Run to Win

188 runners made their way out in the fog and wind last night to compete in cool temperatures that hovered right around 60 degrees.

Claton Conrad took it out in about the same pace as last week’s race, finishing only 2 seconds slower in 16:13 for his 1^st trip around the Back Cove this season. Despite a guy yelling to me at about a mile and a quarter, there was no chance of anybody being able to “run him down” last night though, as I finished over a minute behind him in 17:14.

Abbey Gosling is establing a trend, winning the women’s race in 19:16. She is now 4 for 4 in the wins category for her participation in the race this year; 2 more races and she should debut nicely on the leader board.

Kellie Stratton knocked 2 minutes and 17 seconds off of her cumulative time on the leader board this week, but it wasn’t enough as Julianne Baroody ran her 6^th race and came onto the leader board with an almost 12 minute lead.

Nathan Augustine did not improve his time at all, but he has the distinction of having run in all 8 races to this point, a distinction held by only 7 people.

Seth Differ came onto the leader board in the lead for the men this week, with about an 11 minute lead over Nathan. I expect that the leader board is going to be shaken up quite a few times over the next few weeks until it settles out for the rest of the season and becomes a battle between fewer players.

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

In another wind-aided run of 100 meters, Tyson Gay ran (as I like to put it) not quite slow to finish in 9.75 seconds. That’s the 7^th fastest 100 meters ever run under any conditions, although it is not eligible for the record books given the assist from Mother Nature.

He only ran the first round of the preliminaries and then called it good for the week, as he prepares for a showdown with Usain Bolt at the World Championships.

That’s gonna be a good race, despite being over by the time you could blink.

(More Info: ESPN – Photo Credit: Sky Sports)

175 runners were met with some fog at the Back Cove this evening, with Michael Payson leading the way by bringing in this year’s fastest time to date: 16:11. Curtis Wheeler was chasing him down, a mere 9 seconds back.

Abbey Gosling again won the women’s race, this week in 19:20.

Kellie Stratton debuted on the leaderboard this week in first place with almost a 2 minute lead.

Nathan Augustine improved his lot to first place by knocking almost 3 minutes off of his cumulative time; he has now made it to all 7 races so far.

I didn’t make it to the race this week; with my legs as sore as they are I decided to do a few easy barefoot miles on the streets near my house with my wife.

We also found a small bug with the Back Cove website software, so if your name didn’t appear in last week’s results that should be resolved soon as we update the standings now that the technical glitch has been fixed.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Photos)

Under some blue skies and lots of wind, there were 161 runners out in the 70 degree temperatures for tonight’s Back Cove 5k.

Scott Gorneau ran it in with Kurt Wente in 17:18 and 17:28 (respectively); this is Scott’s second race this season after having not run since the first week.

Abbey Gosling had a slightly larger lead in the women’s race, finishing faster than 2 minutes over Lilian Childress with a time of 19:11.

Now that it has been six weeks, that means that there is finally a leader board! You can now compare how you are doing against everybody else that has run at least six of the races.

The initial leaderboard isn’t quite as large as last year’s 22 members, but there’s still over 6 times as many people that have run the initial 6 races over 2007. 10 men and 3 women have made their way onto the board, with Dino DeSanctis leading the series and Alissa Poisson becoming the early front runner for the women.

I’ve only run half of the races so far this year, sadly. (I did get a good track workout in with my team tonight though.)

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Photos)

This year’s Lewiston/Auburn Triple Crown 5k Race Series has now gotten underway with this morning’s YMCA Fit Fest. The race saw some tremendous growth, with over twice as many finishers this year as there was last year (534 and 249, respectively.)

Henry Gaudion made the trip all the way from Dover-Foxcroft to win the race in 16:33, only 3 seconds behind his 5k PR from cross country season. He’s going to have a great senior year and some good college running to look forward to!

Henry had taken over the lead about 2/3 of a mile into the race as he came up on my shoulder with my fellow Dirigo runner Dan Crooker (4^th, 17:12) and we ran down the rabbit that had gone out way too hard.

We all felt pretty comfortable with the 5:11 first mile, and other than a short surge down a steep hill on Locust Street Henry and Dan were seemingly running away with the race.

By the second mile, though, I’d started to reel Dan in and tried to work my way up to Henry. I though with about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to go that I might be able to do it; I was feeling strong. Henry dropped a hammer, though, and ran a 4:51 3^rd mile (which was realistically about 5 flat given that the 3^rd mile marker was a bit early.)

Henry wound up beating me by 13 seconds as I came through in second place in 16:46, with 3^rd place Ryan Fitzsimons of Turner another 22 seconds back from there.

Despite coming into the race with some lingering injuries, last year’s Triple Crown champion Tina Meserve won the race pretty handily in 19:55.

The battle between 2^nd and 3^rd was much tighter, though, with Kacie Herrick of Portland edging out local runner Kelley St. Hiliare by only 3 seconds to take 2^nd place in 20:38.

The next race in the Triple Crown Series is Emily’s Run on July 26^th.

(More Info: Full Results – Triple Crown 5k – Photos – More Photos)

Last night was the 5^th Back Cove Weekly 5k, and was my 3^rd as I missed the past couple of weeks.

Cooler temperatures and a little precipitation didn’t deter 187 people from coming out to race. There was a good contingent of college guys that just finished their outdoor track seasons that came to mix it up a little, crossing the line in 17:03. I was about 20 seconds behind them. Abbey Gosling had a pretty comfortable 52 seconds lead in the women’s race.

Don Penta was there taking photos; I’ll update this post with a link to them once they are available.

(More Info: Full Results – Photos)

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…)

Tonight was the 2^nd 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.

Jamie Young led the women with a time of 22:43.

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.

(More Info: Full Results – Photos – More Photos)