Looking back - 25 years ago

25 years ago (January 1996) - Six races and five wins to kick off 1996 while getting 431 miles in with weeks of 94, 91, 100, and 107. I started the year with a tough battle against Dan Verrington and Rob Pierce at the WCRC Hangover 10k. I didn’t pull away for good until less than ½ mile to go and ended up with the “W” by just a few seconds (30:28).
1 Dave Dunham              30:28
2 Dan Verrington             30:35 (PR)
3 Robb Pierce                  30:39
4 Eric Beauschesne          32:44

A few days later (01/05/96) I went for a “triple” at the Dartmouth relays. I took first in the 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000 in 4:12, 8:44, and 15:39 respectively. Art Demers was 3^rd in the 1,500 running a couple of tenths behind second place in 4:22.6.  They lined up 30 people in the 3k which made it a bit rough as we were lapping people by ½ mile in.  Barry Harwick sat on me as he was taking a shot at the US masters record.  He ended up missing it by just .8!  John Fiola took 3^rd place in 8:57. The 5k was a mixed race (men and women) and I ended up running alone from the start with second place running over 17 minutes.

Maybe the mileage and racing took a bit too much out of me? I suffered at the Ras Na Heiran (Race of Ireland – 01/21/96) where I finished 20th in a very tough XC race. The highlight was drinking Irish coffee and playing cribbage for post-race relaxation.

I closed out the month with a win at the Freeze your Bunz 5m race in Nashua in 25:41 for a course record in a raced that I called in my training log “a workout with Byrne”.
1 Dave Dunham              25:41 (CR)
2 Byrne Decker                26:21
3 Ed Sheldon                  29:04