More from down south

Visited a 500 year old church and an interesting grotto walk.

Florida part 1

Some sights from Florida.  Some nice sunrises, flat (and hot) runs, birthday banners, and of course...Mom ironed my t-shirts (unbelievable!).

Week Ending 03/29/20

No biking for the first time since August.  Balanced that by my biggest week of running since July.  Nice birthday week with plenty of running and a lot of napping and reading.

Run = 88 miles

M - 6am 8m in 755s
       Noon 5m in 749s

T - 6am 10m in 751s
     1pm 3m in 807s

W - 6am 13m in 742s

TH - 6am 8m in 746s
        1pm HOT 3m in 838s

F - 6am 8m in 752s
      11am 8 very hot miles in 746s

Sat - 4am 8m in 747s
        2pm rail trail 4 in 753s

Sun - GSRT group run in 917s

Week Ending 03/22/20

No complaints.  Another step closer to getting back to normal.  Reduced my biking and upped my running.  Got in another workout that was quicker than the last.

Bike - 142.1 miles
Run - 82 miles

M - 330am bike 1hr 23.9 miles
       5am treadmill 5m in 756s
      1130am treadmill 4 in 720s
      3pm butt crack 3 in 749s

T - 330am bike 1hr 23.6 miles
      5am treadmill 5 in 749s
     1130am treadmill 3 in 651s (613 last mile)
      315pm Methuen rail trail 5 in 826s

W - 330am bike 1hr 23.5 miles
       5am treadmill 4 in 756s
       1130am treadmill 3 in 710s
       315pm Methuen rail trail 6 with Danny V in 836s

Th - 330am bike 1hr 24.0 miles
       5am treadmill 4 in 742s
       1130am lunch 3 in 643s (last mile in 617)
       315pm Methuen rail trail 5 with Danny V in 827s

F - 330am bike 1hr 23.1 miles
      445am Methuen rail trail 2xdepot to stateline 5m in 818s
      1130am lunch workout total 5m in 645s (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, mile) mile in 5:36.0
      330pm Road and trail at Weir hill 3m in 836s

S - 6am bike 1hr 24.0 miles
      745am 6 on the Londonderry rail trail in 821s
      Later 5 in 913s

S - Betmar 8 hot and windy

Workout

A little improvement from two weeks ago:

03/05/2020	400,800,1200, mile	89.9 (152)/2:58.9 (152)/4:27.5 (347)/ 5:47.7
03/20/2020	400,800,1200, mile	89.9 (157)/2:55.4 (157)/4:19.7 (343)/ 5:36.0

Aim of the workout was to break 5:40 for the mile, doing the ladder (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, as a build-up to the mile) rest of 1/4, 1/4, 1/2. Felt really good (except my ankle which is never going to feel good. Warm-up 1m (753) then 1/4: 89.9 rest 1:57, 1/2: 2:55.4, rest 1:57, 3/4: 4:19.7, rest 3:43, Mile (88.0/86.0/83.1/78.9) = 5:36.0 stepping up the pace every 100 or even more near the end.

•••

10 years ago

10 years ago: March 2010 - I started out the month on the sidelines finishing out my two week sentence on the injured reserves from the foot woes that had plagued me since mid-January.  I tried to make the most of the weekend at Snowshoe nationals by planning out a bunch of visits to county high points along the way including the very scenic Crow Hills.  (pictured below).  On Friday I got in 12.5 miles of running with 2,500’ of climbing along with 425 miles driving.  On Saturday I took  about 400 pictures while watching the US Snowshoe championships.  Pictured right with Richard Bolt.

On Sunday morning I headed out to help out at the Hawley Kiln snowshoe, but they really didn’t need any help.  Ken Clark (who won the race at Constitution hill the day before) suggested that I run the race.  I figured I could handle 4.6 miles if I didn’t do a warm-up (other than walking).  Tim Mahoney and Tim Van Orden took off like they were shot out of a canon.  I settled into 5^th place and tried to stay relaxed. I moved into third just after the mile mark but could not see the Tim’s ahead.  At about 2.5 miles I saw Tim, but I wasn’t sure which one it was.  I caught TiMA just before we exited the single-track and got back on the snowmobile trail.  Most of the last downhill into the finish I spent looking back to see if Tim was going to kick and catch me.  I hit the line pretty tired but pretty happy to make it through.  My foot felt pretty decent (no worse at least) and it was fun to be back out in the woods competing. 

Results:

1. Tim Van Orden 38:58 CMS 40+  2. Dave Dunham 41:45 CMS 40+  3. Tim Mahoney 42:13 CMS  4.  Ken Clark        44:07



The next weekend I headed up for the final race in the NH series in the pouring rain.  It was a bit slow going down to Great Glen but I’d left so early I was still among the first to arrive.  I felt pretty beat heading to the start and was kind of dreading 6.2 miles of snowshoe racing with my “long” run over the last couple of weeks being only 5 miles.  My plan was to be conservative the first “flat” 5km then hope that my strength on the climb would move me up in the second 5km.



The field was pretty small (34) probably because of the nasty weather, but conditions were great for racing.  JJ and Kevin took off quickly to the front with Geoff Cunningham in tow for the early going.  I was in 15^th place by the mile and working harder than I had hoped.  The flat 5km was actually pretty rolling and I didn’t feel very strong on the climbs.  It took me nearly a mile to get past Amber Ferreira.  I checked my watch at the tunnel under Route 16, which was approximately 5km into the race, and was 23:33.  The climbing started with a vengeance.  I was definitely feeling better as we shifted into low gear and started climbing.  I knew we had a good 400’ of climb in the next 2Km and wanted to work it.  I was surprised when 10:47 seconds into the climb a gent on the trail noted “you’re at the top”.  I couldn’t believe we were done climbing, had I studied the map a little better I would have known that the big climb was over but there would be a couple of “little” climbs to do before we were done.  It was fun bombing down the hill and watching where the tracks went.  The last couple of Kilometers were tough with some short climbs, even when you got back to route 16 you had a big climb back up to the stage building.  Kevin and JJ finished in a dead heat with both of them not giving an inch to the other and actually diving across the line in 46:14.  Pretty cool way to end the NH series for this year!

1 Kevin Tilton 46:14 CMS  2 Jim Johnson 46:14 CMS  3 Geoff Cunningham 50:49 Acidotic  4 Dave Dunham 51:38 CMS 40+



The following weekend I headed west for the final snowshoe race of the season.  Eric Morse and I were planning on doing some hiking after the race then bagging a bunch of peaks on Sunday morning.  I headed over to the race site at Catamount ski area and was the fourth person in line to sign up.  I had a feeling this would be a small race.  70 degree temperatures felt way too warm for late March.  This was the first time I’d done a snowshoe race in shorts/singlet but I was not in the minority dressed that way.  I rolled up into second place on the first little down-hill, then the climbing commenced.  We’d climb for 950’ in the first 1.2 miles then zip down over about 1.4 miles.  By about 2/3^rds of the way up the mountain I knew my chances of winning were gone.  I figured that I’d need to beat Ross Krause to the top to have any chance of beating.  I hit the top in 15:14 and was 29 seconds back at that point.  For the most part I tried to just stay on my feet and hold second place on the descent.  It took me all of 8:41 to cover the 1.4 miles back to the base.  I was pleased with the effort but finished 1:11 slower than last year and 1:07 behind Ross. 



Eric and I did a two mile warm-down then headed out.  Our plan was to do a run/hike up Alander mountain and bag the county high point on the west slope.  The trail was in great shape for the first day of Spring, there was a mix of bare ground, wet ground (a lot), and packed snow.  We ran it in our regular running shoes and had no problems with traction.  A couple of hikers called us “hardcore” as we ran by on a particularly wet and snow section.  We passed some guys camping along the way, at 6 PM it was still in the upper 60’s.  We hit the hut below the summit in 42 minutes then continued on the summit and quickly over to the county high point.  We had a quick stop about ½ way down to put on our headlamps, but it really wasn’t too bad except in some of the darker piney woods.  We were back at the car by 7:40 and headed for Great Barrington for food and rest.  It was a pretty cool day with a little bit of racing and some fun time on the trails in the woods.



I woke up on Sunday morning a bit sore from Snowshoe racing (up and down Catamount) and running up Alander Mountain the previous day.  We met up with my High School teammate, and great friend, Jim Sullivan.  I hadn’t seen Jim since my 100,000 mile run back in 2007 but we keep in touch at least monthly.  The first part of the Mt Frissell trail was wet, VERY wet.  We hit the top of Round Mountain (2,293’) in just over 20 minutes.  There wasn’t much of a view but we could see our next goal (Frissell right in front of us).  We signed in at the log took a few pictures then headed down the south and slightly west flank to pick up the Connecticut state line.  It was a quick 10 minutes later that we were standing at Jim’s first state high point and Eric’s 8^th.  This was my second time standing at the highest point in CT but it had been nearly 10 years and I had very little memory of the trail.

                                          All of us on top of Frissell (right)

After some picture taking we were off again, we hit the CT/NY/MA tri-state marker in another 11 minutes (total time 1:06) and again stopped for some pictures.  Next up we climbed up out of the coll to the top of North Brace and the connection with the Taconic Crest Trail.  The view from this 2,200’ peak was great we could see the NY farmlands that seemed to be right at our feet.  We could also see the peaks we’d climbed earlier and off in the distance Mt Everett that we planned to hit later in the day.  We did a little running on the ridge and ascended to the big open summit of Brace which also had a huge cairn on top.  This was my 99^th county high point.  We took a couple of pictures and zoomed south to pick up South Brace.   The rocky drop to the cull between Round mountain was slow going but we were back on the top of Round in 15 minutes and from there it was an easy 18 minutes back to the car.  The entire trek took us 3:25 and it was a perfect day to spend three hours out in the woods!



For the final weekend of March I planned on visiting my parents in Florida, so of course I had to add on some side trips.  I headed out early on Thursday, flying from Manchester to Hunstville.  A quick 91 mile drive got me at my first goal at 11:15 am.  I stood on the unimpressive summit of Woodall Mountain, the highest point in Mississippi.  I lingered just long enough to take a picture.  With this summit I’d reached my 100^th county high point (and 26^th state high point). 



I settled in for the long drive from Iuka MS to Cheaha State Park in Alabama.  The driving went by quickly with some good tunes and only a few areas where the speed limit was less than 70.  I covered the 240 miles in less than four hours.  It was eerily quiet on top, except for the hum of cell towers.  The stone tower was pretty neat, but there was no view from the top due to a lot of rain clouds Next up I drove down to the Pinhoti trailhead and headed out for a nice relaxing run.  It was a bit rocky in spots but mostly very run-able.  I bagged the summit of Hernandez peak (Clay County High Point – 2,344’) and continued on to McDill point (2,188’).  The round trip was a little more than 5 miles. 



Back to the car and off for a 256 mile drive to Andalusia AL for the night.




Day two of the trip was another early rise as I hit the treadmill at 5am and was on the road by 6.  It was only a 40 mile drive to Paxton Florida and I arrived about 10 minutes prior to sunrise.  I stopped briefly at “the second highest hill in Florida” then continued on to Britton hill.  There is a really nice park on Britton Hill (345’) with trails and maps and High Point information.  


Next up was the Washington County high point on Barden hill (331’).  I arrived around 9am and walked up the long dirt driveway.  I kicked around in the woods a bit to pick out the top then headed for the car.  I had about 300 miles to go to get to Tampa.  It didn’t take long thanks to the 70 mph speed limit.  I turned in the rental car with just under 1,000 miles on it in just over 29 hours.  In all everything went smoothly and I picked up – 3 state high points, 5 county high points, a state park high point, the second highest hill in Florida, a fire tower, and a couple of other random hills.  I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with my parents and enjoying my birthday.  Mom also joined me on a couple of runs (she on the bike) which was a lot of fun. Picture at right with my “birthday banner”. Below that is a sunrise shot from the summit of Britton hill.

Five years ago

5 years ago: March 2015 – I was coming back from injury and only raced once before going back on the injured list.  NHTI Spring Ahead 3 Miler –The week was my 6^th since coming back from the injury and I was starting to feel a little more comfortable running on the roads.  I headed up to Concord and got there with plenty of time to preview the course. Right before the start I asked Chris Mahoney what he thought Heather Mahoney would run and he said around 6’s. My goal was sub-6 (if I was over 6’s I’d be bummed) with the feeling that I could hit right around 5:50’s, anything under that would be a very good day.  107 lined up in the quad and zipped out. I did not get out well and it took me a bit to get into a groove. I was in 12^th when I checked my watch at ½ mile (2:48). Soon after that I closed on and passed Heather. My next goal was to pull away from Tim Cox’s nine-year-old son Aidan. I got by him before the mile (5:42) and had moved myself up into 7^th place.   At 1.5 miles I got two guys and moved into 5^th place. Chris offered encouragement as I went by then yelled at Heather “Don’t let Dunham get away”. Dang, she was sticking tough and only a few seconds back!  With a half mile to go, I tried to kick but realized I was already going as fast as I could. I crossed the line in 17:05 (5:33 last shorter mile) which got me well under my goal of 5:50’s. Heather was right behind me in 17:10, well under 6 minute pace! I went out for a 1 mile warm-down and my ankle really flared up. It was quite sore and swollen post-race.   On Thursday I saw my (excellent) podiatrist and got a cortisone shot...along with 2 weeks off for the reinjured ankle/foot.

Place Name              Ag S City St                               Time     Pace

1 Nacho Hernando     22 M CONCORD NH                   14:52    4:58

2 Tim Cox                 41 M NORTHWOOD NH             16:31    5:31

3 Seth Richardson     16 M WOLFEBORO  NH              16:48    5:36

4 John Brown            32 M MUNSONVILLE NH            16:52    5:38

5 Dave Dunham        50 M BRADFORD MA                  17:05    5:42

6 Heather Mahoney   32 F WESTFORD MA                  17:10    5:44

9 Aidan Cox              09 M NORTHWOOD NH             17:37    5:53

I finished out the month with a long weekend down in Florida visiting my parents. We had fun (I did at least) and it was a relaxing weekend. I got in some running as I started back into it after my 2 weeks on the DL. The highlight was a visit to Hillsborough River State park (pictures below) where I got in a trail run and we visited a fire tower.

15 years ago

15 years ago: March 18, 2005 - My injured hip left me unable to run at all from mid-December through the beginning of Feb. Once I started running, I started looking for fun things to do. I sent out an email looking for suggestions and then settled on a run up Mt Kearsarge. I'm pretty familiar with the road to the summit from racing up it many times since the first organized race back in 1995. I had never been up the road in winter and was hoping it would be in good shape from the snowmobiles that zip up and down it throughout the winter. Richard Bolt was immediately interested in the run, as was Alan Bernier. Dan Verrington, my training partner on most days, was also up for the run. We decided that we would be better suited for a sunset run, rather than getting up to Kearsarge in the early morning hours. run).

I estimated that we'd need a little less than an hour to get up without missing the 6:02 PM sunset. We set off, and right away I was off the back. My aerobic form is not very good; the time off did not sit well with me. Al and Rich chatted away and Dan chugged along. Dan had thought we were hiking up but he is usually game for another run.  We got some breaks after the first mile with some flat sections and even a couple of downhill parts.  We took a very brief break at about two and a half miles to check out the view. There is a great open part on the road and you can see for miles looking out to the East. We had perfect weather, clear skies and views for miles upon mile. We could see the alpenglow and the shadow of Mt Kearsarge projected over the landscape.

We were getting close to sunset and it looked like we had it timed out correctly. We hit the parking lot (three and a half miles) in 39:34 and took a couple of pictures. Next up was the final push to the summit; this was a steep half-mile trail. I had never been up to the summit despite racing here a 1/2 dozen time.  I took a couple of pictures and hit the summit just missing it dipping below the horizon. It was very windy and cold on the summit and the sweat from climbing was quickly cooling us down. We took some pictures and enjoyed the panoramic view.

Running down the half mile to the parking lot was not particularly quick as it took me a good five minutes to get to the parking lot. It was slowly getting dark but the view was excellent. Rich pointed out Jay Peak and surprised us all with the sight of Wachusett Mountain. It appeared very close and was incredibly bright. We also had a clear view of Monadnock and could see lights from the metropolis that is Warner (highway rest area) shining below.  As we made our way down the crescent moon was bright enough that we cast shadows when we got into the tree-lined sections of the road. We made it down in 30:42 and it was fully dark by the time we got to the car. Our total time was 1:22:53 form 8 miles with nearly 2,000' climb and descent..

20 years ago

20 years ago – March 2000: I finished my first full season of snowshoe racing with a win at the Moody Springs 8.5 mile race. It seems like over the years as the races have gotten a little more popular the distances have shrunk. Now it is unusual to see a 10k, back then you could race 15k, 10miles, even a half-marathon. A week later I did the USATF NE ½ marathon in Melrose MA as a workout. Mark Behan and I ran with Petey, finishing together in just under 1:21. Two weeks later I gave my best at the Merrimack River trail race but couldn’t beat Ben Nephew. On a perfect 50 degree morning a field of just under 300 runners took off along the banks of the scenic River. Nephew pulled away in the early miles and curiously I caught him around 6 miles. The surprise was that I’d made up ground on the “rougher” and hillier section of the course. I thought I’d use my leg-speed to motor on by, but Ben thought otherwise. I hung with him but just couldn’t quite get ahead. He ended up winning in 58:31 with me 3 seconds back. This gave me the dubious distinction of having been on the losing end of the two closest finishes in the history of the event (I also lost by 1 second to Craig Fram in 1995). Pelham High School runner Patrick Moulton finished in 4^th place overall breaking his Junior (age 19 and under) by 4 minutes.

1        Ben Nephew                  M2039   1          MALDEN            MA        58:31                5:51

2        Dave Dunham                M2039   2          BRADFORD        MA        58:34                5:51

3        Robert Hoppler              M2039   3          PLAISTOW        NH        1:00:55             6:06

4        Patrick Moulton              M0219   1          PELHAM            NH        1:01:41             6:10

5        Greg Loomis                  M2039   4          FRAMINGHAM   MA        1:03:14             6:19

6        Richie Peres                  M2039   5          PLYMOUTH       MA        1:03:50             6:23

7        Matt Pimentel                M0219   2          ANDOVER          MA        1:04:02             6:24

8        Mark Behan                   M2039   6          NEWTON           NH        1:04:07             6:25

9        BJ Bottomley                 M2039   7          NASHUA            NH        1:04:40             6:28

10      Ken Clark                      M2039   8          SOMERS            CT        1:04:57             6:30

Week Ending 03/15/20

Not a bad week, my first over 70 since last summer.  Again reduced biking as I gained running miles.  Great group run with CMS guys to close out the week.

Run - 73 miles
Bike - 143.3 miles

M - 330am bike 1 hr - 23.6 miles
      5am treadmill 4 in 809s
       1130am treadmill 4 in 745s

T - 330am bike 1hr - 23.6
      5am treadmill 5 in 757s
      1130am treadmill 3 in 735s
      3pm Rosewood 3 in 808s

W - 1130am treadmill 3 in 731s
       3pm Methuen rail trail 6 in 757s

Th - 330am bike 1 hour - 23.5 miles
        5am treadmill 4 in 755s
        1130am treadmill 3 in 722s
         3pm Methuen rail trail 4 with Putnam in 814s

F - 445am Depot to treadmill x 2 5 mile in 827s
      1130am treadmill 5 in 714s
       3pm bike 1 hour - 23.8 miles

S - 5am bike 1 hour - 24.6
      645am 7 miles on the Freeman rail trail in 808s
      9am 4 miles on the Piscataquod trail in 741s

S - 6am bike 1 hour - 24.3 miles
     8am Group run on the Danvers rail trail 10 miles in 740s

35 & 30 years ago

35 Years ago – March 1985: Just one race during this month but it was a big one. This was my junior year at U-Lowell and I flew to beautiful Fargo ND for the NCAA indoor track National championships. I didn’t have a particularly good day running a lackluster 14:27.8 for 5,000 meters. It was however good enough for 5^th place which got me “All-America” status (top 6 were so designated). We flew directly from Fargo to Florida for Spring break!

30 Years ago – March 1990: Not much in this month but again I made it worthwhile. I set a personal best for ½ marathon at New Bedford in the New England (NEAC) championships. I ended up in 18^th place in a field of 1798 but was pleased with both my 10 mile split (49:35) and finishing time 65:27. The winner of the race (Brian Sherriff 1:02) took home $5000 or nearly $10,200 in 2020 dolla

Results via Hockomock Swamp Rat
1 Brian Sherrif (Zimb) 62:25
2 Mark Curp (MO) 62:28
3 Mike O'Reilly (IRE) 62:36
4 Mark Donahue (RI) 63:12
5 Geoff Smith (MA) 63:32
6 Jose Rocha (MA) 63:38
7 Ivan Huff (CA) 63:45
8 Dan Dillon (MA) 63:45
9 Michael Keohane (IRE) 64:04
10 Dennis Simonaitis (MA) 64:25
11 Brent Barnhill (NJ) 64:30
12 Thomas O'Gara (IRE) 64:37
13 Paul Gompers (MA) 64:38
14 Tm Ratcliffe (MA) 64:46
15 Richard Kaitany (IL) 64:52

Women 
1 Jan Klecker (MN) 70:41
2 Diane Brewer (FL) 71:48
3 Lisa Vaill (NY) 73:02

Looking WAY back

Looking back:

40 Years ago – March 1980: Woo hoo! I got my first varsity letter for indoor track at Billerica Memorial High School.

Biking

This weekend I did my 25^th ride of 50 miles or longer…16 of those have been in 2020.  I’m hoping to be done biking soon (?).

Rank	Dist	Date	Time	MPH	Bike	Location
1	101.0	2/14/2020	4:12:17	24.0	Spin	Basement
2	100.1	11/28/2019	4:04:18	24.6	Spin	Basement
3	81.6	9/23/2013	5:42:13	14.3	Bianchi Strada	Notch
4	75.0	12/29/2019	3:08:28	23.9	Spin	Basement
5	75.0	12/9/2019	3:02:34	24.6	Spin	Basement
6	75.0	12/8/2019	3:03:34	24.5	Spin	Basement
7	75.0	12/7/2019	3:02:52	24.6	Spin	Basement
8	72.8	11/24/2019	3:00:00	24.3	Spin	Basement
9	72.1	1/18/2020	3:00:00	24.0	Spin	Basement
10	70.8	1/1/2020	3:00:00	23.6	Spin	Basement
11	55.0	11/20/2007	5:30:00	10.0	Giant Boulder SE	Big Loop
12	50.0	2/23/2020	2:03:08	24.4	Spin	Basement
13	50.0	3/8/2020	2:04:29	24.1	Spin	Basement
14	50.0	2/17/2020	2:04:54	24.0	Spin	Basement
15	50.0	2/16/2020	2:05:49	23.8	Spin	Basement
16	50.0	2/15/2020	2:04:17	24.1	Spin	Basement
17	50.0	2/9/2020	2:03:23	24.3	Spin	Basement
18	50.0	2/8/2020	2:03:33	24.3	Spin	Basement
19	50.0	2/1/2020	2:04:20	24.1	Spin	Basement
20	50.0	1/26/2020	2:04:03	24.2	Spin	Basement
21	50.0	1/19/2020	2:02:27	24.5	Spin	Basement
22	50.0	1/11/2020	2:00:48	24.8	Spin	Basement
23	50.0	1/5/2020	2:04:55	24.0	Spin	Basement
24	50.0	1/4/2020	2:05:43	23.9	Spin	Basement
25	50.0	11/9/1997	2:30:00	20.0	Bianchi on rollers	Basement