15 years ago – November of 2004: I
had trouble with a sore hip all month but managed 315 miles with no days off
and three races. I kicked off the month (11/14/04) with a trip to Georgia
with my CMS teammates. We were on a quest to take home the team
title at the 50km USA championships. Our team was stacked with 2:24
marathoner Kevin Beck, USA trail marathon runner-up Ben Nephew, and 2002 50km
USA champion Dan Verrington. I was the scrub on this team despite a sub-3
hour personal best, but that best was ancient history by 2004. My fitness
level had me aiming for 6:30s (about 2:51 for the marathon) the other guys were
aiming for low 6’s. We ended up taking 2nd-5th place and winning the team
title. I was fourth man and didn’t score for the team despite finishing
in fifth place. Strong team indeed! I picked up $100 for 5th place.
1 Mike Dudley – 3:05:34 (2:37 at the
marathon split) Age 34 Marietta GA
2 Kevin Beck – 3:06:22 (2:37 at the
marathon split) Age 34 Concord NH
3 Ben Nephew – 3:11:14 (2:39 at the
marathon split) Age 29 Foxboro MA
4 Dan Verrington – 3:16:42 (2:43 at the marathon
split) Age 42 Bradford MA
5 Dave Dunham – 3:27:15 (2:52 at the
marathon split) Age 40 Bradford MA
Two weeks later (11/25/04) I finished in
4th place at the Winners Circle XC race at Maudsley. I got $50 as top
master, running with Kevin Beck most of the race and moving up from 10th in the
early going.
1 Al Bernier 16:37 CMS
2 Jim Pawlicki 17:00 CMS
3 Kevin Beck 17:05 CMS
4 Dave Dunham 17:09 CMS
Three days later (11/28/04) it was time
for another XC race, this time at the Andover Country Club. This race was
classic XC, all on cart paths and grass of the golf course. I ran back
and forth with Dan Verrington but he got the better of me (by 3 seconds).
Al Bernier picked up his second win in 3 days.
1 18:04 Alan Bernier
30 M DOVER NH
CMS
2 18:14 Tom Doody
42 M PELHAM
NH
GLRR
3 18:19 Eric Beauchesne
34 M CHELMSFORD
MA
GLRR
4 18:21 Terry McNatt
39 M NEEDHAM MA CSU
5 18:31 James Pawlicki 30 M
BEVERLY MA CMS
6 18:35 Greg Putnam 35
M READING MA
7 18:40 Dan Verrington
42 M Bradford MA CMS
8 18:43 Dave Dunham 40 M
Bradford MA CMS
10 years ago – November of 2009: I
put in 286 miles with no days off and five races (!). I started the month
off with a trip to Ashland, OR for the USATF trail marathon championships
(11/07/09). I had a good battle in the last 10k with the 3rd place 40+
guy but ultimately lost to him by a minute in 16th place overall. CMS
took the Open team title thanks to Jim Johnson (5th) and Dan Verrington (10th)
and we also took the masters title with Judge Jones joining in the fun!
Pl
Time Name
Age Sx
Div
City
St
Pace
1
2:40:23 Max
King
29 M
M2029 Bend
OR
6:07
2
2:42:54 Sam Robinson
24
M M2029
Berkeley
CA
6:13
3
2:48:42 Aaron
Saft
32
M M3039
Fletcher
NC
6:26
5
2:56:57 Jim Johnson
32
M M3039
Salem
NH 6:45
CMS
10
3:03:10 Dan Verrington
47
M M4049
Bradford MA
6:59 CMS
16
3:09:36 Dave Dunham
45
M M4049
Bradford MA
7:14 CMS
47
3:48:49 Judge Jones
59
M M50-59
Pelham MA
8:44 CMS
A week later (11/15/09) I visited lovely
Amesbury for a small (83 finishers) “Run4Fun” 5k race. I picked up an
unexpected win. Two guys hung right behind me from the start but I was
able to gap them in the last ½ mile for a 10 second victory in 17:17. Six
days later (11/21/09) I went to Wakefield for the Burbank 5k. I was
hoping to crack 17 minutes but missed with a 17:03. I ran alone in second
place for the entire race finishing 30 seconds behind the winner. Five
days later (11/26/09) I competed in one of the biggest mass-start XC races in
the country with 1200 starters at the Maudslay park Winners Circle Thanksgiving
race. I got out well and kept close to Verrington for the first 2 miles
but couldn’t stay with him.
1 16:06 TOM
WEBB
2 16:14 RYAN
CARRARA
4 16:38 ALAN
BERNIER
5 16:41 TITUS
MUTINDA
7 17:00 BOB WINN
10 17:17 DAN VERRINGTON
11 17:19 CHRIS
KEALEY
12 17:26 DAVE
DUNHAM
14 17:30 MICHAEL
QUINTAL
Three days later (11/29/09) it was time
for more XC as I returned to Andover for the excellent 3.5 miles of torture on
the Andover Country Club’s hilly golf course. I tried to run with Terry
McNatt but he late in the race. Dave Quintal was also tough as I caught
him at 2 miles then battled with him until the final 100m when he outkicked me.
1 18:18 RYAN
CARRARA 33M
HUDSON MA
2 18:21 CHAD
CARR
33M CAMBRIDGE
MA
3 18:44 ALAN
BERNIER
35M PROVIDENCE
RI
6 19:07 MIKE
QUINTAL
31M N. ANDOVER
MA
7 19:32 TERRY
MCNATT 44M
NEEDHAM MA
8 19:38 DAVID
QUINTAL 46M
SALEM
NH
10 19:39 DAVE
DUNHAM 45M WARD
HILL MA
12 19:59 DAVE
HANNON 38M W.
ROXBURY MA
13 20:09 JOE
OLEARY
42M
MEDFORD MA
5 years ago – November of 2014: I
started the month with the Jack London trail 10k –I’ve run many times in Mine
Falls and know every trail in the park. I’d won at the Jack London race
in the first year it was held back in 2006. My aim was to run around
38 minutes based on my 36:20 I’d run eight years ago (8 very long years
ago). I was a little worried about course markings and wanted to check
out a few key trail junctions where I wasn’t exactly sure where the race
went The field was a bit soft and I took the lead from the start.
William Jackson and Aharon Wright (SRR) went by before the single-track so I
tucked in. I pushed the pace a bit at 2 miles and re-took the lead.
I survived getting pounced by a frisky dog and hit the section where you cross
under Route 3 all on my own. Many did NOT see that they needed to
continue under the highway and inadvertently cut off 2 miles of the race!
People ended up running a bunch of different distances and some even finished
coming from BEHIND the finish line! The RD did his best to sort out the
results.
1 DAVE
DUNHAM
M50 BRADFORD, MA 37:29
2 WILLIAM
JACKSON M33
SALEM, MA 38:14
3 AHARON
WRIGHT
M29 MEDFORD, MA 38:20
Next up was the USATF NE XC championships
– It had been a couple of years since I last ran the New England cross-country
championships so I was excited to be heading back. My goal was to run
faster than I’d raced at the Mayor’s cup two weeks before (29:03) and my
stretch goal was to run around 28:30-40. Teammates Dave La, and Dan V met
me early and we set up a tent so all of the CMS crew would have a place to drop
their gear before the race. I found a good rhythm in the early going and
passed the mile in 5:31, right where I wanted to be. During the second
mile I was still moving well and passed a bunch of guys. I had my focus
on Dan who was 8-10 seconds ahead at 2 miles (5:46/11:17). I was still
feeling pretty good and happy with the time which was just 1 second slower than
the Mayor’s cup. I felt I worked the third mile well and closed a bit on
Dan, maybe getting to within 5 seconds coming off of Bear Cage Hill. I
passed 3 miles in 17:12 (5:55 split) which had me a couple of seconds ahead of
Mayor’s cup. From that point on I felt like I was struggling, although I
caught a few guys I never really closed on Dan. My fourth mile split was
an unimpressive 6:03 which was the same as my split at Mayor’s Cup. I
kept the hammer down but just didn’t have anything left. I crossed the
line in 29:06 for 30th place and 6th in the 50+. I was very happy to find
that CMS took the win in the 50+ team with 34 points.
50+ pl
O’all Time
Name
Age Team
1
14 27:44.9
Chris Chisholm
52 CT
2
16 27:53.4
Spyros Barres
51 CT
3
18 28:01.0
Chris Lawrence 50
BAA
4
21 28:12.9
Mark Reeder
55 GLRR
5
27 28:56.1
Daniel Verrington
52 CMS
6
30 29:05.8
Dave Dunham
50 CMS
9
48 29:54.1
Martin Tighe
56 CMS
18
64 30:56.1
John Gillis
50 CMS
2
75 32:18.8
Paul Bazanchuk 60
CMS (2nd place in the 60+)
30
91 34:41.9
David Lapierre
50 CMS
Donovan Memorial 5k - Nacho took it out
hard and was gone right from the start; I couldn't even see him after the first
mile. Three other guys went out pretty hard but by about a half-mile I'd
moved up into second.
Place
Name
Time
Pace
Division
DivPL
Age
Sex City,
State Team
1
Nacho Hernando
15:35.8
5:02 MOPEN
1
21
M Concord,
NH NHTI
2
Dave Dunham
17:11.6
5:33
MOPEN
2
50
M Ward Hill,
MA CMS
3
Jamie Wilkes
17:37.3
5:41
MOPEN
3
15
M Concord,
NH
I had an “open” weekend the following
week and decided that a long run would be beneficial. I convinced
Dan to do a one way 17 mile run from Londonderry NH to Methuen MA on the rail
trail. Jim Pawlicki joined us for the run which turned out to be a lot of
fun on a nearly ideal day.
Winners Circle cross-country race – I’ve
raced a lot on Thanksgiving and the one race I’ve done the most is the WCRC XC
race. The venue changed a few years ago but the event itself is
unchanged. This year the start was postponed by ½ hour due to the overnight
snow storm. There was anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of snow on the ground
at Pipestave hill. The course is almost all in open fields so there were
very few spots where there wasn’t deep heavy wet snow with a crust to punch
through. My guess was that I could run right around 7 minute pace.
This was not going to be easy. Add to the snow a pack of dogs (5) that
attacked teammate Greg Putnam and BIT me! Mom Dunham took the 70+
division and I was top in the 50+ (although they took me out of the age groups
for finishing in the top three). No spills but now I have to watch out
for rabies symptoms!
Pl
Time
Name
Sx
Age
Cat Cat
Pl City, St
1
20:22.4 Gregory
Putnam
M
45
TOP3
1/3 Stoneham MA
2
20:46.1 Chris
Ritchie
M
31
TOP3
2/3 Hampton NH
3
21:08.7 Dave
Dunham
M
50 TOP3
3/3 Ward Hill MA
4 21:38.7
Sam Coppola
M
16 M1317 1/11
Groveland MA
Chelmsford Alumni Cross-Country race –
I’ve enjoyed taking part in this alumni XC race that is open to all
runners. Keith O’Brien (Chelmsford Class of 1982) and I have been friends
since our high school days. He puts on a fun event with post-race snacks
and plenty of unusual prizes. The only draw-back is that the race is at
11:00 on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Getting out of work and being
sore from racing the day before can make this a challenge. This year the
additional challenge was the 6 inches of snow that covered the course. I
felt pretty good, but the footing was bad, O’B seemed to be doing better in
spikes but when we hit the pavement, he had some difficulty. I felt a bit
dead legged from racing the day before but thought I could take him on the
final paved uphill. Just before that spot I said “Do you want to tie or
should we sprint”? O’B said “yeah”. I had to ask again since it
wasn’t really a yes or no question. He agreed to tie, which is typical of
the nice guy that he is. We crossed together getting a very slow time of
over 23 minutes for the 3.2 mile loop. It did not feel slow! I went
out for another 3 miles on the road and arrived back in time to collect my
prize. I ended up winning a steak; I can honestly say that was a first.
Chelmsford High School 18th Annual Alumni
Race (with Billerica and Tyngsborough)
Weather: Cold and
cloudy
Distance: 3.2 Miles
Terrain: Snow 6 inches Deep
1
23:26 Dave Dunham Billerica 1982
2
23:26 Keith O’Brien Chelmsford
1982
3
28:06 Kyle O’Brien
Chelmsford 1985
4
28:20 Colin O’Brien
Chelmsford 2018
5
29:09 Scott Graham Chelmsford 1976
6
29:15 Richie
Blake Tyngsborough 1990
7
29:29 Mark Gallagher Chelmsford 1982
8
29:50 Mark Blaisdell Wilmington 1975
9
33:28 Jim Stronach
Tewksbury 1975
10
33:29 Dave Lapierre Chelmsford
11
34:10 Lee
Panas
Chelmsford 1980
12
34:30 Rob Therrien
Chelmsford 1996
13
35:06 Matt Shapiro
Chelmsford
14
39:42 Jay Goselich
Nashua South
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