Looking back

25 years ago – April 1994: I only raced twice during April although I managed 368 miles with no days off.  I was recovering from a sprained ankle and back woes which kept my racing limited.  I supported U-Lowell at the Alamo Alumni race in Boston.  It was sunny but windy and a chilly 40 degrees.  I ran an uninspired 24:37 to take 10th place.  I stayed away from racing until the 23rd when I went to the Mount Misery trail race in Lincoln MA.  The trails were in great shape, but the field was very small (26 finishers).  I ran with Petey until the last quarter mile then took off to win in 43:22 for the 7 miles race.

20 years ago – April 1999: Another month with a badly sprained ankle which caused me to miss a day.  I managed 346 miles and raced three times.  First up was the Red Shoe Barn 5m.  I went out with the lead group (teammates – Richard Bolt & Tom Anderson, along with Chris Teague and Mike O’Brien) and stuck with Teague through 2 miles.  He broke away and went on to beat me by 15 seconds (24:26 to 24:41).  O’Brien and Anderson finished under 25, running 24:52 and 24:59 respectively.  A week later I headed out to Worcester for the Fred’s marathon/half-marathon.  Alex Tilson, who had raced me the year before at the Baystate marathon, was looking to run under 2:22 and asked me to lead him through the half.  I ran an evenly paced 1:10:48 to win the half with Tilson in tow.  He ended up missing the standard but set a CR with a solid 2:25:23. The final race of the month was the Groton 10k, which was a CMS goal race (they had a team prize).  It was sunny, breezy and mid-60s as the pack of about 6 of us hammered the first 5k.  Teammate Richard Bolt and I broke away with GLRR runner Chris Teague.  I gapped them on the uphill from 4-5 miles and held on for a 12 second win in 31:08.   For some reason Richard and I were not included in the team scoring for CMS, we took the team title anyway with five other CMS runners in the top 10.

15 years ago – April 2004: Nothing much of note from this month, I ran 340 miles with no days off and raced twice.  I was working my way back to “racing shape” and started the month with the Bow Lake 15k.  My goal was to run 6 minute miles (56:00).  The course was quite hilly, but I managed a fourth place finish in 56:19. Two weeks later I took on the Muddy Moose 14 mile trail race.  My Achilles was bothering me, and I never felt good.  I ended up taking 6th place in 1:40:27.

10 years ago – April 2009: I was feeling pretty good, finally getting on a roll and I hit 343 miles for the month with no days off and four races.  I headed down to Brockton for the rarely run 3.75 mile distance. In an unusual turn I actually had a good battle at the front of the pack.  I ran with another guy until 3 miles but couldn’t cover his final move.  From my blog:

I led the race for the first 1/2 mile then heard footsteps. The guy trailing me blew by me on the long downhill after the tower. I kept close and pulled back even with him about 3/4 mile into the race. It was good to have someone to work with. We hit the mile in 5:16, which I knew could not be correct (with the hill and wind there was no way I went out in 5:16). We stayed side by side for the next mile and hit 2 in 10:42 (5:26), still short of 2 miles but maybe the second mile was about a mile long? We had a slight tail wind for the third mile and hit that in 15:55 (5:13), which again seemed too fast (short).  Just as we hit 3 miles the guy took off and I just couldn't respond. I kept him close over the last .75 but ended up in 2nd place about 4 seconds back. I heard a few other people mention that the miles were not right but that the distance was "close". The course is used for a summer series as well (although they start further up and a few people mentioned 3.8 as the correct distance for the loop we did).

A week later I made a rare appearance on the track at the George Davis Invitational.  I almost missed the start as they combined the men and women moving our start up by 30 minutes.  I ran a very even (5:18/5:20/5:18) race finishing 6th in the field of 10 in 16:35. A week after that I hit the road and struggled to another 16:35 (at the Chase the Gorilla down Argilla).  I closed out the month with yet another 5k this time in Greenwich RI.  From my blog:

I was hoping for sub 1630 and tried to head out strong. Stephanie Reilly led for the first 400 then I moved into the lead with Eric Lonergan (who won last year in 1555). We ran side-by-side through 3km then I got a stride on Eric. It was short lived as he blew by me at 2 miles. He had about 3-4 seconds on me by 4km but I slowly reeled him back in. I figured my only shot was to get ahead of him before the final 400 or I'd get out-kicked. Unfortunately (for me) I couldn't get a lead and only just barely caught him as we hit the 3 mile mark.  He put the hammer down at that point and beat me by 4 seconds in the last .109, even with me hitting 31.8 for that last part. I was pleased with the effort but not so much with the time. I guess the breeziness and the warmth (70s) were part of it, or maybe it just wasn't my day. Either way I took some solace in getting $150.

SCOTT CARLSON MEMORIAL - Saturday, April 25, 2009 Warwick, RI

1 16:39 5:22 ERIC LONERGAN 23 M N KINGSTOWN RI

2 16:43 5:23 DAVE DUNHAM 45 M WARD HILL MA

3 17:18 5:35 STEPHANIE REILLY 31 F WHITINSVILLE MA

5 years ago: April 2014 – I struggled all month seemingly stuck in some sort of training rut.  I finally went to the doctor after a terrible run at the James Joyce Ramble 10k and found out that I had walking pneumonia.  Well that explained a lot!

I did finish in 2^nd place at the “Chase the Gorilla down Argilla”

1 David Long       1/45   M4049 40 M Beverly         MA   17:03  5:29  

2 Dave Dunham   1/38   M5059 50 M Bradford       MA   17:23  5:36 

3 Nathan Hausman 1/36   M3039 35 M Wenham    MA   17:36  5:40  

4  Matthew Curran  2/38   M5059 56 M Gloucester  MA   17:50  5:45