Looking back - 20 years ago

 20 Years ago (Oct 2000):  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 McGillivray, 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.  I definitely wasn’t quite recovered from the 100k.

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