double d mountain runner: October 2015

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Methuen rail trail and Nevins bird sanctuary

The trail and the sanctuary look different at "walking" speed. Went for a 4 mile jaunt after work.

BMHS hall-of-fame

Wow, 10 years since I got into the Billerica Memorial High School hall of fame. Thank you to Steve Peterson who nominated me and got Francis Burdett to do a caricature. Love this stuff!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Finally outside!

Eight days post-surgery and I finally was able to go outside and walk. Felt pretty good to go out and amble around Winnekenni Park at sunrise.

35 Years ago: I raced six times during this month which was the meat of my junior year of cross-country racing at Billerica Memorial High School. I only ran 169 miles during the month with six days off early in the month. I kicked off the month with a win at home versus Austin Prep. With splits of 5:00, 5:13, and 5:20 I took first in 15:33. A week later I tied with teammate John Dangora in a dual meet at Wilmington, both of us running 15:33 over the 3 mile course. Four days later I noted that I “felt tired” as I went out with the leaders in the first mile (4:46) of the Catholic Memorial race at Franklin Park. I sputtered to a sixth place finish over the 2.9 mile course in 15:21. Three days later I went to a fight and a cross-country meet broke out. Billerica versus Tewksbury dual meet at Tewksbury high school. John Dangora and I were in the lead pack with a couple of Tewksbury runners. Elbows were thrown and there was some pushing and shoving. We got behind the school and John said something like “are we going to race or fight”. It turned out we’d do both. I took off and won the race (2.7 miles in 13:10), John took second. When Tewksbury runner Nick Romano crossed the line John threw a punch and the brawl ensued. I remember Coach Mike Granfield ending up on top of both of them and eventually separating them. What a wild dual meet! Four days later I took 5^th place at the Northern Area Championship XC race at Bradley Palmer State park (3m in 15:54) on a cold and windy day. The weird part was during the race people kept yelling “Go Dave” which was surprising since Billerica didn’t race often in that area. I was excited that so many people knew me, right up until the finish when I found that everyone was actually yelling for Dave Quintal. The final meet of the month was another tie, this time with teammate Mike Bushnach. The top 4 runners from Methuen did not run the dual meet as it was only a few days before the next big meet at Franklin Park. Snatch and I tied in 15:30 over the three mile course.

20 Years ago: I got in 384 miles during this month while racing four times and taking three wins. I started the month with a visit to New Castle for the “Great Island 5k”. This “big” local race (670 finishers) basically ran on every street in the tiny town of New Castle. CMS Teammates Scott Clark and Rod Viens took the race out hard, and then Dan Verrington moved into the lead just before the 2 mile mark. I was a few steps back with Mike O’Brien trying to hold on. I took the lead in the last ½ mile and put some distance on both Mike and Dan as we entered the final loop in the park. I picked up $150 for the win in 14:59.

2nd ANNUAL GREAT ISLAND 5K ROAD RACE

October 8, 1995 5 Kilometers (USATF Certified) New Castle, NH

1 DAVE DUNHAM 31 M BRADFORD, MA 14:59 4:49

2 MICHAEL O'BRIEN 35 M DURHAM, NH 15:04 4:51

3 DAN VERRINGTON 33 M BRADFORD, MA 15:08 4:52

4 SCOTT CLARK 29 M GILMANTON, NH 15:08 4:52

5 DEAN KIMBALL 37 M CANDIA, NH 15:25 4:58

6 ROD VIENS 28 M CLAREMONT, NH 15:49 5:05

The following weekend I got another win, this time in Peabody MA at the Brooksby farm 5 mile cross-country race. I couldn’t find any online results (this was in the early days of Coolrunning), but I took first in 26:56 in a field of 31 finishers.

The next weekend was the Mayor’s cup XC race in Boston. This race has always attracted the hardcore XC racers as can be seen with my 27^th place in 24:41. I noted in my training log that I “went out hard but was way back”. CMS had a big presence due in part to a brief merger with “Sev’s team” from Boston. That merger didn’t last very long.

Event 1 Men's 8,000 Meter Cross Country (7935M)

1 Seamus McElligott 27 Nike 23:09.0

2 Brad Barquist 27 Mizuno TC 23:12.0

3 Abidi Bouaza 24 Westchester TC 23:20.0

4 Jonathan Hume 27 Reebok RC 23:26.0

5 Gary Giffen 26 New Balance Coastal TC 23:35.0

6 Pat Porter 30 Mizuno TC 23:47.0

7 Dan Middleman 26 New York AC 23:47.3

8 Kevin Herd 24 Unattached 23:51.0

9 Wilhelm Gidabuday Life College 23:56.0

10 Tim Gannon 30 Boston Running Club 23:58.0

20 Eric Morse 30 Central Mass Striders 24:18.0

27 Dave Dunham 31 Central Mass Striders 24:41.0

33 Bill Bland 26 Central Mass Striders 24:53.0 Sev’s

34 Scott Clark 29 Central Mass Striders 24:54.0

41 Jamalh Prince 25 Central Mass Striders 25:09.0 Sev’s

54 Chris Bianchi 27 Central Mass Striders 25:36.0 Sev’s

55 Richard Bolt Central Mass Striders 25:37.0

58 Greg DeMeo 34 Central Mass Striders 25:43.0 Sev’s

79 Nathanial Halsey 24 Central Mass Striders 26:18.0 Sev’s

91 Bob Hodge 40 Central Mass Striders 26:38.3 Wow! A 40-year-old Hodgie cranking fast time!

117 James Pawlicki 21 Unattached 27:34.0 Future CMS racing team manager

118 Pat Callahan 22 Central Mass Striders 27:36.0 Sev’s

I finished the month with a small XC race in the Middlesex Fells (Stoneham, MA). The Hurtin’ for Certain club put on a 5k XC race which I won in 15:33.

15 Years ago: I raced three times over this month during a stretch of racing that I hadn’t done before and would never do again (racing 154 miles over 5 weeks, completing three marathons, a half-marathon, and a 100km race. I got three wins, a second and a fifth place. I think I’m still trying to recover from this). It seemed that most of my mileage was from racing as I totaled “only” 392 miles for the month. I took the plunge and ran my first Ultramarathon to start the moth off with a bang. I’m not sure why I chose the Chancellor’s Challenge 100k in Boston, but I remember thinking that if I was going to go beyond the marathon I’d REALLY go beyond the marathon. It was windy and in the 40’s as we took off on ten 10k loops that did a figure 8 passing the Hatch Shell every 5k. I went out conservatively in the early miles trying to relax and let the miles pass. I hit the marathon in 2:47 and thought “I’ve never raced further than this”. My next marathon was run in 2:50, and I closed out the distance with a 1:09 for the final 10 miles. For the first half of the race I hovered around the top ten then slowly began passing people. I went into the lead at 75km (46 miles) and pulled away for a 7 minute win in 6:46:39. At the time that got me ranked 9^th on the U.S. 100km list. The race was superbly managed by Dave Magilvary, and I took home $3,000 for the win.

A week later I visited Farmington NH for the Nute Ridge half-marathon which was part of the Hockomock Swamp Rat series that I was trying to win. I ended up taking second place to CMS teammate Larry Sayers running a 1:14:27 and picking up $25 for the effort.

Nute Ridge Half Marathon

1 1:12:54 5:34 LARRY SAYERS 41 M BELLOWS FALLS VT

2 1:14:28 5:41 DAVID DUNHAM 36 M HAVERHILL MA

3 1:16:57 5:53 MIHALY MOLNAR 31 M HUNGARY

4 1:20:21 6:08 CHIP LANGMAID 38 M ST. JOHNSBURY VT

5 1:21:39 6:14 KEVIN HYNES 35 M MEDFORD MA

Two weeks later I closed out the month with a fifth place at the Falmouth Marathon (USATF NE championship) in 2:30:53 on cold (35-40) and windy (30 mph) day. A big pack stayed together through the half before things started to roll, probably in deference to the weather.

USATF-NE Grand Prix Marathon Championship

1 DANNY GOUGH 32 M M1439 PORTSMOUTH RI 2:24:29 5:31

2 CRAIG F. FRAM 42 M M4049 PLAISTOW NH 2:27:55 5:39 WRT

3 LOWELL LADD 24 M M1439 CARLISLE PA 2:28:05 5:40 BAA

4 LARRY SAYERS 40 M M4049 BELLOWS FALLS VT 2:28:55 5:42 CMS

5 DAVE DUNHAM 36 M M1439 BRADFORD MA 2:30:53 5:46 CMS

6 PAUL HAMMOND 40 M M4049 LEXINGTON MA 2:32:01 5:49 WRT

7 CHRIS TEAGUE 30 M M1439 NORWOOD MA 2:33:22 5:52 GLRR

8 ERIC G. BEAUCHESNE 30 M M1439 CHELMSFORD MA 2:34:23 5:54 GLRR

9 CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE 37 M M1439 PROVIDENCE RI 2:34:29 5:54 BAA

10 GREGG CORNELL 40 M M4049 PASCOAG RI 2:34:37 5:55 CMS

15 JIM G. GARCIA 42 M M4049 WESTFORD MA 2:42:07 6:12 CMS

20 JERRY LEARNED 52 M M5059 HOPKINTON MA 2:53:56 6:39 CMS

30 ANDY ROGOVIN 42 M M4049 BOSTON MA 2:58:00 6:48 CMS

Monday, October 26, 2015

Week Ending 10-25-15

Ended my 80 mile per week streak and my season with a little surgery I'd been putting off. Hope to be back at it within 2 weeks.

Week - 23
Month - 225
Year - 2745
Life - 129,834

M - Lunch 7 in 54:23
PM Rail trail 6 in 47:45

T - AM Winnekenni 10 miles in 83:08
PM surgery

W - off

Th - off

F - off

Sat - off

Sun - off

Be Careful out there! Very Careful :-)

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Old October course records

October Course Records still out there:

I have three October course records on races still held (and still held on the same course). They all held up again for another year. Stark Mountain is a very interesting 1 mile race. It is an “open course” from the base of the lift line to the summit of Stark Mountain. Runners can ascend via any route they want. I chose a mix of trail and the lift line and set the CR in 2007 “running” a 23:50. That is by far my slowest mile raced. Back in 1991 I set the course record at the Nipmuck Marathon which was at that time held in June, so my record is now a little over 24 years old. I ran 3:01:54 for the tough double out and back course. I didn’t move into the lead until the final “back” section but was able to pull away for a substantial winning margin. The 32^nd annual running of the race was held earlier this month and my time remains as the standard. At the time I felt that the effort was about 30 minutes slower than what I could have run had it been a road race. My other 1991 course record is from the Canton Gravy race 10k. This year will be the 27^th annual and I’ve held the record for the last 24 years with a 30:12. Only 10 others have ever run under 32 minutes. Keiron Tumbleton has the second fastest time ever run on the course with his 1992 30:39.

1991 - 10k

Dave Dunham

30:12**

Julie Nievergelt