Weekly Back Cove Race Series » Week 17
It was another beautiful Maine evening tonight for the 17th running of the Weekly Back Cove Race Series. This was the second to last race, and it brought 6 more people into the overall leader board which now stands at a record 114 people. There are 27 people who have run 5 races, so hopefully a large percentage of those people race next week to pad that number as much as possible.
Tonight’s race was sunny and 68° with a slight breeze. There was a lot of dry gravel dust up in the air, but conditions were very pleasant for running. Dan Franek took advantage of that, going out for the first mile with Henry Loughlin and then dropping a couple of hammers to open up a 57 second lead over the next couple of miles to win in 16:53. Molly Susla led the way for the women in 20:46.
Not surprisingly, there were no movements near the tops of the leader board. None of the top runners were around tonight to improve their times, and it is extremely unlikely that even given an Olympic level performance that anybody is going to catch the leaders.
I managed to forget to bring shorts with me to the race. I had a shirt, socks, shoes, even a hat that I didn’t wear, just no running shorts. I wound up having to stop along the way to the race and buy some basketball shorts for a couple of dollars. I kept my workout pretty easy tonight, pacing a friend through some even splits and treating it as a tempo run.
I also added a new feature this week, which allows you to see a breakdown of everybody who has run a race in the series based on the number of races that they have run. You can check it out here: http://backcove.runtowin.com/runners.php
The L/A Bridge Run was this morning, concluding the 1st Annual Lewiston/Auburn Triple Crown racing series. Conditions for the race were favorable, with temperatures in the low 60s, overcast skies, and only a very light breeze albeit with a bit of humidity mixed in.
Towards the end of the second kilometer, I was behind the pack which had whittled down to 3 guys with a few others starting to string themselves out. I ran it in 3:12, slower than I wanted to go but still on pace. 


Imagine that you are in a race, and you have been working with another runner for many miles. You know that you are both running faster than you could have alone, and there’s a $1000 pot for the first place finish. Would you be able to share that win, and the pot, or would you be too competitive and try to pull away, even if it meant a slower time over the long run?














