Wednesday, May 11, 2022

 10 years ago – I kicked off May of 2012 with a rare (and hated) night race in West Newbury for the Pipestave 5k.  I found myself in the lead at ½ mile and stayed there until 1.5 miles when Dmitry Drosdov stormed by on a technical downhill.  Steve Dowsett and Josh Korn also went by as we started the second shorter loop.  I got back into second but could not close on Dmitry who broke Dan Verrington’s course record from the previous year (by 1:20!).

1 Dimitry Drozdov         18:02    5:49     40M      Lincoln, MA
2 Dave Dunham            18:16    5:54     48M      Bradford, MA
3 Josh Korn                   18:25    5:57     31M                  
4 Steve Dowsett           18:35    6:00     24M      Newburyport, MA
5 Sean McDonough       18:39    6:01     29M      Somerville, MA
6 Christopher Smith      18:45    6:03     46M      Woburn, MA
7 Joe Shairs                  18:49    6:05     43M      Peabody, MA


Next up was the Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race which was the kick-off to the season here in New England.  I spent the weekend hanging out with Eric and Murdock Morse before headed to the race. 
I started out in the top 15 and felt like I was moving pretty quickly.  When I passed the 2 mile mark I started to feel good as we started the big climb. I caught teammates Mike Quintal and Tim Van Orden by the top.  We’d end up battling the rest of the way.  We ended up with me 7th, Mike right behind in 8th, and TiVO close behind.

Next up was the Bedford Rotary 12k the following week (05/19/12). A big group of CMS teammates headed out for our normal 3 mile warm-up, which was a good time to check out the course from 6 miles to the finish.  I wanted to “ease” into the race and hopefully have a strong run after we’d passed three miles. By three miles I was feeling pretty good and tried to up the pace on the tougher fourth mile. I slowly began reeling in some of the top 50+ runners At four miles I started thinking that maybe I had a shot at Wayne Levy (BAA). Wayne was leading the Grand Prix in the 45-49 and I kept thinking “maybe he is tired from Boston”. I ended up catching Wayne right at the 6 mile mark but he would not be dropped. We had a lot of back and forth through the 7 mile mark where he gapped me and I just couldn’t reel him back in. I was  happy with a top 10 masters finish, and only Wayne beat me in the 45-49. The only frustrating part is missing my PR by 1 second! 


1          36:51    4:57 Kevin Johnson       23 M 182 WMDP Hanover NH
2          37:40    5:04 Nate Jenkins         31 M 131 CMS   Andover MA
11        39:31   5:18 Kevin Tilton           30 M 395 CMS   North Conway NH
15        39:37    5:19 Mike Quintal          34 M 393 CMS   North Andover MA
21        39:58    5:22 Alan Bernier          37 M 385 CMS   Providence RI
22        39:59    5:22 Greg Hammett      34 M 388 CMS   Chesterfield NH
23        40:25    5:26 Dan Vassallo         27 M 396 CMS   Peabody MA
29        40:58    5:30 Scott Leslie           30 M 389 CMS   Rutland MA
31        41:06    5:31 Chris Mahoney      34 M 390 CMS   Havehill MA
34        41:13    5:32 Greg Putnam         42 M 392 CMS   Stoneham MA
36        41:21    5:33 Joe Shairs             44 M 394 CMS   Peabody MA
39        41:46*  5:37 Dave Dunham       48 M 386 CMS   Bradford MA
43        42:01    5:38 George Adams       42 M 384 CMS   Gilsum NH
49        42:16    5:41 Kevin Gorman       35 M 387 CMS   Norwood MA
50        42:20*  5:41 Martin Tighe          54 M 492 CMS   Providence RI
55        42:50    5:45 Dan Verrington      49 M 397 CMS   Bradford MA
57        42:57    5:46 Sam Wood            25 M 398 CMS   Laconia NH
65        43:12    5:48 Jim Pawlicki          37 M 391 CMS   Lynn MA
113       47:43    6:24 David Quintal        48 M 478 CMS   Salem NH
145       49:39    6:40 David Lapierre       48 M     14 CMS Chelmsford MA

I approached the Wachusett mountain race with some level of fear. I skipped it last year due to concerns about the final technical descent but figured I'd give it a go this year. It was quite humid and the rocks on the trail were slick. My plan was to work the uphills as hard as possible and "survive" the two single-track sections. Over 200 of us headed off up Mile Hill road and I found myself in 12th place in the early going. I moved up to 9th place by the time we turned into the state park and started to descend. I was very cautious over the last half-mile making sure I didn't roll an ankle on the crappy I ended up finishing in 8th place and 3rd master. Todd Callaghan had a solid run taking fourth overall in a quick 29:45 with TiVo 33 seconds behind him (and 1:23 ahead of me).

1 29:01 Brandon Newbold         1/33     M30-39 Nottingham      Whirl
2 29:04 Eric MacKnight              1/22     M20-29 Clifton Park       ARE
3 29:10 Jim Johnson                 2/33     M30-39 Madison, NH     CMS
4 29:45 Todd Callaghan             1/43     M40-49 Beverly GCS
5 30:18 Tim Van Orden              2/43     M40-49 Bennington       CMS
6 31:09 Mike Quintal                 3/33     M30-39 N. Andover       CMS
7 31:30 Matt Veiga                    2/22     M20-29 Lynn    
8 31:41 Dave Dunham               3/43     M40-49 Bradford           CMS
9 32:01 Sam Wood                    3/22     M20-29 Laconia, NH      CMS
10 32:04 Brian Ruhm                4/43     M40-49 Nashua, NH      GCS


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