The Maine Marathon is next Sunday on October 4th, and volunteers are still needed! It’s a big undertaking for one of Maine’s showcase events, so if you have some extra time and can help out you should head into Portland.
Volunteers will be given a T-Shirt and a coupon to attend a 2010 Portland Sea Dog’s baseball game, and all volunteers will be entered into a drawing for 1 of 25 Peak Performance gift certificates that will be raffled off.
This year, Atayne is stepping up and doing another trash run in conjunction with the Maine Marathon. Here’s an email I got from Jeremy:
Hello All,
Summer is almost over and that means it is time for the fall marathon season. But even more important it is time for the fall Trash Running season.
Last year the Atayne Trash Runners took the Maine Marathon by storm helping to divert about 75% of the event’s waste from going into a landfill.
We are once again working with the Maine Marathon and hope to make an even bigger impact this year.
I know many of you are experienced trash runners, but for all you rookies, it is a pretty simple concept. Run behind the participants and pick-up trash. It also includes some non-runners who separate recyclables from landfill waste at the start/finish and aid stations. Our goal is to recycle as much waste as possible and leave the race course cleaner than the event found it. As unglamorous as it may sound, it actually is a really good time.
I am reaching out to see if any of you would be interested in joining the Atayne Trash Running Team at the 2009 Maine Marathon. The event is Sunday, October 4. We are looking for a team of 30 to 35 people to run the course and help sort landfill and recyclable waste at the aid stations and the start/finish area. If we get enough people, we are even going to try to add composting this year.
As always, all volunteers will receive an Atayne top to wear while getting trashy and to sport proudly afterwards.
If you are available and interested in volunteering, please email me and include your preferred role: runner or sorter. If you are a runner please indicate how many miles you are willing to cover (minimum of 3 and maximum of 14). If you are interested in running but are unsure about the pace, we typically run a 12 to 15 minute mile while trash running. Feel free to spread the word and invite others you think might be interested.
Eddie Izzard is a British comedian that is better known for his lifestyle choices (as a transvestite) and for his acting and stand up routines than he is for his sporting activities.
This Summer, though, he decided to raise money for “Sport Relief” by going for a few runs. In the course of 7 weeks, he ran 43 marathons throughout the UK. “I might as well say that I’ve just eaten a car,” he said in response to how people have taken the news.
Saying he ran 43 marathons is actually a bit of an estimate; most of his runs were at least 27 miles in length and some were as long as 31 miles. Before this promotion, Eddie had never run further than 5 miles at a time.
“I feel really good. My legs hurt, my body hurts, I’m very tired. I lost my toenails, had blisters and stuff, but to finish – it’s kind of like science fiction in a way.”
He managed to raise over £200,000 (about $330,000.) It’s an amazing feat, and Eddie is to be commended for it.
He says that plans to keep running, but not quite as much. Which is understandable, since he’s about to start a 44-date tour for his stand up comedy routine. No rest for the weary…
The final installment of the 2009 Weekly Back Cove Race Series was this evening, and 113 runners came out to participate. I also got out for my 7th race this year in the series, and my first one since I broke my foot.
Curtis Wheeler (01:42:14) brought his overall time down by almost 2 minutes with his win in 17:49 today, which left him in a solid lead for the free shoes this year.
Abbey Gosling (01:54:10) was not present this evening, but nobody even came close to beating her in the series standing.
The win for the women tonight went to Nan Lobo, who ran 20:16 and completed 2 races this season.
The community spirit award went to Craig Whiten (02:19:56), who ran all but 2 of the races this season.
For myself, tonight was the first time that I have run in 45 days. I went out a bit quicker than I needed to but quickly settled into a more appropriate pace. My foot felt fine, which is good, although I am going to come back very slow and easy so that I don’t have to worry about injuring myself again.
I have no plans for my running until January, and have canceled everything I had had scheduled for the rest of the year so I can concentrate on getting better and building back my base.
I’d like to thank Stu Palmer, John Rogers, and Diane Fournier for all the work that they do throughout the Summer to put this series on. Without them, these races couldn’t happen.
I’d also like to thank Colin Ingram and Mizuno for their support, as well as Portland Trails and the Maine Track Club.
This year, we had 2864 finishers from 1203 runners, which is over a 30% increase over 2008. There was 1 person who ran every single week, Richard Dawson (02:26:47). There were 157 people who ran 6 races and found a place on the leaderboard, which is 37 more than last year and 104 more than in 2007. 23 people ran at least 13 of the races.
I hope to see everybody again next May when the 2010 series starts! Thank you for coming out.
This Saturday (September 12th, 2009) is the first edition of Lex’s Run, put on by Alexis Welch and her husband Doug to help raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Lex suffers from muscular dystrophy, and has been raising money for the MDA through her running for the past few years. I caught up with her on the phone on Friday evening and recorded this conversation about the race:
Audio Version:
Click the play button to begin streaming the audio version of this call:
The race is a 5k taking place in Worcester, Mass at Lake Park. There will be goodie bags, t-shirts, and a cook-out at the race for everybody participating.
If you are interested in running the race, you can get more information at: http://www.lexsrun.org
After last night’s announcement that there would only be 2 more Back Cove races, 126 runners made their way out this evening in great running conditions for the race.
Shawn Rumery led the way tonight, winning the race in 17:08. Jocelyn Olsen clocked 20:57 for her win in the women’s race.
The top of the leaderboard hasn’t changed since yesterday, but it is now 147 runners deep who have all run at least 6 of the races this year.
There are still 2 runners who have run every single race so far, and only have one more to run to have made all 18 on the year.
Don’t forget that next week is the last week of the race series.
The Back Cove 5k Race Series was scheduled to go for 19 weeks this year, rather than the 18 weeks that it has been for the past 2 years. However, the last race is being dropped due to scheduling difficulties and so the series will end on September 09, 2009 instead of on September 16th.
Awards will be given out before the race next week on 9/09. Right now, Curtis Wheeler (01:44:06) and Abbey Gosling (01:54:10) are at the top of the leaderboard.
Abbey will be almost impossible to catch her 13 minute lead, especially with only 2 races remaining.
Curtis could still be caught by Scott Gorneau (1:44:53), who trails by a mere 47 seconds over their top 6 races. Scott could take the lead if he ran one of the remaining races in 17 minutes flat, and could tie for first place if he runs both races in 17:20. He has run faster than that 17:20 time twice now in the series. If Curtis races at least one more time, though, he stands to drop his time by 2 to 3 minutes which will make him uncatchable.
The leaderboard is determined by an individual runners top 6 times throughout the 18 week series. Check the links below if you would like to see where you stand on the leader board, or if you would like to see what place you are in when you factor in every race amongst everybody who has run the same number of races as yourself!
The Maine Marathon is next Sunday on October 4th, and volunteers are still needed! It’s a big undertaking for one of Maine’s showcase events, so if you have some extra time and can help out you should head into Portland.
This Summer, though, he decided to raise money for “Sport Relief” by going for a few runs. In the course of 7 weeks, he ran 43 marathons throughout the UK. “I might as well say that I’ve just eaten a car,” he said in response to how people have taken the news.
The final installment of the 2009 Weekly Back Cove Race Series was this evening, and 113 runners came out to participate. I also got out for my 7th race this year in the series, and my first one since I broke my foot.
This Saturday (September 12th, 2009) is the first edition of Lex’s Run, put on by Alexis Welch and her husband Doug to help raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. 
After last night’s announcement that there would only be 2 more Back Cove races, 126 runners made their way out this evening in great running conditions for the race.
