Sunday, May 10, 2026

Looking back - 2011

 15 years ago: May of 2011 was a very productive month with four races and my highest mileage in over 3 years, I even managed a few track workouts.  On May 1 I headed inside Route 128 for the USATF NE 10km championships (James Joyce Ramble).  Although CMS fielded a large team, we only managed to gather four masters (40+) and as such did not have a scoring team.  I tried to key off teammate Dan Verrington (who buried me) and other CMS runners including Jim Pawlicki who passed me at 5 miles and put 10 seconds on me in that final mile.  My goal was 34:30 and I managed to come in 2 seconds under that and placed 15th in the 40-49 age group. I ran the entire race with my right shoe untied.

CMS 40+

37      6/342  M4049    33:39  5:25   33:41 Greg Putnam      1 M  1852 Wakefield MA  CMS

51      12/342 M4049   34:15  5:31   34:18 Dan Verrington   48 M  1848 Bradford MA  CMS

56      15/342 M4049   34:28  5:33   34:28 Dave Dunham     47 M  1850 Bradford MA    CMS

64      18/342 M4049   34:54  5:37   34:54 George Adams    40 M 11000                     CMS

 



Next up was the USATF NE 6km (3.72 miles, an unusual distance). I‘d picked up a nasty cough and just was not “feeling it” on the quickly warming morning. Dan Verrington got out unusually fast, but I could see some of the other guys I was keying off of and felt I was going at about the right pace. I hit the mile in 5:18 which was a few seconds slower than hoped for.  At the top of the climb (about 1.6 miles) I caught Dan and Mark Reeder went by at the same time.  I hit 2 miles in 10:45 (5:27). We hit three in 16:16 (5:31?). Mark gradually pulled ahead and I tried to stay with Mike Quintal. I crossed the line in 20:17 and was totally spent.  I got back out onto the course to watch mom come in strong setting a PR.


CMS 40+

15 4/106 M4049      19:39 5:17 Tim Van Orden 43 M 672 Bennington VT          CMS

25 7/106 M4049      19:57 5:21 Greg Putnam    41 M 629 Wakefield MA          CMS

33 9/106 M4049      20:17 5:27 Dave Dunham  47 M 616 Bradford MA          CMS

38 11/106 M4049    20:28 5:30 Dan Verrington 48 M 632 Bradford MA          CMS

42 12/106 M4049    20:33 5:31 Rod Viens                  43 M 228 Grantham NH          CMS

43 13/106 M4049    20:37 5:32 Joe Shairs                  42 M 630 Peabody MA          CMS

55 19/106 M4049    20:54 5:37 Scott Clark       45 M 316 Gilmanton NH          CMS

88 30/106 M4049    22:09 5:57 David Quintal   47 M 662 Salem NH           CMS

96 33/106 M4049    22:28 6:02 John Pajer                 48 M 430 Leicester MA          CMS 

 


On to Northfield Mountain! This year I directed my final spring race at Northfield after a decade of snowshoe and trail races. I headed out on Friday and put out the mile/course markers and was joined by Tim Mahoney and Paul Bazanchuk. On race day I felt sluggish but not too bad as I got out in around 20th place when we reached the gate.  I ended up running a fair amount with Tim Mahoney, Tom Brown, and Ross Krause. I moved into 12th place as we started the downhill. I lost some ground on the long down and I had to settle for 14th place and 3rd in the 40+.

 

1 36:27 Eric MacKnight      22m    KS College

2 36:42 Mark Miller           30m    BAA

3 36:53 Jim Johnson                    33m    CMS

40+

8 37:57 Tim Van Orden      43m    CMS

9 38:45 Todd Callaghan     41m    GCS

14 39:24 Dave Dunham     47m    CMS

16 40:21 George Adams    41m    CMS

17 40:33 Joe Shairs           43m    CMS




The final weekend of the month I headed up to Plymouth NH for the Pemi Youth 5km race. Only 75 showed up for this race that had cash for the top 3 and plenty of food and drink after the race. We took off and 100m into the race I was in fourth place and alone as the top three flew and I established my position as the first person who wouldn't win any cash. I would have liked to run in the 16:40's but with the higher mileage I’m probably not as rested as I need to be. Still no complaints breaking 17 minutes.

 

1   1/4       M2024 15:09   4:53 David Chorney         23 M   64 Bristol NH

2   2/4       M2024   15:25   4:58 Joshua Kearns       23 M   54 Ridgefield CT

3   3/4       M2024   16:23   5:17 Andrew Chalmers  21 M   46 Ashland NH

4   1/6       M4549   16:53   5:26 Dave Dunham       47 M   60 Bradford MA

5   1/4       M5559   18:03   5:49 Charlie Gunn         56 M   69 Henniker NH

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