Looking back - 15 years ago

Looking back 15 years ago (July 2005): I raced five times over this month, some road some trail, and even an Ultra.  A solid 354 miles for the month.  I started the month with the (07/02/05) John Carson Memorial 2 mile.  Oddly the race was not held on the fourth of July.  I had a decent run with even miles of 5:14 & 5:13 to take 5^th place in the masters competition.

1 9:07 Andy Powell M25

2 9:14 Justin Lutz M25

3 9:15 Nate Jenkins M25

40+

1 9:58 Paul Hammond M45

2 10:01 Tom Doody M43

3 10:12 Dan Verrington M43

4 10:14 Mike Cooney M43

5 10:27 Dave Dunham M41

Since the fourth of July was now open, I decided to put on a race.  On the 3^rd I headed out to the Merrimack River and we marked out the course for the following day.  I advertised it as a “pick your distance” kind of thing. I put out some water but otherwise it was self-supported.  Petey, Ken Tripp, Rob Smith and I decided to do something a little different and opted to race over 15 miles (which meant dropping a car).  Petey was beating me on the ups but I had him on the flats.  At 5 miles I was 2 seconds back, at 10 I was 10 seconds back. His maximum lead was 15 seconds at 13 miles, then I hammered and caught him at 14.  Wouldn’t you know it, he had a little something left and pulled away for a 5 second victory.  I think this is the only time Petey ever beat me.  Seven others raced over various distances.

Merrimack River Trail Race 15 miles

1 1:36:01 Stephen Peterson (pictured below)

2 1:36:06 Dave Dunham

3 1:39:49 Ken Tripp

4 1:39:59 Rob Smith

20m – Dan Verrington & Greg Ward tie 2:32:00

30m – 1 Justin Dore 4:35:50 2. Norm Sheppard 5:17:18 3. Bill Morse 5:24:15

10m – Dave Geary & Wes Lassen 1:30:28

Four days later (07/08/05) I ran the Pat Polletta 5k.  I think most chose to run the 5 mile so I was able to scoop up $100 for top master in the 5k.

1 16:40 Ryan Kowal M18

2 16:46 Dave Dunham M41

3 16:56 Chris Hamel M21

The next week (07/17/05) I ran the Stowe 8m. I have no idea why I did this.  Maybe it was a team race?  I was 13^th master.

1 42:10 Nate Jenkins M24 GLRR

2 42:19 Matt Pimentel M22 MVS

3 42:46 Oscar Ponce M 27 BAA

M40+

1 Oscar Gonzalez 43:15

2 Dan Verrington 44:02

13 Dave Dunham 47:15

A few days later (07/21/05) a bunch of my CMS teammates went to the Loco Moose 5k for a hard Thursday night run.

1 16:07 Richard Bolt CMS

2 16:19 Greg Ward CMS

3 16:51 Dan Verrington CMS

4 17:08 Erik Johnson MMM

5 17:15 Dave Dunham CMS

I finished the month (07/29/05) at the Sommerville road runner 24 hour. I wanted to test out my hip (torn obturator externus) and see if I was ready to get back to some serious Ultra racing.  I hoped to get in 100 miles but would not press if things didn’t feel right.  I felt pretty good shuffling along listening to the Red Sox game on my headphones.  From 7pm to 11pm I kept looping around the Lake.  My hip started to really stiffen up and did not want to cause any further damage.  I finished my 10^th loop (50km) in 4:31 and called it a night.