph winds above tree line.  CMS dominated the team category placing 6 in the top 10.  I had an “okay” run considering the conditions.  The two Kenyan runners took off at the start while I ran in a small pack with teammates Eric Morse and Mark Donahue.  Donahue fell off at 1.5 (ran 1:15 for 3^rd in the 40+) and I passed Morse between the 2 and 3 mile posts.  I ended up getting $300 for third place.  Then ran a VERY fast time down (58:33) with Morse, Donahue, Verrington, and Mark Behan.

 

1 59:24 Daniel Kihara        KEN

2 60:04 Joseph Kibor         KEN

3 62:48 Dave Dunham       CMS

4 64:54 Eric Morse  CMS

5 67:50 Dan Verrington     CMS

6 69:37 Mike Casner          CMS

7 69:58 Fergus Cullen

8 70:45 Richard Bolt          CMS

9 71:25 Simon Karori         KEN

10 73:35 Stephen Peterson CMS

 

The final race of the month (06/25/00) was the USATF NE 20km championships in Bedford NH.  It was sunny humid and 88 degrees on the rolling point to point course.  Dave Hinga took it out hard and ended up dropping out at 6 miles.  I ran with Craig Fram most of the race, going back and forth throughout.  I couldn’t quite get him at the end (by one second). I got $50 for my third place finish. CMS put five in the top seven to dominate the scoring.

 

1 64:42 Peter Hammer      33M    BRC

2 65:41 Craig Fram  41M    WRT

3 65:42 Dave Dunham       36M    CMS

4 67:17 Todd Coffin 38M    CMS

5 67:46 Dan Verrington     37M    CMS

6 67:59 Larry Sayers          40M    CMS

7 68:13 Richard Bolt          29M    CMS

8 68:18 Paul Hammond     40M    WRT

9 68:52 Rod Hemingway 24M       GBTC

10 69:26 Eric Lavigne        24M    GLRR 

 

I closed out the month (06/29/2000) with a trip to Greensboro NC to take part in the “Take pride in your hide” 5k race.  Seems like a long way to go for a 5k cross country race but this one had bonus points in the Hockomock Swamp Rat series since it was a clothing optional race.  This was the first HSR series and I was determined to win it (later in the year I’d do 2 marathons in six days for more bonus points).  The race was managed by Gary Butts, what a perfect name for this race!  It was hot and humid and not wearing clothes didn’t help with that.  I took the win in 15:45 setting a course record (and later being dubbed by Runner’s World as the “fastest nude XC runner in the USA”).