Cooler and wetter conditions greeted the runners last night at the Weekly Back Cove Race Series, where 72 finishers crossed the line. The series already has 415 registered runners.
Daniel Salvo led the way this evening, beating Seth Differ by 11 seconds in a time of 18:45.
I chose not to go into town last night, as I needed to make up for losing a few hours in the middle of the day to visit the doctor’s office over a tick bite.
I have wanted to take part in the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge for the past few years, but since it is on Memorial Day Weekend and I am rarely home I haven’t been able to until this year. I can now see why everybody raves about how great it is.
This is a tough race. It is made up of 25 kilometer loops, where runners can run 1 loop (25k), 2 loops (50k) or a 3½ mile mini-loop and then 3 full loops (50 mile).
There are a lot of turns (click map above for PDF download.) The course is very easy to follow, with plenty of surveyor’s flags and arrows pointing which way to go. When in doubt, you always turn left and can’t go too far wrong.
There are a couple of short but very steep downhills each loop, but otherwise there isn’t anything that individually would seem very difficult. However, you can never rest on this course. You are always climbing or descending; there are no flat sections to this course at all: (Click here to continue reading…)
Last night I had the pleasure of running with Bart Yasso as he accompanied us to Baxter Woods, where the group I coach did some hill repeats. Temperatures were up in the mid-90s so getting into the shade was a welcome change from the warmup to get there.
Upon returning to Maine Running Company, Bart signed copies of his book, My Life on the Run and gave away training logs, Runner’s World magazines, Powerade, and pizza. One lucky runner even got a free pair of Saucony running shoes. (They had their tour bus there and were performing gait analysis and shoe fittings.)
Bart told a few jokes and described some of his varied experiences in different races and cultures before settling down to chat with folks individually (video after the jump): (Click here to continue reading…)
Tonight was the 2nd of 19 installments in this year’s Back Cove Weekly Series. The weather was pretty ideal for running, with temperatures in the mid-60s and a slight breeze.
There were 175 finishers this week.
Curtis Wheeler took the lead in the race about 1.25 miles into it, beating Blaine Moore by 12 seconds with a time of 17:19.
Before the race, I was deputized to start the video camera at the finish line after I finished, so check out Maine Running Photos sometime tomorrow for that to get posted. It took me a few minutes to find the camera bag and get it set up but I’m pretty sure I only missed the first 7 or 8 finishers. I’ll find out when David uploads it.
He has quite a few pictures up from the race (including the great shot above) so check out his pictures from the link below.
This week I managed to forget to restock my desk with various snacks so I literally ate nothing but breakfast and lunch today. I even forgot to pack a banana. On a brighter note, I ran the 5+ miles to the starting line and then found another trail that cuts about 4/5 of a mile of roads out of the run on my way back. I was a bit tired today.
I believe in continuing education, so last weekend I attended a conference in Stamford, Connecticut. It was a great event where I was able to learn a lot and meet some great people.
How great? Well, on the first day we raised $24,894 to build a school in Africa. (Actually, we raised more than that throughout the weekend, but that was the amount that we’d raised in the span of a few hours.)
Once it’s built in July I’ll put some photos up if I can get any forwarded to me.
That said, the weekend was jam-packed. There wasn’t much in the way of down-time with speakers getting on stage by 7 or 8 in the morning each day and not getting done until near midnight. I haven’t taken 2 days off from running in a row since my 50 miler!
Imagine sitting on your butt for 3 days straight, book-ended by 5 or 6 hour drives between Maine and Connecticut. It’s enough to make you sore.
Which leads me into today’s warning.
On Sunday morning, I got up early enough to actually get out the door for a quick 4 miler. It had been raining over night, so while the weather was fine while I was out there the ground was a bit wet.
Now I don’t do a lot of running in downtown areas these days, so I admit that I wasn’t being careful enough.
Here’s what happened:
I was running across an intersection in a cross walk when I saw that the light changed from red to green. Thankfully, the person in the intersection was watching me, so when I stepped down on the paint in the cross walk and my legs went out from under me they knew enough not to pull over me.
There is nothing quite like falling flat on your face right in front of a car with a green light to make you feel foolish, among other things.
I got up as quick as I could and made my way to the sidewalk so I could pick the tar out of my palms and shake myself off.
Normally, you don’t have to worry about falling on city streets unless you catch a curb or there’s some sort of debris or spill that you need to run through.
After it’s been raining, though, any painted lines on the street could potentially become dangerous, especially if they had been repainted within the last year or so.
Next time that you are out running, keep in mind where your center of gravity is, especially when you are near traffic. For me, I’m glad to be home where the lines are all faded and I can spend most of my runs on the trails anyway!
Ever had a similar experience? Leave a comment in the box below and share it with us.
(Event photos courtesy of Sirena Bernal. The crosswalk photo was provided by Peds.org.)
Cooler and wetter conditions greeted the runners last night at the Weekly Back Cove Race Series, where 72 finishers crossed the line. The series already has 415 registered runners.
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Tonight was the 2nd of 19 installments in this year’s Back Cove Weekly Series. The weather was pretty ideal for running, with temperatures in the mid-60s and a slight breeze.
I believe in continuing education, so last weekend I attended a conference in Stamford, Connecticut. It was a great event where I was able to learn a lot and meet some great people.
That said, the weekend was jam-packed. There wasn’t much in the way of down-time with speakers getting on stage by 7 or 8 in the morning each day and not getting done until near midnight. I haven’t taken 2 days off from running in a row since 
I was running across an intersection in a cross walk when I saw that the light changed from red to green. Thankfully, the person in the intersection was watching me, so when I stepped down on the paint in the cross walk and my legs went out from under me they knew enough not to pull over me.
