Looking back

25 Years ago

I only raced twice in August of 1986; I was training hard preparing for my final Cross-Country season at U-Lowell and used the races to check my fitness.  At the Lowell Firefighters race (5 mile) I took second place in 24:32.  Larry Olsen was the winner in 24:24, Larry always showed up to race and this was one of the first times I’d gone up against him.  We’d race many times over the next couple of decades.  The other race I did was also in Lowell, the very popular Dubliner race.  Over 1,200 turned out for this run on a perfect day for racing.  I didn’t really “have it” on this day running 24:34 to take second place to Doug Sweezey who ran 24:03.

20 Years ago

I was pretty busy in August of 1991, running five races (the most I’ve run in ANY August).  I started the month with a handicapped race in Windham NH.  The director had everyone estimate their finishing time and the slowest runner started first and everyone else following based on predicted finish time.  Theoretically everyone would reach the finish at the same time.  I was the last to start in the field of 30 and I ended up with the fastest time of the day over 10 KM (31:05), I’m not sure what place I got.  A couple of days later I hit the track in Worcester.  I’m not sure why I did this race, but Bob Hodge went so maybe we decided to head into CMS country and test ourselves.  I ended up taking first in the 2 mile, running 9:10.1.  Hodgie finished in second just 1/10^th of a second behind me.  A few days later I was back on the road running the Londonderry Old Home days 5 KM.  This is a tough race with a very fast first mile (over the Millennium Mile course), then a flat middle mile and a really tough final mile coming back up the first mile of the course.  I managed a 14:44 for first place.  The time is the still standing course record.  Four days later I hit the woods of Lynn for the Lynn woods relay.  Our “Sully’s Ice Cream” team set the still standing course record and I set the still standing standard for the 2.5 mile course (12:05) over the anchor leg.  My final race of the month was the USATF (then called NEAC) 5 KM road championships in Goddard state park (Greenwhich, RI).  A hurricane had come through the day before and due to downed trees they had to modify the course which turned out to be about 30 seconds long.  I took third place in 15:07 and bitter rival (kidding) Eric Morse took the win in 14:56.

15 Years ago

I raced three times in August of 1996, twice in Europe on the “Mountain Circuit”.  I started the month with a 2^nd place finish at the Bridge of Flowers 10 KM which also served as the USATF NE championships.  I was top New England finisher and just missed the old course record by 2 seconds, but was 32 seconds behind Moroccan Houssine Siba.  CMS had a very strong team taking 2^nd-6^th place!

   1 HOUSSINE SIBA           23 M   KINGSTON, NY                        1/77     31:10  5:02

    2 DAVE DUNHAM             32 M   BRADFORD, MA        CMS        1/156    31:42  5:07

    3 MIKE NAHOM               28 M   NEW MILFORD, CT CMS        2/77     32:09  5:11

    4 CRAIG FRAM                 37 M   PLAISTOW, NH        CMS        2/156    32:18  5:13

    5 ERIC W MORSE            31 M   BARRE, VT                  CMS        3/156    32:22  5:13

    6 DAN VERRINGTON      34 M   BRADFORD, MA        CMS        4/156    32:46  5:17

    7 GARY D GARDNER       25 M   KEENE, NH                CMS        3/77     32:46  5:17

    8 SEAN TYNAN                23 M   FOXBORO, MA          GLRR       4/77     33:19  5:22

    9 JONATHAN RUSSELL  21 M   WAKEFIELD, MA      WRT        5/77     33:34  5:25

   10 GEORGE LUKE              30 M   WALTHAM, MA        GLRR       5/156    33:42  5:26

   11 WAYNE LEVY                31 M   WATERTOWN, MA   BAA        6/156    33:45  5:27

   12 TERRANCE MCNATT    31 M   NEEDHAM, MA         CSU        7/156    33:47  5:27

   13 WAYNE A JACOB        41 M   MYSTIC, CT               CMS        1/173    33:54  5:28

   14 JAMES S GARRETT     31 M   BENNINGTON, VT   CMS        8/156    33:58  5:29

   15 ROBERT O'HARA          41 M   JAMAICA PL, MA      TVFR       2/173    34:06  5:30

   16 DAVID L RAUNIG       41 M   NEW LONDON, CT   CMS        3/173    34:09  5:30

   17 SCOTT BROWN            38 M   CANTON, ME            WRT        9/156    34:10  5:31

   18 RICHARD A BOLT         25 M   LUNENBURG, MA     CMS        6/77     34:17  5:32

The last two races were European Mountain races leading up to the World championship.  I was sick during the trip and never felt ready to race.  I managed a 5^th place finish at the Challenge Stellina in Susa Italy (5,000’ of climb) and a third at the Kitzbuhlerhorn race in Kitzbuhel Austria (4,000’ of climb).  Kitzbuhel is an unusual race as the race gets steeper as you progress.  The last 500 meters is marked out in 100 meter increments.  I ran my last 100 in 37 seconds!