35 Years ago: I raced six times during this month
which was the meat of my junior year of cross-country racing at Billerica
Memorial High School. I only ran 169 miles during the month with six days off
early in the month. I kicked off the month with a win at home versus Austin
Prep. With splits of 5:00, 5:13, and 5:20 I took first in 15:33. A week later
I tied with teammate John Dangora in a dual meet at Wilmington, both of us
running 15:33 over the 3 mile course. Four days later I noted that I “felt
tired” as I went out with the leaders in the first mile (4:46) of the Catholic
Memorial race at Franklin Park. I sputtered to a sixth place finish over the
2.9 mile course in 15:21. Three days later I went to a fight and a
cross-country meet broke out. Billerica versus Tewksbury dual meet at Tewksbury
high school. John Dangora and I were in the lead pack with a couple of
Tewksbury runners. Elbows were thrown and there was some pushing and shoving.
We got behind the school and John said something like “are we going to race or
fight”. It turned out we’d do both. I took off and won the race (2.7 miles in
13:10), John took second. When Tewksbury runner Nick Romano crossed the line
John threw a punch and the brawl ensued. I remember Coach Mike Granfield ending
up on top of both of them and eventually separating them. What a wild dual
meet! Four days later I took 5th place at the Northern Area
Championship XC race at Bradley Palmer State park (3m in 15:54) on a cold and
windy day. The weird part was during the race people kept yelling “Go Dave”
which was surprising since Billerica didn’t race often in that area. I was
excited that so many people knew me, right up until the finish when I found that
everyone was actually yelling for Dave Quintal. The final meet of the month was
another tie, this time with teammate Mike Bushnach. The top 4 runners from
Methuen did not run the dual meet as it was only a few days before the next big
meet at Franklin Park. Snatch and I tied in 15:30 over the three mile
course.
20 Years ago: I got in 384 miles during this month
while racing four times and taking three wins. I started the month with a visit
to New Castle for the “Great Island 5k”. This “big” local race (670 finishers)
basically ran on every street in the tiny town of New Castle. CMS Teammates
Scott Clark and Rod Viens took the race out hard, and then Dan Verrington moved
into the lead just before the 2 mile mark. I was a few steps back with Mike
O’Brien trying to hold on. I took the lead in the last ½ mile and put some
distance on both Mike and Dan as we entered the final loop in the park. I
picked up $150 for the win in 14:59.
2nd ANNUAL GREAT ISLAND 5K ROAD RACE
October 8, 1995 5 Kilometers (USATF Certified) New Castle,
NH
1 DAVE DUNHAM 31 M BRADFORD, MA
14:59 4:49
2 MICHAEL O'BRIEN 35 M DURHAM, NH
15:04 4:51
3 DAN VERRINGTON 33 M BRADFORD, MA
15:08 4:52
4 SCOTT CLARK 29 M GILMANTON, NH
15:08 4:52
5 DEAN KIMBALL 37 M CANDIA, NH
15:25 4:58
6 ROD VIENS 28 M CLAREMONT, NH
15:49 5:05
The following weekend I got another win, this time in
Peabody MA at the Brooksby farm 5 mile cross-country race. I couldn’t find any
online results (this was in the early days of Coolrunning), but I took first in
26:56 in a field of 31 finishers.
The next weekend was the Mayor’s cup XC race in Boston.
This race has always attracted the hardcore XC racers as can be seen with my
27th place in 24:41. I noted in my training log that I “went out
hard but was way back”. CMS had a big presence due in part to a brief merger
with “Sev’s team” from Boston. That merger didn’t last very long.
Event 1 Men's 8,000 Meter Cross Country
(7935M)
1 Seamus McElligott 27
Nike 23:09.0
2 Brad Barquist 27 Mizuno
TC 23:12.0
3 Abidi Bouaza 24 Westchester
TC 23:20.0
4 Jonathan Hume 27 Reebok RC
23:26.0
5 Gary Giffen 26 New Balance Coastal TC
23:35.0
6 Pat Porter 30 Mizuno
TC 23:47.0
7 Dan Middleman 26 New York AC
23:47.3
8 Kevin Herd 24
Unattached 23:51.0
9 Wilhelm Gidabuday Life
College 23:56.0
10 Tim Gannon 30 Boston Running Club
23:58.0
20 Eric Morse
30 Central Mass Striders 24:18.0
27 Dave
Dunham 31 Central Mass Striders 24:41.0
33 Bill Bland 26 Central Mass
Striders 24:53.0 Sev’s
34 Scott
Clark 29 Central Mass Striders 24:54.0
41 Jamalh Prince 25 Central Mass
Striders 25:09.0 Sev’s
54 Chris Bianchi 27 Central Mass
Striders 25:36.0 Sev’s
55 Richard
Bolt Central Mass Striders 25:37.0
58 Greg DeMeo 34 Central Mass
Striders 25:43.0 Sev’s
79 Nathanial Halsey 24 Central Mass
Striders 26:18.0 Sev’s
91 Bob
Hodge 40 Central Mass Striders 26:38.3 Wow! A 40-year-old
Hodgie cranking fast time!
117 James Pawlicki 21
Unattached 27:34.0 Future CMS racing team manager
118 Pat Callahan 22 Central Mass
Striders 27:36.0 Sev’s
I finished the month with a small XC race in the Middlesex
Fells (Stoneham, MA). The Hurtin’ for Certain club put on a 5k XC race which I
won in 15:33.
15 Years ago: I raced three times over this month
during a stretch of racing that I hadn’t done before and would never do again
(racing 154 miles over 5 weeks, completing three marathons, a half-marathon, and
a 100km race. I got three wins, a second and a fifth place. I think I’m still
trying to recover from this). It seemed that most of my mileage was from racing
as I totaled “only” 392 miles for the month. I took the plunge and ran my first
Ultramarathon to start the moth off with a bang. I’m not sure why I chose the
Chancellor’s Challenge 100k in Boston, but I remember thinking that if I was
going to go beyond the marathon I’d REALLY go beyond the marathon. It was windy
and in the 40’s as we took off on ten 10k loops that did a figure 8 passing the
Hatch Shell every 5k. I went out conservatively in the early miles trying to
relax and let the miles pass. I hit the marathon in 2:47 and thought “I’ve
never raced further than this”. My next marathon was run in 2:50, and I closed
out the distance with a 1:09 for the final 10 miles. For the first half of the
race I hovered around the top ten then slowly began passing people. I went into
the lead at 75km (46 miles) and pulled away for a 7 minute win in 6:46:39. At
the time that got me ranked 9th on the U.S. 100km list. The race was
superbly managed by Dave Magilvary, and I took home $3,000 for the win.
A week later I visited Farmington NH for the Nute Ridge
half-marathon which was part of the Hockomock Swamp Rat series that I was trying
to win. I ended up taking second place to CMS teammate Larry Sayers running a
1:14:27 and picking up $25 for the effort.
Nute Ridge Half Marathon
1 1:12:54 5:34 LARRY SAYERS 41 M BELLOWS
FALLS VT
2 1:14:28 5:41 DAVID DUNHAM 36 M
HAVERHILL MA
3 1:16:57 5:53 MIHALY MOLNAR 31 M
HUNGARY
4 1:20:21 6:08 CHIP LANGMAID 38 M ST.
JOHNSBURY VT
5 1:21:39 6:14 KEVIN HYNES 35 M MEDFORD
MA
Two weeks later I closed out the month with a fifth place
at the Falmouth Marathon (USATF NE championship) in 2:30:53 on cold (35-40) and
windy (30 mph) day. A big pack stayed together through the half before things
started to roll, probably in deference to the weather.
USATF-NE Grand Prix Marathon Championship
1 DANNY GOUGH 32 M M1439 PORTSMOUTH
RI 2:24:29 5:31
2 CRAIG F. FRAM 42 M M4049 PLAISTOW
NH 2:27:55 5:39 WRT
3 LOWELL LADD 24 M M1439 CARLISLE
PA 2:28:05 5:40 BAA
4 LARRY
SAYERS 40 M M4049 BELLOWS FALLS VT 2:28:55 5:42 CMS
5 DAVE
DUNHAM 36 M M1439 BRADFORD MA 2:30:53 5:46 CMS
6 PAUL HAMMOND 40 M M4049 LEXINGTON
MA 2:32:01 5:49 WRT
7 CHRIS TEAGUE 30 M M1439 NORWOOD
MA 2:33:22 5:52 GLRR
8 ERIC G. BEAUCHESNE 30 M M1439 CHELMSFORD
MA 2:34:23 5:54 GLRR
9 CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE 37 M M1439 PROVIDENCE
RI 2:34:29 5:54 BAA
10 GREGG
CORNELL 40 M M4049 PASCOAG RI 2:34:37 5:55 CMS
15 JIM G.
GARCIA 42 M M4049 WESTFORD MA 2:42:07 6:12 CMS
20 JERRY
LEARNED 52 M M5059 HOPKINTON MA 2:53:56 6:39 CMS
30 ANDY
ROGOVIN 42 M M4049 BOSTON MA 2:58:00 6:48 CMS
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