Published: January 22, 2008 12:46 am            

Runner hits 100,000-mile mark

BRADFORD, Mass. — Little did Mike Granfield realize the impact he would have, literally in the long run, on Bradford's Dave Dunham.

Nearly 30 years ago, in December 1978, as the track coach at Billerica High School, Granfield handed out a blank training log to his young runners and told them to record their every mile, as a source of information and a form of motivation.

"I always tried to stress the importance of knowing where you've been so you know where you're going," said Granfield, who is now the athletic director at Billerica. "It's also a way of showing what you've done and how you've improved. You can tell a lot from it."

Dunham, just a freshman, heeded his coach's instructions like no one ever had, recording his first 2.8-mile training run from the high school and every other mile ever since. Yes, every single mile.

An extremely organized person, perhaps because he's an accountant employed by the Internal Revenue Service, the 43-year-old Dunham has 30 different training logs - one per year - to prove it. Many of the early logs were in the form of those Runners World training logs that are his favorite Christmas presents, but he eventually shifted to spiral notebooks.

"And I have a spread sheet that puts it all in perspective," said Dunham. "I enjoy keeping track."

A few years ago, Dunham realized that he was approaching 100,000 miles of running and he began focusing on the milestone.

"I wanted to have a big celebration to help thank all the people who have helped me get there," said Dunham. "I know I couldn't have done it without a lot of help."

So, after planning his workouts meticulously for weeks, Dunham did just that back in November, inviting running friends, former coaches, doctors, therapists and anyone else who has been involved in those 100,000 miles to run the final mile with him and have a party in honor of the event.

Refreshments were served, little booklets were given out marking significant - and some not so significant - milestones as well as observations about training and racing over the years. His former coach at UMass Lowell, George Davis, even gave a little speech about Dunham.

"It was a pretty neat little affair," said Timberlane cross country and track coach Mark Behan, who has frequently trained with Dunham.

It was definitely an event worth celebrating for at least two reasons. First, because it's such a significant distance and, second, because Dunham has gone through so much to reach it.

When you think about 100,000 miles, just consider that the distance equals four trips around the world (24,901 miles), more than 30 trips across the United States, an average of 4,000 miles for 25 years and 9.4 miles per day for 29 years.

"It's really astounding," said Granfield. "I never had anyone like Dave. He runs to the beat of a different drummer."

What's also amazing is that Dunham's miles are far from long, slow training runs. An avid competitor, he trains hard and has competed at all sorts of distances and every kind of race you can imagine.

Over the years, Dunham has run middle distance in indoor track meets, the Millennium Mile in Londonderry, more than 350 races from 5K to 10K, trail races, mountain races (including in the Alps), ultra-marathons and Snow Shoe Races.

What's more, Dunham has been competitive and won a great percentage of the 1,000 total races (he reached that mark last weekend, a snow shoe race in Florida, Mass.) he's been in. He's set 141 course records over the years and won at least one race every year for 29 straight years, including 66 first places in 5K races.

In one incredible 14-day stretch back in 2000, he finished first in the Clarence Demar Marathon (2:29), first in the New Hampshire Marathon (2:43), and first in the Chancellors 100K (6:46), which is 62.2 miles.

"It's unbelievable how good Dave has been at so many different distances," said Behan. "It's rare to see a runner of Dave's caliber (national class) compete in so many disciplines. Perhaps, when he was younger, if he had concentrated on the marathon, he could have run 2:10-2:11and been one of the best marathoners in the country. He's that talented.

"But Dave has always enjoyed doing different types of races and he just loves to compete. He's the ultimate competitor. And even though today at 43, he's not running 14 or so minutes for 5K like he used to, but he's still out there mixing it up in a race every weekend and having a lot of fun doing it."

Of course, it hasn't always been easy, and it's not surprising that Dunham's body has broken down on many, many occasions.

Over the years, Dunham has suffered - among other injuries (he lists 785, including 197 to his ankles) - torn arches, a torn achilles, a torn hamstring, a stress fracture of the sacrum, severe hamstring pulls and a fractured Navicular, the latter of which prevented him from running for nearly five agonizing months back in 1997.

Overall, Dunham has missed 1,411 days because of injury and spent time with physical therapist Bob Worden off and on since 1981. Worden and members of Pinnacle Physical Therapy in Plaistow, N.H., were among those Dunham was most eager to have come to his 100,000-mile celebration.

The 100,000 milestone was actually never a specific goal for Dunham, but he used it as a chance to bring together those who helped him get there and accomplish so much along the way.

"It was very meaningful as it gave me an opportunity to thank the many people who helped me and kept me running," said Dunham. "It is so rare in life that you get the chance to gather together your friends and tell them how much they mean to you. I used the 100,000 miles as a chance to do just that."

Now that Dunham has passed 100,000, he doesn't forecast any specific number in the future, although few would doubt that he'll likely reach at least 150,000 and maybe even hit 200,000. Whatever the number, he'll be recording it.

"I'll do as many miles as health permits," said Dunham. "I have no mileage goals but I have other goals (like running in every town in Massachusetts). I'll keep recording up until the day I die and if I go while running my wife (Kathy) has instructions to fill out my log for that day. I want credit for every last mile."



Dave Dyer writes for The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass. E-mail him at ddyer@eagletribune.com



Numbers

As of Nov. 11, the following numbers stood out for Bradford's Dave Dunham.

100,000: The total number of recorded miles run since Dec. 6, 1978

6,113: Miles raced

5,113: Most miles run in one year (1992)

513: Most miles run in one month (May, 2002)

175: Towns in Massachusetts run in

141: Course records set

        

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