Run to Win

152 ran ahead of the rain in humid weather in the low 70s last night during the Weekly Back Cove 5k.

Ed Parrot won his debut weekly 5k appearance with a time of 17:20. Emily Durgin repeated her performance from 2 weeks ago, winning the women’s race in 18:36.

cutting 20 seconds off of her overall time on the leader board to 1:54:21. There weren’t any changes at the top of the men’s leader board, with me still leading the way in 1:45:59.

The leaderboard gained 5 new runners this week and now stands at 89 runners having run at least half of the 12 races so far. The list of folks who have run all 12 races is down 1 from last week to only 3 people.

Abbey Gosling may have come in second place last night with her 19:05 finish, but it was fast enough to drop her overall time down another 10 seconds to 1:54:10 (a 19:01 average.) I am still sitting at the top of the men’s leaderboard in 01:45:59, despite not running the past few weeks.

It’s also quite unlikely that I will run at any point in the next few weeks. My injury from last week has become much worse, and though I seem to be recovering relatively quickly I am not planning on trying to come back too fast. Maybe by September I’ll be able to run in the last few races.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List – Photos)

Emily’s Run this weekend marks the 2^nd of 3 races in the Triple Crown 5k Race Series, and despite the rain the race saw a record attendance of 581 runners.

Times were a little slower this year but both races were close, with Corey Bean and Ryan Fitzsimons racing neck and neck through the finish in 17:06 and Andrea Rotz edging Danielle Paul by only 2 seconds in 20:15.

I was nowhere near where I ran last year as I managed to hurt my foot earlier in the week. It didn’t seem too bad before the race after most of the week off so I ran anyway, but it’s been extremely swollen and painful ever since.

I’ll find out this afternoon what’s wrong with it, and hopefully will be able to run next month in the final race. My 19:25 is probably not going to be fast enough to let me win the series, though, especially without any training for the next few weeks if I need an extensive amount of time off.

(More Info: Full Results – Awards – Photos)

200 runners took part in last night’s Back Cove race, enjoying the sunny temperatures in the low 70s in downtown Portland.

(Somebody pretending to be) Jorma Kurry ran for the first time this year, finishing first in 16:32 with nobody anywhere near him. Abbey Gosling has started a new win streak with her 19 minute finish, cutting 20 seconds off of her overall time on the leader board to 1:54:21. There weren’t any changes at the top of the men’s leader board, with me still leading the way in 1:45:59.

The leaderboard gained 10 new runners this week and now stands at 84 runners having run at least 6 of the 11 races so far. The 4 people that had run all 10 races through last week all came back this week, so we still have 4 runners who have finished every race so far this year.

I didn’t make it to the starting line this week. I hurt my right foot on Tuesday evening so I decided to take it easy yesterday and not do any running, and stuck to just doing pushups instead.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List – Photos)

This week’s Back Cove race consisted of 214 runners braving temperatures in the low 70s with clear skies.

Curtis Wheeler led the way handily, winning the race in 16:59. Abbey Gosling’s win streak was broken, however, as her time of 18:50 was 25 seconds behind Emily Durgin’s 18:25.

Abbey’s 1:54:41 overall time on the leaderboard is still almost 13 minutes ahead of her closest competitor. On the men’s board, as predicted, I came onto it in first place with an overall time of 1:45:59. I expect that Curtis will take over that number 1 spot next week if he runs, however.

The leaderboard is growing, with 74 runners having run at least 6 of the 10 races so far. We are down to only 4 people that have run all 10 races, however, down from last week’s 6 runners.

This race was more of a tempo run for me this week. I ran to the Back Cove from work, where I saw Madeleine, Erin and Matt Lane out for a jog and decided to run with them for a short ways. The next thing I knew I barely had enough time to get from Tukey’s Bridge to the starting line, but I did make it a good 30 seconds before the start of the race. This turned my 5k into basically an 8k tempo in the middle of a 16½ mile run. I was rather tired and hungry by the time I got home.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List – Photos)

This past weekend was the second annual Bradbury Scuffle. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and by beautiful I mean in the traditional sunny sense and not in the rainy way that it was beautiful last year. We still had plenty of mud, though, because before the race there had been maybe 4 days of sun in the past 40.

In fact, the trails were much more difficult to run this year because of all the rain that we have been getting. Parts of the snowmobile trail were especially washed out, making footing treacherous. We also had no fears about the knee deep puddles drying up.

The race was almost twice as large this year as last year, with 112 finishers. Almost everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, and nobody got too lost on the course. The one person I’m aware of that went off course was called back by the runners behind him after he ran right by not 1 but 2 large white signs with red arrows telling him to turn.

I ran almost a minute slower this year, finishing in 41:41.41. I attribute the slower time to not only the tougher conditions, but that I had nobody to push me. Eric Mauricette, who finished in 2^nd place, was over a minute behind me in 42:47.

In fact, other than about a mile during my warmup jog and about a 1/3 mile walk while cleaning up the course, I ran the rest of my 15 miles on the day by myself.

I turned back to look at the field when I was less than half a mile in, and I already had a 100 meter lead.

Nobody else was willing to take the pace out as aggressively as I did, and I had no interest in letting somebody cut off my view of the trail in front of me so I ran harder for the first mile than I did at any other point in the race. I wanted to be the first to the single track. So far, that strategy has worked out for me 2 years in a row.

This year, I should be running all 3 races in the Bradbury series, so if you get the chance I’d recommend coming out to the Breaker (9 miles) or the Bruiser (12 miles) later this Summer.

Other Race Reports:

• Photos by Don Penta
• Kevin Robinson
• (more to come as I find them…)

(More Info: Race Website – Full Results – Course Map [PDF])

I sometimes confuse people when they ask me how many times I run per week and I tell them that it’s usually somewhere between 8 and 10 times.

It’s hard to grasp for some folks that there are occasions when you might want to run 2 or even 3 times in the same day (not that I do that very often.)

Two weeks ago I answered Tom’s question about whether it is better to take an easy day or a rest day for improved recovery.

His original email actually included 2 questions, however, so here is the other half:

I do have one question regarding a marathon training plan. I’m targeting the Chicago Marathon this October with a goal to break 3:00. In looking at the various sources of training plans, I see quite a bit of variety in terms of the amount of speed work.

When building up mileage, is there as much benefit in two 4 miles runs (one in the AM and one in the PM) compared to one 8 mile run?

(Click here to continue reading…)

142 people braved the weather this evening, although the rain held off until after the race was over.

Curtis Wheeler ran ahead of Noah Schoneberg, only beating him by 2 seconds in 16:51. Abbey Gosling continued her trend of leading the women with her time of 19:04.

For myself, I got in an almost 7 mile warmup by running there from work, and then did a 3 by ½ mile workout with folks to chase. By the time I got done with my cool down I’d gotten in over 15 miles this evening, which is probably why I’m so tired.

The leaderboard has seen some shaking up, with both the men’s and women’s board being led by a newcomer onto the list. Lilian Childress jumped onto the board with a cumulative time of 2:07:36, which gives her an almost 20 minute lead over second place. Next week I expect another new gap to be opened up, although not quite as large as this one.

On the men’s side, Daniel Salvo opened up about a 3½ minute lead with his cumulative time of 1:49:52.

The list of folks that have run all 9 races has gone down to 6 people, from last week’s total of 7.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List)

Weren’t able to get into the Beach to Beacon before registration closed (which happened in a mere couple of minutes this year)? Well, there’s still an opportunity to run, thanks to my friends at Atayne.

Last year, Atayne adopted the Maine Marathon and sent a few runners along the course after everybody to help pick up the trash and separate anything that could be recycled. This year, they are going to do the same at the Beach to Beacon, and are offering bribes for anybody that wants to help out.

I received the following email from Jeremy Litchfield, which details what they are doing:
(Click here to continue reading…)