Looking back - 1998

25 Years ago = Oct. 1998 – I was finally feeling over the back injury (SI joint) and getting into a groove. I got in some longer runs and had 415 miles training during the month. I kicked it off with a “lousy” run at the USATF NE 8km championships in Attleboro. I noted that I “felt terrible” running 24:52 for 18th place. At the time it was one of my worst runs at the GP champs race, but I was only 39 seconds out of first. A week later I headed to New Castle for the Great Island 5k. This is a New England classic; everyone should do this race at least once! New Castle is a great location and it is an interesting course which covers just about every inch of the town. I ended up in a good fight with Joe Lemay and Eric Morse. They broke away in the last mile and I ended up taking third.

 

1 14:53 4:47 Joe Lemay            31M DANBURY CT

2 14:55 4:48 Eric Morse             33M MONTPELIER VT

3 14:59 4:50 Dave Dunham      34M BRADFORD MA

4 15:11 4:53 Filho Nivaldo                     38M CAMBRIDGE MA

5 15:14 4:54 Mike O’Brien                     38M DURHAM NH

6 15:18 4:56 Byrne Decker                    31M YARMOUTH ME

7 15:27 4:58 Dan Verrington     36M BRADFORD MA

8 15:31 5:00 John Mentzer                    22M NEWPORT RI

9 15:34 5:01 Chris Teague                    29M NO CHELMSFORD MA

10 15:39 5:02 Scott Clark                      32 M GILMANTON NH

 

A week later I was back in Lowell (Tyngsboro actually) for the Baystate marathon. The flat course and no travel made this the ideal location to take a shot at qualifying for the Olympic trials. I needed to break 2:22, so my plan was to run as even as possible and see what happened. We had temps ranging from 55 at the start to mid-70’s at the finish. Glen Guillemett led through the half in just under 1:11 (he won the half) with teammates Dan Verrington and Byrne Decker tucked in. I made my move at 15 and only Alex Tilson went with me (Dan dropped out). We were still clicking off miles right at 2:22 pace but I was worried about one bad mile putting the qualifier out of reach. At 23 I upped the tempo and dropped Tilson as I crossed over the Tyngsboro Bridge. I didn’t know I had the win or the qualifier until I turned the corner into the high school and with 400 to go knew I’d slip under. The 2:21:36 stood up as the event record for 24 years.

1 Dave Dunham           M3039 Bradford, MA                  2:21:36

2 Alex Tilson     M1829 Watertown, MA              2:22:45

3 Eric BeauchesneM1829 N Chelmsford, MA       2:31:55

4 Byrne Decker M3039 Yarmouth, ME                2:33:23

5 John Mulligan   M3039 Methuen, MA                     2:35:17