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double d mountain runner
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Angels
Next up was the “Angels 5k”. This was the sixth race in the CARS, as with the previous weekend I was not planning on being here but with my knee issues I was not away for this race. It was nasty hot all week with temps in the 90s and tropical dew point readings. I felt miserable most of the week, not to mention my knee which was bad enough that I went back in for a very early follow-up. Race morning was not HOT but it was soupy. 75 degrees but dew points also in the 70s. The race was at 8 am, so at least it wouldn’t be brutally hot.
I headed out for a course preview warm-up and ran the last mile with Ernie Brake and Tim Cox. I was hoping to give Ernie a good race but was feeling pretty flat. I was dripping wet changing into race gear and then headed out for another mile with some strides. A decent field of nearly 200 lined up and shot off at the start. I found myself in 15th place and was having a lot of trouble getting going. Ernie had already gapped me by 200 meters in and I found myself running with Allison Davis, the top woman in the CARS. She was out a little quick but I was also struggling, I’d started the year beating her by nearly a minute and every race she has gotten closer. I don’t want ANYONE beating me and don’t really care if it is a man or woman. I locked onto her as we hit the downhill into the mile mark. Ernie was up ahead in the pack with Tim Cox and Sam Wood already more than 10 seconds ahead. At 1.2 Allison said “Tim is fading, let’s catch him”. I didn’t say anything, I was pretty sure Tim would NOT fade and his group was already 15 seconds ahead. At 1.6 we hit the tough hill and I pulled away from Allison and finally started making up some ground on Ernie. At 2 miles I was about 10 seconds back from Ernie, but I just couldn’t get rolling as the course flattened out. At each turn Ernie looked back, so I knew he was nervous. With ½ mile to go I’d closed to about 5 seconds but wouldn’t get any closer as he had a decent kick (and I didn’t). It took all I had to crack 20 minutes! Dang, I’d run nearly 30 seconds a mile faster a few weeks ago. Ugly. That is my sixth race in the 9 race series. Since it is a best 6 finishes, I don’t need to run any of the remaining races. If my knee allows I’ll do the Woodchuck 5k on July 27 and that will be the end of racing for a while. More on that later.
1 16:57 Eli Lemire M18 Weare, NH
2 17:33 Dylan Schulze M33 Goffstown, NH
3 18:40 Steven Groulx M23 Chester, NH
4 18:51 Spencer Pidhunrey M17 Auburn, NH
5 19:05 Timothy Cox M51 Northwood, NH
6 19:07 Sam Wood M38 Laconia, NH
7 19:42 Max Bowman M18 Berlin, NH
8 19:50 Ernest Brake M62 Sutton, NH
9 19:54 Jason Schoeller M25 Manchester, NH
10 19:57 Dave Dunham M60 Bradford, MA
11 20:02 Max Goupil M14 Contoocook, NH
12 20:07 Allison Davis F36 Contoocook, NH
13 21:05 Graham Hayslip M33 Canterbury, NH
14 21:32 Norman Goupil M46 Contoocook, NH
15 21:50 Richard Clymer M63 Concord, NH
Friday, July 12, 2024
Exploring
I had originally planned to take from the fourth of July to the 15th off from work to ride the Erie Canal. My knee put an end to that, so I gave back most of my vacation time. Eric had some time off and was interested in checking out various rail trails, so I kept a long weekend in play and headed to Vermont and New York. It was a fun time, I got in some biking, fireworks, a bunch of rail trails for runs and many hours of hijinks. I also ran in a NY town I’d never run in, caught the International Space Station twice in the same day, and checked out a historical cemetery (the Letterbox was no longer there). Runs included the Concord & Sunapee rail trail, Northern rail trail, Ti-Haul rail trail, Shelburne Bay Park trail, Adirondack rail trail (Lake Placid end), Adirondack rail trail (Saranac Lake end), Little Ausable River rail trail (a side rail from the Delaware & Hudson), Plattsburgh Community Path, and the Causeway trail.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Looking back - July 2019
I popped back up with an assist from Terry McNatt and was on my way. I reached the mile in 5:43m much slower than I'd hoped for! I got to the finish in 11:21.something. Basically, what I'd thought I could run but not quite what I'd hoped for.
This makes it look like it took me 10 seconds to run the last 3 steps. It felt that long but is actually a quirk of the timing clock that rolls from 11:19 to 11:29 before the “9” rolls to “0”.
Carson Memorial 2 mile - MALE AGE GROUP: 50 to 59
Place O'All Time Name Age Sex Race# City/state
1 21 10:53 Bob Tremblay 52 M 703 Chelmsford MA
2 27 11:22 Dave Dunham 55 M 11 Bradford MA
3 29 11:26 Scott Grandfield 54 M 1622 Rehoboth MA
4 33 11:29 Terry McNatt 54 M 1544 Needham MA
5 66 12:55 Bob Sullivan 55 M 33 Chelmsford MA
Loon Mountain race: I like the Loon mountain race so much I (accidently) entered it twice! They had a special $15 entry fee back in January, so I entered. June rolled around, and I decided I wanted to do Loon and entered it again. D’oh! Conditions were great, about 70 degrees but very dry and comfortable. My goal for today was to see if I could top the Senior (50+) age group. Steve Brightman would most likely be the guy to keep an eye on. He has speed, strength, and can climb with the best. I was in about 70th at the start of the XC portion of the race.
My goal for the 2.5 miles of XC was to not get hurt. I stayed on my feet and slowly moved by a few more guys. The real climbing starts after the XC part. I could see that Steve was about 30 seconds ahead and showing no signs of slowing. I had looked at last year’s results and knew that I’d run over a minute faster than Steve at the Upper Walking Boss, so my goal was to have him within that range when I got there.
Finally, the UWB timing mat loomed in sight and I checked my watch to see how far Steve was ahead (15 seconds), then SLAM the climb started. I passed him about halfway up. I got to the line then hit the ground for some recovery.
M50+
30 1:03:43 1 M50-59 Dave Dunham M 55 Bradford MA Central Mass Striders
32 1:04:15 2 M50-59 Jim Boule M 52 Campton NH acidotic RACING
33 1:04:22 3 M50-59 Steve Brightman M 50 Providence RI Central Mass Striders
44 1:06:42 4 M50-59 Jeff Walker M 53 Falmouth ME Dirigo RC
45 1:06:54 5 M50-59 Erik Vandendries M 54 Chestnut Hill MA Central Mass Striders
63 1:10:51 9 M50-59 Ed Sheldon M 54 Hooksett NH Central Mass Striders
140 1:20:05 22 M50-59 David Lapierre M 55 Chelmsford MA Central Mass Striders
Boston Community Gardens: While working on visiting all of the Trustee’s of the Reservations properties I saw that they also managed 56 community gardens throughout Boston. Although you couldn’t count them towards the “Hike 125” totals, I thought it’d be cool to try to visit them all in one fell swoop. Two of the locations were in East Boston with no access by foot to Boston proper so I came up with a loop that would visit 54 locations in a little under 27 miles. I tossed the idea out to some of my CMS teammates and David Lapierre signed on. We met at the Andover park and ride at 4am, drove to the two East Boston locations by 4:30am and were ready to run at 5am. With a start/finish at the Franklin Park Zoo we did a big counterclockwise loop of Boston that took a little less than 5 hours. I handled most of the navigation with Dave handling most of the conversation. It was a terrific morning that went off without a hitch and gave me a much better impression of city running. We are claiming the speed record for visiting all of the Community Gardens but may also be the first people to visit them all. Great fun!
Bill Luiti 5 mile (July 20): It was a nasty hot and humid morning, so no one would be running personal bests. My goal for the day was to survive and hopefully move one step closer to winning the Age Graded Masters in the series and help our team toward taking the team title.
My hope was to keep Scott Clark in sight for the first 1.5 and then see what I could do on the downhill. Scott went out and Ernie Brake and I hooked up with him about 1/2 mile in. We were all pretty much together for most of the uphill then Ernie turned on the jets and put 10+ seconds on us. I was about 30th place at the bottom of the hill and moved up a couple of places on the climb. Scott and I ran together until a little after 3 then I just could not stick with him.
I held on for a disappointing 31:42 (compared to 29:38 last year) but managed a first place in the Age Graded Masters and the 55-59 age group. Our team had a great day taking the top 3 age graded places and 4 of the top 6!
Trying to catch fellow 50+ Sean Snow Didn’t get him
50+
15 1/16 M5054 31:17 31:17 6:16 Scott Clark 53 M 194 Gilmanton NH 78.85%
19 2/16 M5054 31:42 31:42 6:21 Sean Snow 52 M 371 Dunbarton NH 77.17%
20 1/29 M5559 31:43 31:43 6:21 Dave Dunham 55 M 15 Bradford MA 79.10%
22 2/29 M5559 32:19 32:18 6:28 Jim Angell 55 M 147 Hopkinton NH 77.67%
23 3/16 M5054 32:24 32:23 6:29 Darin Brown 52 M 76 Madison NH 75.54%
25 3/29 M5559 32:47 32:46 6:34 Ernest Brake 58 M 195 North Sutton NH 78.57%
CARS finale - Woodchuck 5k: It all came down to this final race in the 8 race CAR series. The TBA team (me, JJ, Scott Clark, Ernie Brake, and Darin Brown) were leading but could still lose to Mugwumps. I was also leading the age graded masters but Jim Angell was right behind me and Scott and Ernie also had a shot at moving ahead of me.
My goal for this race was to take it out hard and never "settle in". Scott would need to run under 18 minutes on this quite hilly course to move ahead of me in AG standings but Jim Angell could run about 18:20 and (if ahead of me) beat me in the series. I was about 20th as we passed the Canterbury Fair and the downhill lessened. At about 1/2 mile I found a good rhythm and passed Ernie then drew even and passed Scott. At the 180 turn (1.5 miles) I took a careful look and did not see Jim (although he wasn't that far back). That gave me a boost to try to reel in Kevin Crowley (who is usually right around me). As I closed the gap on Kevin, Ernie seemed to fall back. At 2 miles I could hear him, but it sounded like he was falling back. I moved ahead of Kevin before we turned onto the dirt road with the final long hill. I thought about taking a look back but figured it would not help me go any faster and it just might give Ernie the idea that I was worried (I was). I felt pretty beat on the climb but closed on another guy before the 3 mile mark.
Our team (TBA) took 9th, 13th, 14th, and 15th overall and 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th in the Age Graded masters. That was good enough for us to lock up the series and me to lock up the series AG masters.
Canterbury Chipmunk 5k 07-27-19
1 1/3 MOPEN 15:51 5:06 Matt Chorney 30 M 273 Jackson WY 82.16%
2 2/3 MOPEN 16:48 5:25 Louis Saviano III 28 M 220 Sandown NH 77.31%
3 3/3 MOPEN 16:52 5:26 Andrew Tuttle 24 M 197 Alton NH 76.98%
4 1/15 M3039 17:29 5:38 David Chorney 31 M 289 Concord NH 74.66%
5 1/8 M1519 17:39 5:41 Colin Lessard 17 M 107 Bow NH 74.14%
9 1/29 M5059 18:27 5:57 Dave Dunham 55 M 15 Bradford MA 83.12%
12 2/29 M5059 18:49 6:04 Jim Angell 55 M 147 Hopkinton NH 81.50%
13 3/29 M5059 18:54 6:05 Scott Clark 53 M 194 Gilmanton NH 79.88%
14 4/29 M5059 18:58 6:07 Ernest Brake 58 M 195 North Sutton NH 82.82%
15 5/29 M5059 19:36 6:19 Darin Brown 52 M 76 Madison NH 76.43%
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Looking back - July 2009 & 2014
Loon Mountain
1 48:25 Jim Johnson M32 Salem NH CMS
2 48:49 Abdeltif Faker M24 Malden MA
3 48:57 Patrick Ard M25 Raymond NH Whirlaway
4 49:34 Andy McCarron M26 Keene NH CMS
5 50:01 Dave Dunham M45 Ward Hill MA CMS
6 50:16 Ed Breen M27 Medford MA GBTC
7 51:12 Tim VanOrden M41 Bennington VT CMS
8 51:21 Todd Callaghan M39 Somerville MA GCS-triad
11 52:52 Jim Pawlicki M34 Beverly MA CMS
Ascutney
1 37:26 9:22 Jim Johnson 32 M 583 Salem NH CMS
2 38:08 9:32 Andy McCarron 26 M 247 Keene NH CMS
3 38:43 9:41 Dave Dunham 45 M 539 Bradford MA CMS
4 39:03 9:46 Joe Shaw 28 M 373 Grantham NH
5 39:56 9:59 Todd Callaghan 39 M 455 Somerville MA GCS
6 40:52 10:13 Tim Van Orden 41 M 246 Bennington VT CMS
8 41:25 10:22 Kasie Enman 29 F 342
9 41:39 10:25 Tim Mahoney 29 M 450 Holyoke MA CMS
11 43:56 10:59 James Pawlicki 34 M 562 Beverly MA CMS
July 2014 (10 years ago): Another injury shortened month. I was dealing with a bone bruise and was in a walking boot except when running (with a promise to take time off after Loon Mountain which was the USA mountain championships). I finished in 46th place overall but more importantly (to me) I was tops in the 50+ age group running 1:02:55 for the 6.6 mile mostly uphill race. Two weeks later (07/20) I WALKED the Cranmore Mountain race to get my final race I needed for “Goat Status”. It was kind of fun to do the two laps with absolutely no running.
Chelmsford 4th of July - Carson Memorial Race
I missed hitting my watch at the start as I was using my arms to establish some space as we took off. I did not realize I missed it until we passed the ½ mile mark and it did not beep. I started it then, but missing the first ½ mile was a stupid mistake. I thought I got out well but was feeling sluggish through what should be a quick ½ mile. Doing the math working with the splits I had, and my finishing time had me going through in 3-flat. That was a at least 5 seconds slower than hoped for. Having just finished a 5k in under 6-minute pace I was hoping to run in the low 11:40’s. I don’t think missing that first split change how I raced. I went as hard as I could and just never felt smooth. I got a few shouts along the way (Joe at the water stop, Petey near 1 mile, and my parents with ¼ mile to go) which was nice. I passed people from ¼ to about 1.5 and only lost a couple of spots in the last ½ to some strong kickers. It took all I had to struggle into the finish before the clock rolled to 12 minutes.
I had just enough time to grab a water as D-la finished. We ended up taking 1st and 2nd in the 60+ with race director Bob Sullivan taking 3rd. I grabbed my hidden running shoes that I’d placed behind a tree the previous weekend and had a nice warm-down run back to the start with Jen H. It was nice getting to catch up and especially nice to have the race over and the worry done. My time was a disappointment but I’ll enjoy my prize for winning the age group ($20 gift certificate to Sullivan Farms ice cream).
Place Name Div/Tot Guntime Pace Div Age Sex City St
1 Alex Corbett 1 9:14 4:37 M1929 27 M Worcester MA
2 John Mieszczanski 2 9:25 4:43 M1929 23 M Chelmsford MA
3 Bryce Anderson 3 9:59 5:00 M1929 20 M Harrisburg NC
28 Cali Coffin 1 11:14 5:37 F1929 21 F Nashua NH
Top 10 60+
53 Dave Dunham 1 11:59 6:00 M6069 60 M Bradford MA 60
77 David Lapierre 2 12:42 6:21 M6069 60 M Chelmsford MA 705
95 Bob Sullivan 3 13:02 6:31 M6069 60 M Chelmsford MA 33
126 Thomas Noyes 4 13:43 6:52 M6069 61 M McCormick SC 208
136 Ken Goodin 5 13:49 6:55 M6069 69 M Lowell MA 1433
152 Keith O'Brien 6 14:02 7:01 M6069 60 M 1641
155 Glenn Ackley 7 14:05 7:03 M6069 63 M Chelmsford MA 135
162 Peter Wasylak 8 14:12 7:06 M6069 68 M Dunstable MA 14
212 Steve Sears 9 14:46 7:23 M6069 64 M Westford MA 480
221 Gerald Fredrickson 10 14:54 7:27 M6069 62 M Westford MA 1065
Monday, July 8, 2024
Week Ending 07/07/24
Full week back running after the PRP injection. I did not feel good. My knee has been worse each day with swelling and locking. I may go back in and see if there is anything else I can do. It takes 4-6 weeks for the PRP to work but the amount of pain and swelling is terrible.
With having to cancel the Erie Canal Ride, I decided to take a long weekend with the 4th of July holiday and get in some runs on rail trails I hadn't run on before. Eric Morse came up with some ideas in NY and I was on board.
I caught some fireworks, ran on the Concord-Sunapee Rail Trail, Northern Rail Trail, Ti-Haul Trail, Shelburne Bay Trail, Adirondack Trail, Little Ausable Trail, Terry Gordon Path, and Causeway Rail Trail. We also got the "best donut in Plattsburgh", visited a letter box in the Gilliland Cemetery, and caught the ISS. I also got in a couple of great bike rides.
Week - 80
Month - 80
Year - 2248
Life - 160979
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Looking back - July 1999
Chelmsford 4th of July
1 9:23 4:42 Dave Dunham 35 M 333 BRADFORD MA
2 9:34 4:47 Chris Teague 30 M 3 CHELMSFORD MA
3 9:37 4:49 Geoff Nickerson 20 M 1 EAST DERRY NH
4 9:42 4:51 Eric Beauchesne 29 M 4 CHELMSFORD MA
5 10:02 5:01 Mike Cooney 37 M 409 CHELMSFORD MA
10 10:35 5:18 Bob Sullivan 35 M 33 CHELMSFORD MA
Bridgton Maine 4m
1 19:54 4:59 Rusty Snow 29 M WATERTOWN MA 5
2 19:55 4:59 Dave Dunham 35 M BRADFORD MA 6
3 20:42 5:11 Kevin Way 30 M HOLLIS ME 11
4 21:09 5:18 Kyle Rhoads 29 M WINDHAM ME 10
5 21:10 5:18 Robert Dabrieo 37 M WOBURN MA 1052
CMS weekly 5k (07/21)
1 14:56 Tim McCormick 20-39M Townsend, MA CMS
2 14:58 Richard Bolt 20-39M Bedford, NH CMS
3 15:35 Dave Dunham 20-39M Bradford, MA CMS
4 15:49 Kevin Beck 20-39M Concord, NH CMS
Saturday, July 6, 2024
Looking back - July 1989 & July 1994
July 1989 (35 years ago): I raced three times during this month, all pretty short races. The first race was the Chelmsford 4th of July 2.1 mile that I won in 9:27. Eric Beauchesne pushed the early pace but I was able to pull clear in the last ½ mile to win by 6 seconds. The Sullivan Farms Racing Team put 8 in the top 12. The next day I hit the track at Cawley Stadium for the GLRR 2 mile series. Bob Hodge bolted out at the start and soloed to an impressive 8:54. I took 2nd place in 9:03. Ten days later (07/15) I travelled to Buffalo for the Subaru 4 mile race. I wasn’t happy with my race despite running 18:47 (4:42 per mile) which was good enough for 7th place ($150).
July 1994 (30 years ago): I raced four times during this month with mixed results. On the fourth of July I took on 500 others at the North Andover 10k. I’m not sure why the field was so strong at this race, but probably because of prize money. I went out in a pack of 10 that eventually dwindle to 5 by half-way. I ended up running a 30:42 which was only good enough for 3rd place ($100), I noted in my log that I had “not much leg turnover”. Four days later (07/08) I topped a field of 20 at the Fit Kids track mile at Pinkerton (Derry NH) with a 4:35. The following weekend I got another win at the Couples 5k (Concord NH) running a 14:34 for a 28 second win over Jamie Goodberlet. I finished out the month (07/27) with a win in Fitchburg MA running a 15:25 at the CMS weekly series 5k.
Thursday, July 4, 2024
Looking back - July 1984
July 1984 (40 years ago): I raced twice during this month taking home two wins. First up was the Chelmsford 4th of July race. At the time it was 2.1 miles. I ran 9:38 passing through 2 miles in 9:11. Two weeks later I topped a field of 900 at the very popular East End Club race in Lowell. I ran 24:26 despite 90-degree temperatures.