Feb. 1996

20 years ago = Feb 1996, I only ran three races but I made the best of it with two wins and a second place while getting in a very solid 370 while not missing a day.  I got buried at the Cape Elizabeth Mid-Winter Classic as Rob Pierce ran a course record 51:10.  I was happy with my race noting “I was alone from 2m on and it was exactly zero degrees out there”.  I ran 51:56. 

  1  51:10 Rob Pierce                   35M      Alfred,ME            

  2  51:56 Dave Dunham              31M      Bradford, MA      CMS
  3  53:21 Bryne Decker               29M      Londonderry,NH              CMS
  4  53:46 Scott Brown                 37M      Lewiston, ME     
  5  56:21 Bob Winn                    37M      Ogunquit, ME      
  6  56:30 David Weatherbie         27M      Cumberland, ME CMS

The following weekend I ran the Bradford Valentines race and set the still standing course record of 24:31.  Dan Verrington and Umass Lowell coach (and then CMS teammate) Gary Gardner were with me through 2.5 when I broke away for the win.  Gary and Dan took second and third in 25:00 and 25:10 respectively.

    1  24:31 Dave Dunham       31 M BRADFORD    
    2  25:03 Gary Gardner        24 M KEENE           
    3  25:18 Dan Verrington     33 M BRADFORD    
    4  26:09 Eric Beauchesne   25 M CHELMSFORD 
    5  2716  Stephen Peterson 29 M LOWELL       

My final race of the month was the Dartmouth Invitational indoor track meet.  Craig Fram and I heard that a bunch of fast guys would be there trying to qualify for Nationals.  It turned out we were the only two people entered in the 5,000.  We decided to alternate 800m each until 2 miles then it was ‘anybody’s race’.  I took the lead at 2 and beat Craig running a 14:52.  This was definitely an unusual race.