30 Years ago (October 1991) I started the month with a
win at Chelmsford High School running the U-Lowell alumni race. I “felt lousy” and was out in 10th
place in the early going (4:44 at the
mile) before pulling away running 15:09 over the 5k cross-country course. The following week I was locked in a tight battle with Rich Dorion (CMS) at the
Applefest Half-marathon. Sometime
after the big uphill at 10 miles Rich and I decided
that it just wasn’t worth it to fight right to the finish. We ended up in a tie running 1:08:30. Three months later Rich and I would become teammates as I jumped ship from GLRR to
CMS. Next up was pacing Petey at the
Baystate marathon. Mark Behan also ran with us for the first
15 before pulling ahead as Petey slowed. I
stayed with Petey until he called it
a day, then I upped the pace hoping to get back down to 6:00 pace for the total
time. I ended up running 2:38:23 to take 4th place. The last 10k was run
much faster than “tempo run” pace. Seven days later I closed
out the month with a win at the
Canton (MA) Gravy race where I ran 30:12.
1 Dave Dunham 30:12
2 Steve Warren 31:24
3 Washburn 31:47
4 Mike Woodman 32:04
5 Steinbrecher 33:25
7 Brad Hurst 33:56
25 years ago (October 1996) I ran five races during this month. I started out the month running the Portland (Maine) marathon with Byrne Decker. The plan was for Byrne to win, but if anyone closed on us, I’d pick it up and go for the win. We ran in lock-step for the first 20 miles building up a pretty significant lead. The last 10k was a bit of a struggle but Byrne gutted it out and took the victory with me a second behind in 2:34:57. A week later I headed to New Castle for the Great Island 5k. I ended up getting outkicked in the last half mile, finishing 2nd in 14:54 two seconds back. Dan was close behind after leading for the first 1.5 miles of the race. Nearly 700 finished, which is a crazy-big field on a course that turns on average once every 100 yards. The following weekend I thought I’d try for some cash running two races on the same morning (The IATC and Beth Brodie 5k’s). There was a ton of rain from Hurricane Lilli which caused some flooding, and the day was tough for running with 20-50 mph winds. I ran the Brodie race in West Newbury over a 1km loop that was thrown together due to the flooding. Wouldn’t you know it, the field was stacked, and I ended up in fourth (15:06) one place out of the money. George Yiannelis was 1st in 14:50, Dan Verrington took 2nd in 14:56, and Jose Moreira took the final money spot. I quickly packed up and headed to Medford for the Irish-American 5k where I was able to muster a 15:24, which was only good enough for 3rd place and zero money. I was exactly 1 second out of first, Phil Healey and Tesfay Bekele just a step ahead. Needless to say, it was a lost weekend. The final weekend of the month found me racing at the Cape Cod marathon. Craig Fram and I were locked in a battle for top spot in the USATF New England Grand Prix. We’d each beaten the other a couple of times over the year in GP competition and had some close finishes. Craig had a one point lead on me going into the marathon, so I’d need to beat him to at least tie with him in the series. We went out in a pack of five through the first half of the race, and then it was just me and Craig from 20 miles on. He put in a surge at 24 and I just couldn’t cover and he pulled away to win the race about 14 seconds up on me. I ran 2:24:05 running a negative split (1:12:25 / 1:11:40) which wasn’t quite fast enough. It was a lot of fun battling back and forth.
1 2:23:52 Craig Fram Plaistow NH CMS
2 2:24:06 Dave Dunham Bradford MA CMS
3 2:30:24 Gary Dennis Montague NJ
4 2:32:12 Peter Pazik Wallingford CT
5 2:33:51 Kevin McGovern W Boylston MA CMS
1 Dave Dunham 30:12
2 Steve Warren 31:24
3 Washburn 31:47
4 Mike Woodman 32:04
5 Steinbrecher 33:25
7 Brad Hurst 33:56
25 years ago (October 1996) I ran five races during this month. I started out the month running the Portland (Maine) marathon with Byrne Decker. The plan was for Byrne to win, but if anyone closed on us, I’d pick it up and go for the win. We ran in lock-step for the first 20 miles building up a pretty significant lead. The last 10k was a bit of a struggle but Byrne gutted it out and took the victory with me a second behind in 2:34:57. A week later I headed to New Castle for the Great Island 5k. I ended up getting outkicked in the last half mile, finishing 2nd in 14:54 two seconds back. Dan was close behind after leading for the first 1.5 miles of the race. Nearly 700 finished, which is a crazy-big field on a course that turns on average once every 100 yards. The following weekend I thought I’d try for some cash running two races on the same morning (The IATC and Beth Brodie 5k’s). There was a ton of rain from Hurricane Lilli which caused some flooding, and the day was tough for running with 20-50 mph winds. I ran the Brodie race in West Newbury over a 1km loop that was thrown together due to the flooding. Wouldn’t you know it, the field was stacked, and I ended up in fourth (15:06) one place out of the money. George Yiannelis was 1st in 14:50, Dan Verrington took 2nd in 14:56, and Jose Moreira took the final money spot. I quickly packed up and headed to Medford for the Irish-American 5k where I was able to muster a 15:24, which was only good enough for 3rd place and zero money. I was exactly 1 second out of first, Phil Healey and Tesfay Bekele just a step ahead. Needless to say, it was a lost weekend. The final weekend of the month found me racing at the Cape Cod marathon. Craig Fram and I were locked in a battle for top spot in the USATF New England Grand Prix. We’d each beaten the other a couple of times over the year in GP competition and had some close finishes. Craig had a one point lead on me going into the marathon, so I’d need to beat him to at least tie with him in the series. We went out in a pack of five through the first half of the race, and then it was just me and Craig from 20 miles on. He put in a surge at 24 and I just couldn’t cover and he pulled away to win the race about 14 seconds up on me. I ran 2:24:05 running a negative split (1:12:25 / 1:11:40) which wasn’t quite fast enough. It was a lot of fun battling back and forth.
1 2:23:52 Craig Fram Plaistow NH CMS
2 2:24:06 Dave Dunham Bradford MA CMS
3 2:30:24 Gary Dennis Montague NJ
4 2:32:12 Peter Pazik Wallingford CT
5 2:33:51 Kevin McGovern W Boylston MA CMS
No comments:
Post a Comment