Looking back July 1985

 Looking back 40 years (July 1985): I was training pretty hard during July of 1985 with weeks of 104, 90, 91, and 84 with a day off each week! raced for the (then) young Whirlaway Racing team which was managed by Dave Kazanjian over the summer of 1985. On a hot and humid 4th of July I headed to North Andover for a tough hilly 10km race.  After a slow opening mile of 5:18 I dropped under 5:00 pace to take a 61 second victory in 30:50. U-Lowell teammate Brian Moody took second in 31:51.  The race drew 450 finishers.

 

Sporting the Whirlaway Racing Team singlet

Five days later (07/09/85) I headed to Cawley Stadium for the GLRR weekly 2 mile series.  I ran from Billerica to the track (6 miles) then did another 2 miles on the track to finish my warm-up.  I took it out hard (hoping to take a shot at Bob Hodge’s CR 8:52) with splits of 66/66/67/69 and hit the mile in 4:28. I clocked another 4:28 for an 8:56 win.  Brad Hurst took second in 9:08.

I closed out the month at the Newburyport 10 mile (07/30/85) on a hot and humid Tuesday night.  I was hoping to run a low 49 (based on my earlier races) and went out for it hitting 5 miles in 24:36. This was my first attempt at 10 miles and I went in with rookie optimism hoping to run around 49 flat (from the presumption that a 24:30 wasn’t hard so two in a row should be manageable). After that I fell off the back of the pack and struggled in with a 5^th place 50:10

Week Ending 07/06/25

 Another week closer to the Erie Canal ride.  The only "miss" this weekend was passing on doing a workout as my knee was bugging me.  I got in the traditional Fourth of July race and decent mileage while getting 7 hours on the bike.  Staying hydrated in the heat remains a challenge.

A couple of random notes: Doug made my day on Thursday when we met up to run and he said "You look fit".  After the race on Friday I visited my parents and beat dad 2 out of 3 games of cribbage.  One game he "dead holed" and another we both had a 24 hand!

Onward!

Week - 84

Month - 70

Year - 2,309

Life - 165,086 

John Carson Memorial 2 mile

 Another fourth of July and another go at the Carson Memorial 2 mile in Chelmsford. I was hoping to run a little faster than last year when I crossed the line in 11:59.  I'm a little slower this year but had noted last year that my performance was the worst of the year.  Anything short of 12:10 would be another "worst of the year".  I thought I had a decent shot at running under 12 with training going well and weather cooperation.

It was 56 degrees and dry when I hit the road for a 3 mile loosen up run at 5am.  I got to Chelmsford at 8am and it was in the 70s but also no humidity and there would be a 10 mph breeze that'd be a tailwind for some of the course.

I bumped into Scott Spence (biking to the start) as I headed out onto the course for a preview. I've done this race enough times (going back to 1983) that I know it intimately but it is always good to take another look.  I was very nervous and the adrenaline had the great effect of keeping my sore knee from bothering me.  I saw a few familiar faces while warming up, with 2,000 entrants (many from the Merrimack Valley) there are always people you know.  I switched to race gear and ran another mile with some strides and felt a bit tired but ready to go.

The start features two fake lines to keep the masses from getting in front of the start.  I reached the line at 9:25 and moved up at 9:27 and 9:29.  Kara Haas reminded me to not get knocked down.  Good advice.  I tucked in behind young GLRR runner  Michale Studer and (not so young) Mike Lubeck.  That would give me a clear path as they would be running MUCH faster than me.

I stayed on my feet but messed up starting my watch.  I did get it started about 9 seconds in. The splits along the way didn't make sense and would range from 82 to 93.  Seemed pretty far off as I typically run fairly even.  I kept my cool in the early going and by the (only) turn at 1/2 mile I was starting to pass people who went out to fast.  Only one person passed me after the half (and I had passed him at 1.5 and he re-passed me with 200 to go).

I concentrated on moving by people and getting to the high point on the course (1.2 miles).  After that I focused on getting down to the Center.  It was nice getting cheers along the way.  My parents were near the finish and Petey and Scott were at the 1.5 mark (Scott took the pic below).

I pushed right to the line and was happy to get in under 12 minutes.  My time (11:53) put me 1:40 ahead of second place in the 60+ which was Bob Sullivan the race director!

Age graded 11:53 equals an 84.6 which is 9:33.  Not near my PR on the course but I'm happy with the effort.

Results (top 10 and top 10 60+) - 2061 finishers and 68 in the 60-69

Bib Place Div/Pl Name Age Sex Division Gun Time City State #61 1 1 Dave Dunham 61 M M6069 11:53 Bradfrod MA #33 2 2 Sullivan Bob 61 M M6069 13:33 Chelmsford MA #472 3 3 Carlos Borges 60 M M6069 14:08 Tyngsboro MA #1472 4 4 Gary Yu 69 M M6069 14:21 Stow MA #412 5 5 Gerald Fredrickson 63 M M6069 14:29 Westford MA #468 6 6 John Christensen 62 M M6069 14:33 Chelmsford MA #1438 7 7 Scott Keohane 60 M M6069 14:33 Littleton MA #70 8 8 Glenn Ackley 64 M M6069 14:56 Chelmsford MA #348 9 9 Joseph Poirier 63 M M6069 14:56 Chelmsford MA #1288 10 10 David Forgue 62 M M6069 15:06 Chelmsford MA Bib	Place	Div/Pl	Name	Age	Sex	Division	Gun Time	City	State
	1	1	Mitchell Dervin	25	M	M1929	8:55	Cambridge	MA
#1897	2	2	Alex Corbett	28	M	M1929	9:00	Worcester	MA
#1748	3	3	John Mieszczanski	24	M	M1929	9:20	Chelmsford	MA
#1713	4	1	Matthew Giardina	18	M	M1718	9:27	Tyngsboro	MA
#1950	5	4	Chris Kimball	26	M	M1929	10:10	Pepperell	MA
#729	6	5	Kenny Goodwin	22	M	M1929	10:19	N. Chelmsford	MA
#1761	7	1	Michael Studer	14	M	M1314	10:23	Westford	MA
#1129	8	2	Matthew Monnes	18	M	M1718	10:25	N. Chelmsford	MA
#1949	9	6	Devin Allen	28	M	M1929	10:25	Methuen	MA
#792	10	7	Brett Trainor	20	M	M1929	10:29	N. Chelmsford	MA

Monthly stats

 I managed to average over 12 miles a day for the month despite adding in 22 hours of biking.  This had the not surprising result of giving me the least amount of triples (three runs in a day) for a month this year.  It also gave me my highest average mileage per run (5.55).  I’m at 2,241 for 6 months and would be very pleased if I get over 4,000 for the year.  In July I’m hoping to do a little training while biking the Erie Canal and then ease back up to “normal” mileage.  This was the first month in MANY months that I did not see the ISS at all.